My 6 month old son is losing interest in breastfeeding

Question

I have started to feed my son a bit of solids since he turned 5 months, he is now not very interested in breast feeding, ive tried to breast feed him first before giving him any solids and he still goes on for only a few mins and comes back off again. I am worried he isnt getting enough milk. He has a 15 min feed in the morning when he wakes up and one at night before he sleeps and thats the only time when i feel he has actually had a proper feed.

Is this normal? I wanted to breast feed him for a year, but now im concerned he is not going to be interested in breast feeding for that long?

What can I do to get him to breastfeed?

Answer 1

kids grow up so fast. lol. He's obviously just naturally denying it only because he's already growing out of it. My cousin's baby did the same thing at about the same time.  

Answer 2

Recent brestmilk studies have repoted that All lacting woman tested AROUND THE GLOBE have jet fuel in their milk!  Unless you cleanse your body of environmnetal contaminants,  you are passing them on to your baby.  You can easily have a urine or hair analysis to tell what is in your body.  Also,  unfortunately,  there are an average of 280 plus environmental toxins in the umbilical cord blood of an avarage mother. 87 of them are carcinogens.Many of those are chemical substances,  i.e. pesticides that have been outlawed for more than a decade.  (Gulp).  CLEANSE...and then observe  your baby enjoying much cleaner milk and see if he wants to continue. I nursed gleefully for over four years and it was the most normal and natural activity I have EVER participated in...in all my life.  Cleansing (carefully)  will provide you with the great opportunity to continue this most important bonding process.  With your Health(and your child's) on My Mind,  Liz,   MA.

Answer 3

Perhaps he is self weaning.  I wouldn't worry too much as long as he is putting on weight consistently.  Also there's a lot to be said for being relaxed when breastfeeding - if you're stressed, perhaps your baby will be as well which will hamper the experience.

Answer 4

my 6 month old is doing the same thing they become better eaters so they don't need to stay on as long.I feed my son every 4 hours and he gets cereal in the morning 1 jar of stage 2 food with cereal mixed in for lunch and the same for dinner. as long as he is wetting diapers and gaining lbs you shouldn't worry the baby is getting more then you think!  

Answer 5

this is certainly normal as my two boys 'weened' them selves, we had to go to semi-sollids from about 9months, then we went through about 3 or 4 diferent bottle types until they felt comfortable with cows milk. It can be a bit dissapointing from a mothers point of view, you said you wanted to breast feed for 12 months. But this is a natural progressive stage and is to be cherrished.

You could try to minimise his semi-solid food and offer him breast more often, but ultimatly it is his choice :) as long as he enough food either way he will be fine.

Answer 6

i had the same problem with my daughter at the same age...she is now 8 months....i cut back a bit on how much solid food i was giving her and her breastfeeds increased...now that she is a bit older her solids have increased quite a bit and she is still breastfeeding just as well....hope this help..

Answer 7

I breastfed my son for 11 months, I didnt give him anything other than breastmilk for 9 months. Breastmilk has all the nourishment in it so it is not necessary to try them with solids, even water or juice will dilute their appetite for breastfeeding. The child will try to grab the food from you when they are wanting solids. My son gave up, on his own at 11 months. Breastfeeding is cheap and very beneficial for the child. I am so glad the advice I received from the clinic at the time was so good.  

Answer 8

He's self-weaing =]

Be proud of that .. it's better than having to 'cut him off' at a certain age.

Answer 9

My son did the same thing at 6 months and it hurt me more than it did him because I was not ready to let go but I had to give in to his demand since he had already had bottle I just kept pumping until I could not pump anymore and then just went on to formula.  If he hasn't had a bottle yet you could try giving him the expressed breast milk or formula in a sippy cup then you won't have to worry about weaning him off a bottle later.  Good luck and I feel your pain but you gotta face it your little boy is growing up!

Answer 10

It could be that you are ovulating which makes your milk taset funny. It could also just be that your little one is more and more interested in the world around him. I'm going through this at the minute. SOmetimes it is ok but other times I need to place a light blanket over her to help her focus on the task at hand. It could also be that he is just more and more efficient at sucking. My daughter has a big 15-20 min feed in the morning and her other feeds are probably about 3-4 minutes each side. If he is gaining weight appropriately then don't stress too much

Answer 11

If your son is starting to reject breastfeeding it could because you might be running out or he could just be finding it just to hard, can you try giving him formula, don't feel that he is rejecting you as this is pretty normal for many mums and as I have had three girls myself, I remember them all giving up on it around that time too, so try feeding him on the breast in the morning and night and try formula or some water during the day.

Answer 12

I would suggest holding off on the solids and see if he increases his nursing frequency. At this age, all of his nutritional needs should be met by breast milk.

He is not self-weaning, it is most likely the interest in solids is causing him to go on a nursing strike. While this is normal for some babies, it should be discouraged as he still needs your breast milk.

Put a halt on the solids,  breastfeed on demand, offering frequently, and he should become interested again.

Answer 13

He's weening himself. Which isn't terrible. Some kids want to breastfeed until they're two and others before they're one. But don't worry about it. He's at the age where he can be introduced to certain kinds of baby food and such. Since you want to still want him to have the benefits of breast milk, trying using a special pump that will pump breast milk into a bottle, and give it to him that way.

Answer 14

If he's nursing for 15 minutes, he's getting the majority of what's in your b*****s, since he gets most of it after the let down.  He's reducing it because he's getting solid food.  If you want him to get more, you can sneak some into his cereal or into mashed potatoes if you give those to him.  Just keep doing it till he totally refuses, my daughter quit completely around 9 1/2 months.