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Weaned 6mo waking every 3 hours for milk - help.

6 replies

CinnabarRed · 10/10/2010 14:47

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.
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mustbemadno3 · 10/10/2010 22:02

My problem isnt as bad! But my daughter is 23 weeks and was on 2 meals (breakfast and tea) and this last week I introduced a lunchtime solid. I give this at 12.30 then try to give her usual milk feed around 2. But she refuses it and then milk feeds at 4. So effectively she is dropping a feed a day. But this seems to then make her wake during the night and or early morning for a feed. She takes a full bottle when she wakes so she is hungry.

Shes always woke once during the night. So to be fair solids have made little or no difference!

Do you offer the milk first then half an hour later the solid?

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NickOfTime · 10/10/2010 22:12

i don't know what to advise really - ds1 fed every 2 hours day and night until he was 10mos and i just turned the night time supply off completely out of desperation - within 2 days he was sleeping through, but your lo is too little for this.

dd2 was largely a nocturnal feeder anyway as her muscle tone was too high during the day to control her swallow, so we only fed her at night for much fo the first 18 months or so. we had to set the alarm to wake us...

dd1 (dc1) had of course done it all properly so we didn't know what we were letting ourselves in for with sebsequents... Grin

unless you cut back a bit on the food and try to top up with milk there's probably nothing much you can do - he will grow out of it eventually (or at least you can just say no, when he's a bit bigger)

it's not unusual to still be guzzling milk feeds at night at 6mos, really.

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Mumcah · 10/10/2010 22:14

Might be worth trying the milk in a sippy cup?Sounds like he really does need the milk as it has much more calories in it than the solids.

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sleepywombat · 11/10/2010 03:57

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

CinnabarRed · 12/10/2010 15:59

Since I last posted, DS2 has started refusing food as well as milk. Which scares me a bit because the pattern of loving nutrition and then going off it is exactly how he was with first breast feeding and then bottles.

I realise, on reflection, that he never makes signs of wanting nutrition, whether milk or solids, other than at night. Instead I simply offer nutrition and he takes it (on not, as the case may be).

When he doesn't want nutrition he makes it very, very clear by screaming at me. I think I may damage our bond if I keep trying to "force" milk or solids into him.

So my current plan is to go completely back to basics, be led by DS2's demands (assuming that he'll start to ask for food or milk eventually) and see what happens. I'm hoping it will sort of "re-set" our relationship with each other and his relationship with food.

I'd really appreciate any thoughts.

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babybrained · 12/10/2010 20:14

My 6mo DD grudgingly takes milk during the day, then guzzles it down before going to sleep, often 12oz. She then wakes up for more in the night, with no obvious pattern of when or how often. I think there is just too much interesting stuff going on during the day, and milk is boring in contrast. She feeds better in my room in the dark in the morning than if I wait until we're downstairs. She goes off eating when her teeth are coming through: could that be part of it?

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