BF, BLWers - are you still feeding a lot at night?

[Highlander]

DS2 is 9 mo and can handle solid finger food pretty well. He doesn't seem to eat very much though! He only gets fed at mealtimes if what we are having is appropriate. Usually has a big BF at breakfast time followed by a finger of toast that he rarely consumes.

Feeds a lot during the night - every 2 hours at least. Now and again he'll slip in a 3 or 4 hour stretch.

Does concern me a wee bit that he's not eating much, but I'm not comfortable about ditching night feeds until he's about 14 months.

[BabiesEverywhere]

How many day feeds is he getting ?

[thequeenofcontradiction]

My DS is 9mo too and wakes for a night feed about every other night. He still has about 5 bf during the day, but he eats loads - for example, for breakfast he will have a banana and a slice of toast, then a BF an hour later.

Don't have any advice, just thought I'd share!

[PrettyCandles]

I have one of those. (He's not technically BLW, but often I won't bother feeding him his meal, just let him get on with it, so I call it BLW.) I've not noticed a difference in his appetite whether or not he's just had a bf, nor in his appetite for boob after meals. OTOH his big sister's appetite was definitely affectd by boob, and I would try to leave a gap of an hour or more between boob feeds and solids feeds.

IMO feedig through the night is a sleep issue, not a hunger issue. He has a sleep association ie he's feeding himself back to sleep everytime he comes into a light sleep at the end of a couple of sleep cycles. This is exactly what my ds2 is doing. He is not hungry. Dh was giving him a bottle at the first waking (10-11pmish) to give me a break. If he was hungry then he would go for longer after taking a full bottle, but he doesn't necessarily do that, and he would take more of the bottle if he slept longer than usual before waking for it, but, again, he doesn't do that.

[Highlander]

DS1 had a very strong sleep association with BF - he didn't actually take on much milk. DS2 OTOH takes on big feeds when he wakes.

DS2 will have (inc first thing in morning and just before bed) 5-6 feeds during the day.

[Highlander]

queen - did you actively restrict milk at any point

[BabiesEverywhere]

My DD use to wake up a lot at night, until I had to go to A&E and end up unexpectantly in hospital for a week.

Then she was fed watered down expressed breast milk when she woke at night(it had to be watered down as I was struggling to pump enough to keep her going) She quickly decided that it wasn't worth waking up for watered down milk and started sleeping though.

She now sleeps 7.30pm to 7am (unless she is teething).

So maybe you could try something similar and get DH to offer watered down milk at night ?

[thequeenofcontradiction]

Nope, have never restricted milk, but then DS has never been a big night feeder. He more than makes up for it in the day, but I am currently happy to feed on demand.

Actually there have been a few times when he's woken in the night and I have tried a cuddle rather than a feed to get him back to sleep. Sometimes it works, sometimes he just wants his milk!

[Highlander]

cheers, guess I'll just stick with it for a few more months!

[claireybee]

My dd still used to wake 3 times a night for milk when we started weaning, she has gradually cut it down and now usually wakes once for milk. She doesn't need milk everytime she wakes but does that once so i think it must be hunger rather than habit iyswim. Just be glad you are still bf-when dd would no longer tolerate the boob (at 5.5 months) i suddenly found the night feeds a real effort, ff is soooo much more hassle in the middle of the night! I actually have to wake up these days

[terramum]

DS has never fed much in the night after about 8 weeks ...he woke maybe once every week or fortnight apart from growth spurt times until he was about 9 months after which he only woke if he was teething or having a spurt. Solids made absolutely no difference to that. He is bf several times a day at age 3 & still has the occasional growth spurt during which he starts waking in the night for a feed....bfing just makes those time much easier to cope - he has a feed then either goes straight back to sleep or comes in bed with me....not quite sure what I would do with him if I didn't bf!

[PutThatInYourPipeandSmokeIt]

Yes! 10:30pm, 2ish and 4 ish and then 7ish - 6.5 months old. Def not getting enough solids down her to make a serious dint on her milk consumption though.