Night weaning, possible formula for last feed?

[Sparrowlegs248]

Ds is 6mo and ebf. Just started baby led weaning. Is on the boob all night. Probay feeds properly 3 times but he wakes every bloody sleep cycles searching for the boob. Often brief suckle then asleep, or more prolonged comfort sucking (not swallowing) I am shattered and back at work in 12 weeks. We co sleep.

I wondered whether to give formula before bed. In a sippee cup as refuses bottle. If so, which formyla?

Or, hope it improves with more food being eaten. I feel this is unlikely.

Or try to do some nightweaning. I have read Dr Jay Gordons ideas, he says not before 12 months though. I dont want to cut all night feeds but uf i could get to two a night i would be thrilled!

[onesteptotheleftofme]

We had a similar problem. I realiswd my boy was feeding less in the day because he was filling up at night while co-sleeping. So now we give a bottle at 7pm, then a bf if he still seems hungry or won't sleep. He's in his own room. We don't co sleep anymore.
Ok we've only been doing tjis 5 days but he's gone for 7/8 hour stretcjes that he never did before, and when we co slept he'd wake and feed every1-2 hours. Start on a weekend on a day when you've been able to have a lie in.

[Sparrowlegs248]

Is he just not waking at night now then? I am lucky in that i don't have to get up, yet. Dh is up at 4 five times a week and 5 & 6 one day each. So early start every day!

How much formula did you give?

[Sparrowlegs248]

Oh and how old is your son? Thank you.

[onesteptotheleftofme]

He is 6 months. We make up 8ozs of formula (or breast milk if ive expressef enough over the previous few days), he takes between 4 and 8ozs, depending on when he last bf (could be 3 hours or 30 mins).
My partner gets him to sleep by 7.30, at 8 or 8.30 he wakes up and i bf him to sleep, he's usually asleep by 9/9.30.
He has woken up at variable times. One night at 5am. One night at 6am. One night at 1am, fed for 30 mins, then again at 3.30 for a 20 min feed. I count feed lemgth as from latch on to when he removes himself, he's not swallowing for all that time.
He has been waking for the day between 7.30 and 8.30.

[onesteptotheleftofme]

We also started BLW last week, but he hasn't really got the hang of swallowing yet!

[Sparrowlegs248]

No e are the same with blw , i have tried porridge twice, mashed potato and mashed carrot/swede which he is just not interested in. He wants to gear and gnaw at stuff.

I think i will get a fast flow teat and try the bottle again, otherwise formula in cup. Worth a try!

[onesteptotheleftofme]

Cucumber sticks and steamed brocolli have gone down well here. And yoast.

[Sparrowlegs248]

I tried those to see if he'd prefer the spoon but clearly not. He loves banana - i give him the whole small banana with an inch of skin trimmed off at a time. And slices of nectarines were good too - skin on, he slurped the juicy flesh off. :-)

[unimaginativename13]

I thought BLW wasn't mashed up food, I thought that was the point of it??

[onesteptotheleftofme]

Its wharever you eat, so if you eat maahed spud give them that alongside solid pieces
Also let them choose how much to eat and let them control what goes im their mouth.

[hazelnutlatte]

Op I'm considering doing something similar for my 7 month old. She was sleeping pretty well until a couple of months ago, usually asleep by 9-10pm then wake once somewhere between 3-5am. Since then she has been waking more frequently and also I'm having difficulty getting her to go down for the night. A typical night will be bed at 9, wake at 9.30, bed again at 10.30, wake at 11.30, at which point I give up and we co sleep for the rest of the night, and she feeds another 3-4 times through the night.
I think the problem is she is just not interested in breastfeeding during the day. There is too much else to look at / play with and since we have started blw she is even worse as she loves food but can only manage to eat minimal amounts so it doesn't fill her up!
I'd love to know if anyone else has had success in introducing a bottle in similar circumstances. She has taken the occasional bottle in the past but is not especially keen. One thing I'm worried about is that giving a bottle a day will make my milk supply dwindle, and then I'll end up having to bottle feed at night too! The one thing stopping me going insane at night is that I can feed lying down with my eyes closed!
Anyway it's good to see that others are having similar issues, I feel sad at the thought of giving her a bottle when breastfeeding is so comforting for her, and it's possible the reason she is waking is due to another issue entirely (teething maybe).

