Talk to your pediatrician and tell them your concerns. I think what’s of more concern is that she still wakes for feedings at night. She should have been sleeping through the night by 3 months. Work on losing those night time feedings and you’ll have more milk for elsewhere (not to mention you’ll be better rested). If you are having trouble getting her to sleep through the night, I suggest a book called, Baby Wise. Good luck and get some sleep!
Comment by melissa on Jun 18 2009 03:11:36:
I am a mother of three and I am STILL breastfeeding my 18 month old. He only is breastfed in the early morning and before bed( I only feed 5 minute each breast and suppliment with a sippy cup of cow milk). I am wining him slowly so I don’t get any breast infections anymore. I give him anything I give my 4 yr. old and my 7 yr. old. to drink except pop/soda. He drinks out of a sippy cup and has since he was 5 months. He never used a pacifier or bottle. He was stictly breastfed becuase he refused those as an infant. You don’t want to be increasing your milk to where you have to pump through the night if she doesn’t want to feed. Your milk supply increases the more you feed…it’s kinda like supply and demand. But talk to your doctors or contact breastfeeding support through a local hospital.
Comment by Caroline on Jun 22 2009 07:43:41:
Your baby probably eats solid foods by now, right? Maybe start focusing on finding out which her favorite foods are. If she feels full, she will want to nurse less, and maybe sleep through the night. It could be hard stopping the night time feedings for the first few nights, but she may, like my son, begin making up for it soon by eating more during the day after getting used to not nursing at night. I nursed my son until he was 2 years, before bed and at night… and he had terrible dental problems at age 3 – his dentist says nursing late and all of that milk left on his teeth all night had a lot to do with it. Yikes! Good luck.
Comment by Kathy on Jul 06 2009 10:28:55:
I’m not sure about your particular adversion to cow’s milk. If your not vegan, and just worried about the hormones, there are often times local small dairy farms where you can get more “pure” milk, if that’s an option for you. I can get some around here for about $5 a gallon, which we did for a while.
As far as other liquids, do you do juice? My now 10 year old only drank juice and breast milk…never touched milk until she was 5 – just didn’t like it – and when I weaned her at 11 months, it was just juice. Her peditrician wasn’t concerned about her calcium intake as she ate enough cheese type products, but we did go through juice (100% apple or pear) quickly. Toddlers don’t need that much straight juice tho, so we would give her about 10 oz of water, and 2 oz of juice per sippy cup so that she wasn’t getting too much sugar from the juice. My now 21 month old is doing the same thing, but she does drink 2 cups of milk per day too…and about 40 oz of watered down juice.
Comment by Mama Badger on Jul 14 2009 12:19:17:
I’m not necessarily sure what your end question was. Do you want to stop the night feedings? Or are you just worried about how much the baby’s eating?
I would think the problem with your milk production is that she’s probably not nursing that much at night, which is slowing your production. Every time she just takes a “nip” at night, it’s signaling your body that she needs less, and so it will produce less, regardless of the time of day.
It does sound like she’s ready to give up those middle of the night feedings. Maybe limit her to feeding before bedtime and when she wakes up, and just soothe her in the middle of the night when she wakes up.
At fifteen months, though, most of her nutrients should probably come from other foods (even bottle fed babies lose the bottle at a year, usually). Talk to your doctor about making sure she’s getting what she needs from a variety of sources.
Comment by aimeecovert-resident mom on Jul 25 2009 03:49:29:
ok, if your worried about giving your baby the proper amouts of nutrition there are actually some really great soy formula’s out there,,, my daughter is lactose-intolerant so i started the soy formula and its great, plus your child is over a year old, its not going to hurt to start with soy formula, even just soy milk is good as long as your giving them the proper foods as well, also try to put them on a scedual to eat , and then brush there teeth and rock them to sleep if you need to, ….and to kathy,,,this may be harsh but your a fool for giving your child only juice, i feel aweful for your child and how youve probably caused serious damage to there teeth!!!you should not be giving advise to anyone
IMPORTANT: The information found on this website, including that provided by experts and community members in the "Get Answers" section, is to be used as an educational aid and not as a substitute for medical advice. Always consult your personal physician or healthcare provider for treatment, advice, and diagnosis of a medical issue. Do not wait for a response from our experts or community members before such consultation. New Parent Media is not responsible for the accuracy of statements or opinions expressed on this website. Please refer to our Terms of Service for a full disclaimer.
