I'm not sure where to post this query; I'm going to copy it in the Weaning and Breast/Bottle Feeding topics as well.
Apologies in advance for the length of this query, but I want to include everything that might be relevant.
DS2 started getting very fussy about feeding when he was 9wo. At that point he was EBF, but DP was giving him a bottle of expressed breast milk every evening. I kept going with breastfeeding, and took DS to every BF clinic going, until DS was 15wo. At that point our lovely and very practical HV, concerned that DS was losing weight, suggested that the problem might be my supply (we'd tried every other solution the BF experts had) and that I should top him up with a bottle of EBM after each breast feed. Well, that was it for breastfeeding - as soon as DS realised that I could give him milk in a bottle just as well as DP could he rejected the breast all together.
From 15wo to 22wo we pottered on with bottles and DS put on weight as he should. Roughly 75% of his feeds were EBM and the rest were formula.
At 22wo he started rejecting bottles too and his weight started dropping again. My personal theory is that he simply doesn't like milk, but of course I can't be sure. Over the course of 10 days, my GP and HV recommended weaning him onto fruit and veg, then dairy (because of concerns that DS wasn't taking in milk) and then meat/fish (to get some protein into him).
DS took to weaning like a duck to water. He's now 25wo, on three meals per day and wolfing them all. Conversely, he now refuses to let a drop of milk pass his lips during daylight hours, although he will take sips of water from a sippee cup. A typical day would be:
- Breakfast at 7AM - fruit puree and single yoghurt
- Lunch at 11AM - large* bowl of veg based puree such as cauliflower, tomato and cheese; large bowl of fruit puree for pudding.
- Midafternoon at 2PM - the juice of half a freshly squeezed orange given by syringe(to help with constipation which I believe is caused by lack of fluid intake during the day).
- Dinner at 4PM - large bowl of meat based puree sich as chicken cassarole; single yoghurt for pudding.
(A large bowl being 6-8 ice cubes worth of puree, broadly equivalent to one jar of 1st stage weaning food.)
I offer DS milk midmorning and midafternoon but he yells at me and won't even put the teat in his mouth. He will take c.100 ml/3 fl oz of milk just before bed at 6:30PM.
So my problem is that although he was sleeping through he's now waking for milk at around 10PM, 2AM and 4:30AM. To be entirely fair to DS, when he wakes he downs a whole bottle of c.200 ml/7 fl oz, goes back down into his cot awake and self-settles back to sleep. Each night feed takes around 10 mins from start to finish.
DS seems to be thriving on this new routine, but I'm on my knees, and have DS1 (aged 2.10 years) to look after too).
Does anyone have any experience of similar issues, or indeed have any suggestions for how I can get more milk into DS2 during the day? I dread the thought of weeks more of this, and I'm going back to work in less than a month. What if he keeps up this routine until he's a year plus?
Thanks in advance.