Why is she feeding like this - can someone please help?

[bunjies]

Sorry this is long?.

My dd2 is 3 months old and from the age of 6 weeks has had her breast feeds supplemented by one bottle of formula at bedtime (7pm). She used to wake up for a feed at about 2am which gradually got later and later until she was regularly going through from 7.30pm to 5/6am. She would also be having about 5/6 breastfeeds a day. However, over the past week or so her feeding patterns have become more irregular and she has also begun waking up earlier in the night. For example, the night before last she had a 7oz bottle as usual at 7pm, woke up at 1.30am and had another feed then. I have also noticed that when she feeds at the moment she becomes very unsettled after a couple of minutes and wants to come off the breast. I then change her on to the other one and she does the same thing. I also found that the number of feeds had increased to about 8 or 9 plus the bottle at bedtime. This got me thinking that maybe her hunger at night was because she was only getting foremilk and not the hind milk due to her only being on the breast for a few minutes each time. I also wondered if this meant my milk supply had reduced despite the more frequent feeds. I did an experiment today and tried expressing to see how much milk I was producing. I was surprised and disheartened to only be able to express about 3oz whereas I was able to express about 5oz when she was very small. I thought now that breastfeeding was established I would be able to express much more. Despite her going 3 hours without a feed when she woke from her nap I put her to the breast and she did the same thing of getting unsettled after a few minutes. I then tried to give her the bottle of expressed milk and she went absolutely mental every time I put the teat in her mouth. I am starting to feel quite despondent about the whole thing as I haven?t got a clue what?s going on? Normally I wouldn?t worry as she has been putting weight on steadily and now weighs around 11lbs (6lbs 9oz at birth) but I am confused about the change in her pattern. I also started my period today - can this be linked? Is there anyone out there who might be able to help shed light on this?

[starlover]

bunjies... DON'T WORRY!

Have lost count of the number of times people have told me nt to express to see how much I produce... it really isn't an accurate measure!

If dd is putting on weight then you're doing just fine! She is probably going through a growth spurt. My ds is 3 months and has recently gone through a period of wanting feeding every 2 hours or less!!!
He has calmed down now, but did grow a LOT during that time!

[tiktok]

starlove is right - this is nothing to be concerned about. It is entirely normal your baby has started to behave like this just before you started your period....this is very common. It seems the breastmilk changes its taste in some way leading up to menstruation. It's a temporary thing. Your baby will be back to what she was tomorrow, is my bet

Also, older babies sometimes don't want to spend long on the breast.
Never ever think that what you can express reflects anything the baby gets!

[NotQuiteCockney]

You probably could express more, when she was tiny, because you were expressing more often.

It sounds like your DD is doing just fine.

[vicdubya]

Bunjies, when I got my first period after ds was born he was 5 months and he was extremely unsettled on the breast for those few days. He also woke a lot at night and wouldn;t be soothed by feeding. One night I stood rocking him for a good hour in the middle of the night to get him back off.

This had never happened before, or since!

It only happened with that first one and subsequent ones have been fine.

And I am still BF at 14 months so do just keep perservering with your usual routines and she'll no doubt settle in a day or two.

Good luck!

[bunjies]

Thank you all for your encouragement and advice. dd is still feeding in record time (I timed it yesterday - 7 mins to do both sides ) so I will see if her weight is still on track when I go to the baby health clinic on Monday. If not then I'll know something is wrong.

[Troilus]

Wow, bunjies, that is EXACTLY what happened to me. My baby is now 8 months and I only breast feed her morning and night but at 3 months she did literally exactly the same thing. Came off the breast, started waking in the night. Its a growth spurt. Stick with it and it should not last more than 2 weeks which is how long my babies lasted for. She is increasing the demand for your milk so stick with it and try not to supp with formula otherwise the supply will not meet the demand. Expressing is not a way of telling how much milk you are producing. Your baby is adept at getting the milk, you are not. I used to express for half an hour and only get 1 ounce. The fact that your baby is putting on weight is all you need to know. If your baby is going through a growth spurt she will start to feed more for a little while and wake in the night but just stick with it. I found that if I restricted her feeds during the day, instead of feeding on demand, as I had always done, she seemed to get more and be more satisfied and not come off the boob screaming etc. The main thing to remember is don't worry about your milk supply, if your baby is demanding more you will produce more - good luck!

[Troilus]

By the way, I got my first period 6 weeks after my baby was born, even though I was exclusively breast feeding and had never given her formula. I am still breast feeding her and she is 8 months.

[bunjies]

What a relief. Took dd to baby clinic this morning and had her weighed. The little blighter had only gone and put on 10.5 lbs over 2 weeks (usually it's around the 8 lb mark - she's only on the 9th centile)!!

I am so chuffed especially as I had spent the weekend worrying myself stupid that she wasn't getting enough nutrition and that she was wasting away. This was just the sort of boost I needed to keep me breastfeeding. So she's just geting hyper-efficient at feeding. Her unexplained night time wakings have gone back to normal as well although she's now caught her big sister's cold and is having trouble sleeping - but that's another story. So thanks all you guys for reassuring me nothing was wrong.

[tiktok]

Brilliant - I am assuming you mean ounces and not lbs though

[bunjies]

Ooops yes I did mean ounces.