When to drop from 5 to 4 nursings?

Hi Everyone,

I have ~8 month girls and we are just getting ready to add in a 3rd solid meal for the day, so I'm wondering at what point we can drop one of the nursings down from 5 to 4. I work in the mornings and am considering dropping the 10am feeding (see schedule below) but am wondering if it's too early to drop a feeding. One of the girls has pretty much refused to eat at the 10am feeding, so that's another reason why I figured this feeding might be a good one to drop. Since I'm doing a combination of nursing/bottles, it's hard to say how much the girls are taking in, but their diapers are wet and they seem to be happy so I can only assume they are getting enough milk. Does anyone have any comments/suggestions?

Here's our current schedule:

6:15am -- Nurse (guessing about 8-10oz)
7:15am -- Solids (starting in the next week or so)
8:00am -- Nap
10:00am -- Bottle (~3oz)
11:15am -- Nap
12:00pm -- Nurse (?oz)
12:30pm -- Solids
2:30pm -- Nap
4:00pm -- Nurse (?oz)
4:30pm -- Solids
6:30pm -- Bottle (8oz)
7pm -- Bedtime

Thank you!

 

Since they are only eating 3 oz. at that feeding, I would just trying dropping it and see what happens. My guess is they will either be fine, or they will make up for it at the other feedings.

We are in the process of dropping a feeding for our guys, too, (from 5 to 4) but they are totally bottle-fed, so we are doing it a half-ounce at a time. That is the other thing you could try. Cut that feed back to 2.5, then 2, then 1.5, etc. til it is gone.

 

I read somewhere that by this point (> 4 months) babies should be having 4 bottles a day, if their intake is sufficient. So before where I was feeding every 3 hours, we are now feeding every 4-4.5 hours. The babies are doing fine and after a few days, they didn't even notice. They are still eating anywhere from 25-31 oz/day each which is exactly in the normal range for their age AND DS eats 2 solids meals a day and DD at least 1.5 solid meals a day.

Just try it, babes adjust really quickly!

 

Umm, so am I unusual at nursing her 7-8 times per day (7.5 mo)?

6 am
8:30 (pre-nap)
10:30
1 pm (pre nap)
3
5:30
6:30 (bedtime)
2 am

Plus solids around 7:30, 4, and sometimes 5:30-6 (keeping DH and I company at dinner) and 11:30 (sharing my lunch).

Although I'm trying to reduce the pre-nap nursings so she's not reliant on me...

 

I would probably keep nursing the same amount of times and hold off on the 3rd meal. I don't think we added a third meal of solids until about 11 months. BM really is more important during the first year.