Reverse cycling - formula fed baby

[fattwucker]

Hi, i wonder if anyone has experienced anything similar with their lo? This is a very long post so I apologise, but I don't want to drip feed.

My ds is 5 months old and exclusively formula fed. He has always been quite a hungry baby. About 6-8 weeks ago he went through a spell of eating lots in the day, having decent 6-7oz bottles at each feed (every 2-4 hours), and sleeping well at night - even sleeping through on a few occasions, which was great. However, in the past month or more, his appetite has gone a bit strange. I have taken him to the GP a couple of times and both doctors shrugged and said he's fine. He is by no means a small baby, is alert and active, filling many nappies, and is steadily gaining weight.

I have noticed that he seems to eat the most at night, and his appetite definitely picks up in the evening in the run up to bed time (or even just after, an hour after dropping off, which is really frustrating). I do a df about 10-11pm, and then he will wake up at about 3am, both times having up to 9 oz at a time. Yet in the day, he is very unpredictable, often having as little as 2 oz each feed, even for his morning feed (which can be 4 hours after his night time feed), refusing the bottle whenever i offer it to him. I have read about reverse cycling which sounds about right, but this normally applies to breastfed babies.

This morning he went for 5 hours between his morning feed and second bottle, and didn't have much even then, so i feel like he has his feeding back to front and that if he were to sort out his feeding and switch it round, we might get a decent nights sleep at last!

My other issue is that i wanted to start weaning soon, or at least by 6 months, but my instinct is telling me that I shouldn't while his eating is like this. Does that sound right? It strikes me as a bad idea to have him filling up on puréed vegetables, as they aren't as calorific as milk?

So basically that is a very long winded way of asking what I should do! Is he likely to spontaneously sort himself out, seeing as he seemed to rather spontaneously become a big night feeder? How can i switch this round?

Many thanks in advance!

[fattwucker]

If anyone finds this thread in future with the same problem...I found that he did suddenly sort out the excessive night feeding/funny appetite himself after a few weeks. I did slightly reduce the dream feed and night feed by an oz or two, it could be coincidence but I think it made him want to eat more in the day if he was consuming less at night, and that seemed to help him get back into a more regular and predictable feeding routine. From what I've heard from friends, babies often go a bit weird with their appetite about 4/5 months.

[ttcSam]

Thank you for updating this. I’ve just come across this thread, as currently going through the same, and at a similar age. Good to know it will pass with time.