hmmm so whenever i offer elijah bf he feeds for at least 5 minutes - especially if he is sleepy.

my question is, how do i know if he *needs* it, he roots still if he is tired or upset but otherwise doesn't seem to 'ask' really. atm he has one bf on waking (have stopped this then started it again so im pretty sure he needs it), then usually a small one pre-nap in the morning and another slightly longer one pre-nap in the afternoon. then one long on at bedtime which im sure he wouldn't settle without.

i'm not sure he needs the 2 daytime ones really? is 2bfs a day enough? he doesn't get any formula and doesn't drink milk just yet. i am happy to continue with the 4 a day but hubby seems to feel he is able to get elijah to sleep at naptime - then i worry that he hasn't had as much milk as he needs and has just fallen asleep out of tiredness...i read that there is a certain amount of oz formula babies are meant to get at 10 months but obviously it isn't really comparable?

im not sure im explaining this well! any thoughts?

Amelia was excusively BF as she wouldn't take formula. She was having 3/4 feeds a day at Elijah's age too. Upon waking, after lunch, upon waking from her nap and then before bed. I cut out the one upon her waking from her nap 1st and gave her tea earlier. I then cut her day time one just before I went back to work 3 weeks before she turned 1. It came quite naturally and she didn't miss it at all. Then we introduced cows milk in the morning 2 weeks before her birthday (checked with the HV) and finally at 13 months I introduced a cup of cows milk before bed and she never looked back. When I was finishing BF and before I started giving cows milk in a cup I would make sure that she had at least one yogurt a day and some cheese, just to keep up her calcium intake.