Weaning at 15 weeks?

[Mads1]

Please can I have peeps opinions on this.
My DS used to sleep from around 7pm to around 7am with a dream feed at 11pm.

HOWEVER!, in the last three weeks she is starting to wake up herself before 11pm (around 10/10.30pm). I try everything to settle her and in the end have to feed her. Then there are also times when she wakes again at about 4/5am. This isn't every night but it is starting to get more frequent.

She naps 3 times a day each one about an hour.
I don't want this to continue because it will break her fantastic pattern.

My HV recommends I try and build my milk supply up in the next few days by drinking more and resting. If this doesn't work then try a teaspoon of babyrice!!! (she is taking into acount that DS was 2 weeks overdue) I really want to wait until DS is 6 months old. Any suggestions?

[motherinferior]

I would discount the fact that your nbaby was born two weeks after his due date - it doesn't mean they're two weeks 'ahead' (my younger daughter was 16 days 'early', and as far as I could see that just meant she cooked faster).

Personally I'd try to hang on.

[Mum2girls]

Well, I'll probably be shot for this, but I really don't know how anyone can have a flat rule for weaning all babies, so how the WHO can say that no baby should be weaned till 6 months amazes me. Babies are delivered after different periods of gestation, come in a huge size variance and with varying degrees of appetite, so how can one rule fit all?

[mears]

You'll build up your milk supply quicker by just feeding her straight off. I waited till 6 months to start 4th baby on solids. You need to have the mindset that you will have periods of frequent feeds which boosts supply which then settle back off again. No need for solids. Baby is asking for more feeds because she needs more milk, not baby rice. Demand increases supply, not how much you rest or drink. Have faith in your boobs

[WigWamBam]

One rule doesn't fit all, but the guidelines need to be made to fit all, so the six month figure will be the time by which the majority of babies will have developed sufficiently so that their guts can cope with food other than milk.

A baby's appetite, and how he or she is developing on the outside is no indicator of how their guts are developing.

[motherinferior]

It is grim, and I'm sorry if I sounded short; but what I wouldn't do is think of your baby as two weeks 'ahead'.

And there's a big difference between six months give or take a week or two, or less than four.

[Mads1]

Wow, you guys are fast!!

Thank you for the confidence!

You are all right. I thought about growth spurts but over a period of 3 weeks? Maybe one spurt has gone into the next (12 weeks - 16).
Reassuring to know irishbird that you have been through something similar. Has any one else?

When I say I want to wait til 6 months I mean as close to that as I can. If it has to be sooner then fine but NOT at 15 weeks!

Also (sorry to add more ) I express for the evening feed so DH can do it at (what use to be) 11pm. This supply has totally gone from 5-6 oz to 2-3 oz. Why?

[Mads1]

motherinferior... i didn't think you sounded short at all

[motherinferior]

Oooh, but I am. Five foot nothing

[Mads1]

Just thought. Should I increase the amount at the 11pm feed? I have always given 6 1/2 oz of expressed. Because the supply has dropped so much over the last week or so I have in the last couple of nights been topping this upto that amount with formula. Should I increase this amount? I thought at this age you should be decreasing the amount to finally cut it out?

[Mads1]

motherinferior.. ha ha

[colditz]

15 weeks sounds a little early to be cutting that feed out, as they then have to go 12 hours at night. I would keep giving it if I were you.

[Mads1]

Feeling really stressed... does any one else ever feel really tense and stressed at nights keeping one ear on the baby monitor praying that baby doesn't wake early? To add to it DH is really getting on my nerves because he is not the quietest of people by nature. I know we should go about as normal so DS gets use to noises but if we can help from disturbing her then we should. Sorry I just need to release some tension!!!!!!

[mears]

Mads1 - at the moment I would breastfeed instead of giving EBM at 11pm feed. Let DH do one earlier in the day. Remember that what you express is not what is actually content of the breast. Your baby may actually get a bigger feed from the breast than she is getting from the bottle because you are actually dictating the size of her feed IYSWIM?