Your source for the latest breastfeeding information from the experts. PLUS: Ask your breastfeeding questions, give answers, read tips from breastfeeding moms, and more! »
Get Our Newsletter! 
Print
Comment by Kate on Jun 15 2009 08:00:57:
Talk to your pediatrician and tell them your concerns. I think what’s of more concern is that she still wakes for feedings at night. She should have been sleeping through the night by 3 months. Work on losing those night time feedings and you’ll have more milk for elsewhere (not to mention you’ll be better rested). If you are having trouble getting her to sleep through the night, I suggest a book called, Baby Wise. Good luck and get some sleep!
Comment by melissa on Jun 18 2009 03:11:36:
I am a mother of three and I am STILL breastfeeding my 18 month old. He only is breastfed in the early morning and before bed( I only feed 5 minute each breast and suppliment with a sippy cup of cow milk). I am wining him slowly so I don’t get any breast infections anymore. I give him anything I give my 4 yr. old and my 7 yr. old. to drink except pop/soda. He drinks out of a sippy cup and has since he was 5 months. He never used a pacifier or bottle. He was stictly breastfed becuase he refused those as an infant. You don’t want to be increasing your milk to where you have to pump through the night if she doesn’t want to feed. Your milk supply increases the more you feed…it’s kinda like supply and demand. But talk to your doctors or contact breastfeeding support through a local hospital.
Comment by Caroline on Jun 22 2009 07:43:41:
Your baby probably eats solid foods by now, right? Maybe start focusing on finding out which her favorite foods are. If she feels full, she will want to nurse less, and maybe sleep through the night. It could be hard stopping the night time feedings for the first few nights, but she may, like my son, begin making up for it soon by eating more during the day after getting used to not nursing at night. I nursed my son until he was 2 years, before bed and at night… and he had terrible dental problems at age 3 – his dentist says nursing late and all of that milk left on his teeth all night had a lot to do with it. Yikes! Good luck.
Comment by Kathy on Jul 06 2009 10:28:55:
I’m not sure about your particular adversion to cow’s milk. If your not vegan, and just worried about the hormones, there are often times local small dairy farms where you can get more “pure” milk, if that’s an option for you. I can get some around here for about $5 a gallon, which we did for a while.
As far as other liquids, do you do juice? My now 10 year old only drank juice and breast milk…never touched milk until she was 5 – just didn’t like it – and when I weaned her at 11 months, it was just juice. Her peditrician wasn’t concerned about her calcium intake as she ate enough cheese type products, but we did go through juice (100% apple or pear) quickly. Toddlers don’t need that much straight juice tho, so we would give her about 10 oz of water, and 2 oz of juice per sippy cup so that she wasn’t getting too much sugar from the juice. My now 21 month old is doing the same thing, but she does drink 2 cups of milk per day too…and about 40 oz of watered down juice.
Comment by Mama Badger on Jul 14 2009 12:19:17:
I’m not necessarily sure what your end question was. Do you want to stop the night feedings? Or are you just worried about how much the baby’s eating?
I would think the problem with your milk production is that she’s probably not nursing that much at night, which is slowing your production. Every time she just takes a “nip” at night, it’s signaling your body that she needs less, and so it will produce less, regardless of the time of day.
It does sound like she’s ready to give up those middle of the night feedings. Maybe limit her to feeding before bedtime and when she wakes up, and just soothe her in the middle of the night when she wakes up.
At fifteen months, though, most of her nutrients should probably come from other foods (even bottle fed babies lose the bottle at a year, usually). Talk to your doctor about making sure she’s getting what she needs from a variety of sources.
Comment by aimeecovert-resident mom on Jul 25 2009 03:49:29:
ok, if your worried about giving your baby the proper amouts of nutrition there are actually some really great soy formula’s out there,,, my daughter is lactose-intolerant so i started the soy formula and its great, plus your child is over a year old, its not going to hurt to start with soy formula, even just soy milk is good as long as your giving them the proper foods as well, also try to put them on a scedual to eat , and then brush there teeth and rock them to sleep if you need to, ….and to kathy,,,this may be harsh but your a fool for giving your child only juice, i feel aweful for your child and how youve probably caused serious damage to there teeth!!!you should not be giving advise to anyone