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Original poster

Is it too early to try a little bit of rice milk or something to fill my baby up at night?

48 replies

flapjackaddict · 30/10/2012 20:56

Hi,

My DS is 15 weeks and EBF. However for the past 7 nights he has been waking up hourly from 2.30am - 4/5am. I can often settle the first few wake ups with a dummy albeit it takes a while to get him to sleep. No sooner do I get him to sleep then he wakes up 20-30 mins later. By 4/5am I end up feeding him and he is hungry he guzzles it down. At the same time this happened I had started to introduce a dream feed - I am not sure if it was the dream feed at 10.30pm that broke his sleep cycle to make him wake up all the time or if this was going to happen anyway.

The last 2 nights he has woken up himself now at 10.30pm for a feed and then woken up at 3.30am for a feed. No inbetween hourly wake ups.

As I introduced the 10.30pm feed this was already an extra feed during the day so if he is having this feed AND still waking up for food at 3.30am then am I right in saying my milk or his daytime feeds just arent enough? My routine is at the moment 7am / 11am / 2.30pm / 6pm / 10.30pm / 3.30am.

So should I try something extra at the 10.30pm like some rice milk I think it is called? Or top up with formula? He does take in a good feed at 10.30pm.

If it makes any difference my 15 week old baby weighs almost 16lbs so I wasn't sure if his size meant he just needed more than my breastmilk can give him?

What do you think?

Thank you for your advice.

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

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broodylicious · 31/10/2012 18:51

I second that radical - food has made no difference to dd's sleeping whatsoever. We started at 5 1/2 months after 13 weeks of pure nighttime hell - she would only sleep 30 mins at a time, wake, cry, then take 30/40 mins to get back down again. She would only sleep longer on our chests. Food actually made her worse to start with because weird stuff was happening in her tummy - and we discovered from going to see a cranial osteopath (and verified by gp) that she has silent reflux. She's down to 5/6 wake ups a night still now but generally easier to get her back down. Bloody exhausting this parenting lark innit??!!

ZuleikaD · 31/10/2012 18:59

I've never heard anyone, ever, say that solids actually helped their baby sleep, so I don't know why the myth persists.

coraltoes · 31/10/2012 21:12

Solids stopped my dd waking. She had always been a good sleeper, then around 5mo started waking repeatedly from 4am til dawn. Starting solids sorted her overnight. There you go Zuleika...now you've heard of 1 case.

BreeVanDerTramp · 31/10/2012 21:22

DC3 is 15 weeks, she feeds 2 hourly from 7am till 10.30 pm then wakes once around 4am for a big feed. She can go longer if we are in car or out with pram but normally that's our routine when at home.

She is a great sleeper compared to DSs. I found having her sleep more in the morning and more active at night helps hr to sleep better. This also works so she can kick about in the floor without her brothers standing on her

ErmahgerdBahtsErndPuhmpkerns · 31/10/2012 21:36

DS1 started waking for night feeds again when he was around 15 weeks and kept doing it until about 18 weeks. He used to feed about 3 hourly by day but with a couple of extras in the evening 5,6,7ish and had slept through from around 12 weeks.

DS2 still hadn't slept for a 3 hour stretch by 15 weeks and generally liked to feed around hourly so I never really noticed the 4 month sleep regression/growth spurt.

Both of them were weaned at 6 months, didn't make any difference to sleep with either of them.

Greythorne · 31/10/2012 21:43

More food / better food / thicker food / scientifically proven better food / whatever does NOT equate to babies sleeping through the night.

Babies wake up regularly and frequently for food, drink, human contact, reassurance. They need to be close to their loved ones and responded to.

Breasrfeeding is best done on cue, rather than on a schedule.

Your baby is doing really well.

dietcokeandwine · 31/10/2012 22:07

dietcoke - it is recommended that babies sleep in the same room until 6 months old. SIDS guidelines, so please don't recommend earlier than that

nickeldaisical - okay, fair point and taken, I should have mentioned that moving them earlier than 6 months is not what SIDS guidelines recommend. I was just offering advice based on my own experience though - same as most other mumsnet posters - and to my mind my suggestion is no different to people waxing lyrical about the benefits of cosleeping (which let's face it many mumsnet posters do, avidly, don't they?) - and SIDS guidelines don't actually recommend cosleeping either! That's not to say cosleeping can't be perfectly safe, of course, it can be (provided you take sensible precautions), it just isn't the safest as recommended by the SIDS guidelines. Similarly, having a baby in their own room earlier than six months can be perfectly safe (provided you take sensible precautions), it's just that, again, it isn't the safest as recommended by the SIDs guidelines.

But apologies to the OP, and anyone else reading this for suggestions, perhaps I should have stated explicitly that what I was suggesting wasn't actually best practice according to SIDS guidelines.

nickeldaisical · 31/10/2012 22:26

it's okay, i know you were just trying to help. :)

Rhubarbgarden · 31/10/2012 23:29

Good post, Dietcoke, and I'll back up your point because I also found both my dcs were more settled when moved to their own rooms.

Rice milk is immensely popular on the continent. It's formula with added rice. They even have special bottles for it with a larger opening in the teat. If you look in the baby aisles of French supermarkets you see racks and racks of the stuff. My SIL swore by it as she had a very hungry baby. I pulled a cats bum face when she told me, but you know what? It worked for her and does for large numbers of mainland European babies.

