Cluster Feeding or Comfort Sucking?

[KingfisherBlue]

DS is 6 months and up until recently has never been much of a comfort feeder. Then the past few weeks he has started waking more during the night and won't go back to sleep without feed. In the day time he also seems to want to feed more even though he's started on solids and is eating well. I've recently gone back to work part-time though, so he's with my mum or in nursery some days and he has expressed bottles then, but doesn't always finish them. He's also been growing a lot and has gone from being fairly average to quite big for his age.

I'm starting to struggle a bit, especially with the night wakings, but I don't know whether he's sucking for comfort at night or if it's more like cluster feeding. Could he be trying to boost my supply, either because he's growing or because it's dropped with me going back to work and I haven't noticed? I don't want him to get into the habit of snacking at night for no reason, but I'd hate to leave him hungry if he really needs the milk!

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

How often is he having solids in the day Kingfisher? Whilst it's perfectly normal for babies of 6 months to start waking more, too much solid food in the day can cause night waking. I think the current advice is to move to 3 meals a day between 8 and 9 months .

[KingfisherBlue]

He has his main meal at lunch (veg puree and sometimes a little protein, but we're introducing that slowly). He usually has a snack (usually fruit) around 5pm, then bed at 7:30. I was wondering if it might be to do with digestion as he sometimes cries when I lie him back down, which he never used to do. I mentioned it to the GP at the last visit, but she seemed to think it was normal.

Thanks for your advice!

[AppleMagic]

I think it's common for this to happen when you go back to work. I'd give it a bit of time and see if it settles down.