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BF comfort feeding after cutting down feeds
Hi there. Hugo is 9 months old and in preparation for him starting nursery in 3 weeks (sob!) I have started cutting down BFs - he is down to a BF twice a day, one in the morning and one before bedtiime at night.
Hugo has been really off colour last week and this weekend (have a Dr's appointment in an hour) and has wanted to BF more and I have been letting him - including feeding in the night if he wakes. I'm paranoid about him becoming dehydrated and I know from past experience that just offering him water will result in a big giant screaming fit, so have offered the breast. Sometimes he will latch on and feed for a few minutes then stop sucking but remain latched on so I think it is a comfort to him.
Does anyone else increase BF when their LOs are ill for comfort? Is this sending him mixed messages about what BF is for and should I be trying to comfort him in other ways in preparation for nursery? Also, will this play havoc with my milk supply? I have been quite lucky in that I haven't experienced any engorgement as a result of cutting down feeds but if I suddenly increase feeding again only to cut back down when he's better, I might be tempting fate!
Sorry for rambly post - not quite sure what I'm doing!!
Hugo has been really off colour last week and this weekend (have a Dr's appointment in an hour) and has wanted to BF more and I have been letting him - including feeding in the night if he wakes. I'm paranoid about him becoming dehydrated and I know from past experience that just offering him water will result in a big giant screaming fit, so have offered the breast. Sometimes he will latch on and feed for a few minutes then stop sucking but remain latched on so I think it is a comfort to him.
Does anyone else increase BF when their LOs are ill for comfort? Is this sending him mixed messages about what BF is for and should I be trying to comfort him in other ways in preparation for nursery? Also, will this play havoc with my milk supply? I have been quite lucky in that I haven't experienced any engorgement as a result of cutting down feeds but if I suddenly increase feeding again only to cut back down when he's better, I might be tempting fate!
Sorry for rambly post - not quite sure what I'm doing!!
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Replies
When Toby is off colour I do generally give him more BFs. It may only be for comfort but I reason that when they are ill they need more fluids than usual (or at least that's how I justify it!).
Not sure how this would work now that we are on bottles for daytime feeds though, as he hasn't had a bad cold in the last couple of weeks. I would definitely give extra BFs in the night if he woke (and do even if he isn't sick!) but probably not during the day - I think I would just offer water in a cup more often (assuming it was a day when he was home with me rather than in nursery when there wouldn't be any choice in the matter). The reason I say that is because I wouldn't want to start confusing him about the availability of BF - I wouldn't be concerned about sending mixed messages about what BF is for, but more about the fact that he has a choice, I would be worried that he would start refusing bottles if he knew he could go back to BF anytime he wanted!! We had so much trouble getting him to even take a bottle I wouldn't want to tempt fate - now that we are on daytime bottles I won't be going back.
I wouldn't worry about supply issues either. Our supply/demand should be so well established now that we can add or skip feeds every now and then with no problem, I can't imagine that a few extra feeds for a few days is going to suddenly cause you to make huge amounts of extra.
Sorry this isn't making much sense, I'm trying to think it through as I type!
C