Expert help needed for 10 month old

[@llli*joyofcooking]

My daughter will be 10 months tomorrow. She had a double ear infection 8 days ago as well as flu like symptoms, fever, cough, sneezing, runny nose etc..She is on amoxi for 10 days. 2 more days to go. She is feeling a 100% better as of a few days ago. Throughout her illness she still nursed and ate solids like a champ. She nurses every 3 ish hours.

The problem, or maybe not a problem is the past two days(after she has felt better) she isn't interested in nursing. She would latch and suck for a minute and not want to be bothered. Then maybe the next feed she would eat, and the next she would not be interested. Is she telling me she doesnt want to nurse anymore every three hours but maybe every 5 hours. I dont know what to do. Leave it alone. Follow her cues!

I did try taking her into a dark quiet room to see if that was it and same. So I know she isnt distracted.

She is a quick nurser in general...usually done in 3-4 minutes.

How often should she nurse now? She eats three solids.

[@llli*joyofcooking]

Oh and she isnt currently showing and signs of teething. Her top four teeth are in and her two bottoms are in. Her mouth doesnt show signs of new teeth coming yet.

[@llli*lllmeg]

You can nurse as often as you and baby like at this age, there is no one right number. Certainly a good deal of your baby's nutritional needs would still ideally be met from breastmilk until at least 12 months. A baby will typically be able to get lots of milk quickly at this age, so nursing sessiosn could naturally shorten, but baby may also sometimes want to nurse for longer as a comfort measure, (and this also helps baby get enoguh overall and keep supply appropriate) so it's normally all over the map at this age.

Is it possible that your baby was nursing a lot for comfort when ill and now it seems like much less by comparison? Also nursing frequency will increase, decrease, and increase again many times as a normal pattern after 6 months or so. So there is a good chance this is just normal.

Since you are concerned, and baby has been ill and is teething, you just want to make sure this is not turning into a nursing strike. I would suggest not worrying about the length of time between each nursing session or how long each one lasts, but instead watch your baby, offer to nurse at the earliest cues, offer to nurse additionally whenever you feel like it, and alow baby to nurse as long or as short a time as she wants when she does nurse. Keep solid meals complimenatary to nursing, rather than substituting for nursing sessions. At the same time, maybe keep a tally in your mind of how many times a day (24 hours) she is nursing total, just to see if she continues to quickly reduce the amount of times she is nursing.
PS YOU are the expert on your baby

[@llli*joyofcooking]

She didnt nurse anymore or less while she was sick. She was still consistent always has been. I have never noticed an increase or decrease. Its only after the illness that she seems to careless about it. Like just now, we always nurse about 4ish and then her solids (dinner) would be about 5:30. She nurse for a minute and said that its. Just wanted to make sure I am she is getting enough. I counted at yesterday she nursed from 12am to 12pm about six times, that doesnt include the two times where she nursed for a nano second.

[@llli*lllmeg]

Well your baby is unusual to have a nursing pattern that consistent all this time, so maybe she is going to change things up a bit on you now! I think it’s likely normal and fine unless there are lingering issues from the illness maybe, and you are headed to a nursing strike, so just watch for signs of that while letting baby nurse as she likes/offering as you like. It’s often counterproductive (and usually fruitless) to pressure a baby to nurse, however there are plenty of ways to gently encourage more nursing if you like. See http://kellymom.com/bf/concerns/child/back-to-breast/

Also a general recommendation when starting solids is to nurse baby just prior to the solids "meal."

[@llli*joyofcooking]

Oh I didnt know that. My pediatriciam told me to nurse an hour or so before or an hour or so after. thanks for the site and your advice!

[@llli*lllmeg]

Well it's going to be individual when exactly it works for you to time nursing around solid meals. it's not an exact thing. But the general idea is to try to not reduce nursing at all due to solid "meals" (especially if weight gain or milk supply is a concern) as solids are more for experimenting prior to a year.

[@llli*djs.mom]

I was thinking that she may be associating nursing with pain because she had a double ear infection. Is it possible there is still fluid inher ears and it's causing her pressure when she lays down?

[@llli*joyofcooking]

Got her ears checked and all cleared. Ped told me to follow her cues and not worry. Sh said if sh is getting 4 good nursing sessions in 24 hours then she is fine.