Do you express the milk at the time of giving bottle? If so I think you are putting yourself under an unecessary amount of pressure. Express smaller amounts during the day and keep them in the freezer. If you must give EBM then defrost milk from your stock. What you express at missed breastfeed can go back in the freezer.

I personally think that giving expressed milk at bedtime can be a reason for running into ;perceived' supply difficulties like this. Expressed amounts can vary tremendously and it can knock your confidence when you get less. That in turn makes you anxious which can impact on expressing. Vicious circle.I would suggest stopping it until your supply is boosted.

As far as baby monitor is concerned, if she is able to be heard crying through wall then ditch it. If you do a search you will see that there are many mumsnetters including me who think monitors contribute to poor sleeping due to parents responding to noise from babies. If left to their own devices they may fall back to sleep.

[mears]

Do you have 2 children by the way or just one?

You interchange DS with she? Do you mean DD (dear daughter?)

[lunachic]

sounds like pretty normal times for a breast fed baby to wake and want food maybe the change is cause of a growth spurt ?

[lunachic]

ps
imo 15 weeks to early to wean id be more inclined to give formula if you have to

[hana]

at about 4 months my daughter stopped sleeping through and was waking every 2 hours. It was torture - I started solids just before 6 months and she's back to sleeping through (which I'm v thankful for!) hope you can weather out the nights....
also when she started waking up so frequently I started to cosleep with her so my sleep wasn't disturbed - her bedroom is the spareroom with her crib in a corner so I was able to do this

[bobbybob]

Mads1 - don't try everything to settle her and then feed her - just feed her - it's quicker for you and it shows her that you are responding to her needs.

it's a phase and there are loads of examples on here of babies getting out of a previously good sleep pattern at about 15-17 weeks.

At 15 weeks waking up a couple of times in the night is very normal (just unusual for you as she has prviously been such a reliable sleeper). She will get better without baby rice.

You build up your supply by feeding more, resting will make no difference, unless you rest and feed at the same time!

[Mads1]

DS???? Sorry, must be my hormones!! I meant to write DD!!

Thanks again for the great advice. I think feeding her at the "11pm" feed myself will help and not express the milk just before that time which is what i was doing.

You have also helped me confirm my belief in not giving her babyrice yet.

PS Bobbybob, what are you doing up so late/early?

PPS - she woke at 10.20pm so DH fed her and she slept through til 7.10 this morning!!! HOWEVER it could change again tonight!!!

TA

[Mads1]

When should you express during the day?

straight after a feed to ensure that breasts are emptied?

and whats the latest you can express - an hour before the next feed?

[mears]

Mads1 - there is no set best time for expressing IMO. I never expressed after a feed because I couldn't get anything out. I preferred to express inbetween feeds whenever I had a spare bit of time. I was back at work working part-time night shifts and donating milk to a special care unit so that is why I expressed. My babies only got EBM when I wasn't there to feed - it was not on a daily basis.
I even had times where I had just expressed then baby woke looking for feed. I just fed straight away. The breast is never empty and babies can get milk out even when you can't!

I usually didn't express more than 4 oz at a time. Sometimes I would only get a small amount. Whatever I got went in the fridge for up to 48 hours then I froze it in batches of varying sizes. The donor milk was frozen straight away. I got large amounts 7-10oz when expressing missed feeds at work.

If you are planning to continue giving EBM you are more likely to be able to keep ahead of yourself by stockpiling milk in advance. That means that you can then express when you miss feed then replace stock.

Hope you have managed to follow all that

[aloha]

If you want to wait then do! My dd is 24 weeks, fully breastfed and enormous. I wish she didn't wake up at night, but I have no guarantee that she will sleep through if given a teaspoon of baby rice - but I have to say, it seems extremely unlikely. It is normal to have growth spurts and feeding frenzies that come and go. Just feed her when she wakes and forget about it, that' s my advice.
Aren't (most) HV's just the crappest health professionals on earth? Where DO they get them from?

[bobbybob]

Mads, I live in NZ.