Op, it sounds like your problem is the four month regression, as others have said. It will pass. Hang in there.

Flojo1979 · 31/10/2012 23:33

No its too early for baby rice.
Try formula, I had a big (10 lb 7 at birth), hungry baby and went thro hell trying to fill him up and I just wish someone would have said its ok to give formula.
As soon as he had formula it helped dramatically.

tittytittyhanghang · 31/10/2012 23:48

going by experience, i found it worked. my ds drank nestle cerelac which i made with bm and gave to him in a bottle with a larger hole in the teat. He got this from about 3/4 months old. Ds1 (now 12) also used to get formula thickened with rusks when he was that age too.

coraltoes · 01/11/2012 05:36

Thickening formula with cerelac or rusks is now considered a choking hazard, so please do be careful which advice you follow...same goes for wider teat openings. I know people here are throwing out what we all consider solutions that have worked for ourselves (such as diet coke's idea)... Just pls apply your own judgement too.

Diet coke, we put dd in her room at 4mo, definitely helped her sleep better than when she could hear my DH snoring! Wish I could have joined her really!!!!

forevergreek · 01/11/2012 16:54

Just feed more often. Every 3 hrs

7am
10am
1pm
4pm
7pm
10pm

Kiwiinkits · 02/11/2012 00:53

It's not unusual for a baby to wake up hungry in the night. Most babies wake at least once in the night for a feed.

But, I agree with forevergreek. Your daytime spacing is too long for a 15 week old baby. Timing should be:

3 months = 3 hourly feeds
4 months = 3.5 hourly feeds
5+ months = 4 hourly feeds + solids

Try dreamfeed at 10.30pm.

Kiwiinkits · 02/11/2012 00:54

oh, sorry, you are doing the 10.30pm dreamfeed.

VladIIIDracula · 02/11/2012 01:22

Why do you feed to a schedule? I'm only asking because breastfeeding works best when you feed on demand, that way your supply will keep up with your baby's demand.

It is possible that your DS needs more milk than you're offering at the moment, if you offer more feeds your supply should pick up.

It was a long while ago now but I'm pretty sure my DD had at least double the number of breastfeeds during the day than your DS is having (she was also a massive baby).

ElphabaTheGreen · 02/11/2012 05:57

My five month old DS feeds every hour to hour and a half. I cannot conceive of him lasting three to four hours between feeds, even at night (much as I would dearly love him to) so just comparing with my own experience, I would definitely feed more frequently, and on demand, not to a schedule.

SurreyMummy2 · 07/11/2012 11:45

I had a similar experience with my son who is now nearly three. At 14 weeks he needed feeding every 90 minutes and he wouldn't take any milk from a bottle so it was pretty tough going! He was also still cluster feeding from 6-10 every evening.
I asked one health visitor who was obviously of the Gina Ford variety and she told me to just let him cry and not give him anything extra. As she said "like with a toddler, you would say "no, you've had your breakfast, you can't have a snack." I thought that was totally ridiculous and if my son tells me he's hungry in between breakfast and lunch then I of course let him have a snack! I ignored her and carried on with our crazy routine!
I then asked another health visitor and she said to wait until 17 weeks and then give him fruit purée / baby rice in addition to his normal feeds. I did this to the day and he ate lots of pear in one sitting and in just a few days he had gone back to sleeping through.
I think it's so easy to forget to use your own intuition as a mother - no book is going to be able to tell you if your baby is hungry but you will know if you trust yourself. We didn't read any books and we have a really happy, confident and healthy little boy. People have been having children for much longer than books or health visitors with utopian ideals have been around!
In short I would say keep going until 17 weeks then try some solids. I wouldn't be tempted to try before that because babies' tummys aren't developed enough before then, regardless of size.
Good luck!

Flisspaps · 07/11/2012 11:57

Flojo formula doesn't help with sleep. If it did, we'd all use it and get a full night.

DD was FF and woke every 2 hours.

DS was a big baby - 11lb 7oz - and sleeps far better (but not through the night) despite being EBF.

It's the luck of the draw and this sounds like the 4 month sleep regression to me.

beela · 07/11/2012 12:52

Yes, 4 month sleep regression.

We had this with DS, and by the time he was 5 months old we were totally knackered so did try some baby rice (on HV advice) at about 23 weeks but it made no difference to DS's sleep, and in fact things got worse because then he got constipated as well.

Flojo1979 · 08/11/2012 22:39

Fliss 11 lb 7, ouch!

BabylonPI · 08/11/2012 22:45

It's the luck of the draw. 15 weeks is too early.

DS is 27 weeks tomorrow and still waking at least 2 hourly to feed through the night, he is also EBF.

My two DDs were great sleepers from 8 and 12 weeks, and both were mix fed.

It really does sound like 4 month sleep regression to me.

This too shall pass - at least that's what I tell myself every night feed between between 10am and 6am

naturalbaby · 08/11/2012 22:51

feed 3hrly during the day, feed as much as possible from late afternoon until he goes to bed, don't even think about dropping/cutting down the 10:30pm feed for a few more months.

Fill him with as much milk as possible during the day from 7-10:30.

My babies all hit the 4month growth spurt early and it went on for a few weeks with ds1.

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