[onesteptotheleftofme]

hazelnut - we had the same situation and we have successfully introduced one bottle at 7pm, see my post above. I pump at this time to keep my supply up, but honestly even if is topped pumping I think my supply would adjust and if we went back to bf at 7 my supply would go back up. It's the night feeds that are most important for keeping up your supply anyway.

I feed laying down in the afternoon (in the dark to avoid distractions) if I can to fill him up, ensure a nap and give me a rest. Today he was on for 1.5 hours. Not full on feeding all that time, but def doing plenty to keep my supply up.

[Sparrowlegs248]

unimaginative you are right - I meant i had tried those things to see if he swallowed/ate more being spoon fed. He didn't. He's had loads of other stuff doing BLW .

[Sparrowlegs248]

I think i might be having a supply issue. Yesterday afternoon he fused quite a bit before his nap and when i tried to hand squeeze a bit of milk out there was nothing. I hadn't fed for a couple of hours. He swapped sides several times and eventually went to sleep.

Bedtime was early last night - 6ish. He was tired and ready for it. He woke when i put him.in the cot so i fed again for a bit then resettled him. Slept til 9.45. He normally just wakes for a feed but last night he was wide awake. Fed loads, both sides for ages. Then slept til 12.45 This is a HUGE improvement.

So now i have the dilemma - give bedtime formula to fill him up and possibly affect supply further.

Or try to wake him properly to feed for llonger. The rest of the night was better but not fantastic - it gets worse as the night wears on. I was asleep when dh got up at 4 which i haven't been for the past few weeks.

Re the supply issue though - surely all this nighttime suckling should be increasing it!

I have read on another thread what people do to increase supply, it sounds like you have to devote your whole life to utter for a few weeks. I don't think inhale got it in.me.

[onesteptotheleftofme]

re the supply issue - expressing is no indication of supply. 2 days ago I had a very full breast, I could express nothing from it. My boy drained it in 3 minutes.

It might be worth you going to the infant feeding board to discuss the feeding. You could suddenly have had a reduction in supply, but I believe that is a very rare occurrence. Is the baby still producing plenty of wet nappies? Pooing as normal? If yes and he doesn't seem dehydrated then he'll be getting plenty of milk from you.

[Augustwedding]

I ff my baby and he still wakes twice in the night to feed! We and everyone I know use aptamil first milk.

[hazelnutlatte]

Onestep I wish I could feed lying down in the day time, a daytime nap for me would really help with the sleep deprivation! Unfortunately I have a 4 year old to keep entertained.
OP I've never been able to express much, I don't think my supply is especially great but dd has been growing well (although she feeds for hours at a time). I don't think the amount you can express is a good indicator of supply though.
I tried a bottle last night - 5oz at 7pm. She slept from 9pm - midnight which is slight progress but then was up multiple times in the night as usual. I could try a bigger bottle but it took a while to convince her to drink the 5oz!

[onesteptotheleftofme]

hazel - ah, that would be a problem!! My 6 month old feeds well in a mei tai carrier while i walk about. (i've gone peak MN now haven't I).

[Sparrowlegs248]

I can never express a lit but before a feed can always make a squirt of milk, and if he comes off often spray involuntarily. After a feed i can't 'squirt' (its how check to change sides....... So to get nothing out at the start was a concern. His nappies are wet, possibly not changing as much as before though. I don't think he's dehydrated, i just don't think he's getting a full tummy when he goes to bed.

Tonight i am going to try and properly wake him rather than just feed back to sleep and hope he feeds for longer again.

I might try that for a few nights before giving formula.

august twice a night sounds bliss!

[onesteptotheleftofme]

I've just realised we're on the infant feeding board. I thought we were on the sleep board. I'm so sorry.