Help! Baby not drinking enough during day.

[alessi10]

I've just returned to work and so cut back breastfeeding my 8mth during the day,but baby is now just stocking up at night. He fed at 6.30, 10pm, 12.30, 2 and 6 last night!! I've tried to get him to take formula during the day but he will not take more than a few sips from a cup and will not take a bottle (left it too late i think). He was taking formula in his porridge but for the last week won't even take this. He will only have a yoghurt for breakfast at the mo. Had resorted to spoon feeding formula mixed with banana but he isn't fussed by that either. I just don't know what to do anymore. Over the weekend we tried to cut back his night feeding but he cried and cried from 1-2am. I worry that he is geuinely hungry because he doesn't get enough milk during the day but then because he gets so much at night i guess he doesn't need it! Would really appreciate some help, as i'm really struggling now.

:( :(...and at a time when you need your sleep 'cos of returning to work, too.

One option would be to go with the flow for now - his increased waking may be a reaction to not seeing/connecting with you so much in the day. Responding to babies' needs increases their trust and confidence and this may allow him to go back to a less wakeful time. At the same time, you can ensure he has enough fluid in the day by making whatever solids he has more watery/milky by mixing what he has with water, milk, plain yog.

Now is not the time to cut back on his night feeding, I would say - it makes him distressed, as you've found.

However, you could adjust the timings of his waking - maybe feed him at 9.30 (waking him gently if needed) and then just before you go to bed yourself. That might make the two later wakings more bearable, as he might then wake at 3 and 7....which would be more like waking just once in the night. You might have to do this consistently over a period of at least a week before you decided whether it was working or not.

HTH

I think you might need to withhold the breast at night (ie offer formula) until he is happy to from a cup or bottle in the day.

If you want to keep on BFing then pump in the meantime to maintain supply. Will he drink EBM from a bottle or cup?

Also look up reverse cycling on kellymom.

Thanks for your advice, i really appreciate it. I have only returned to work two days a week so do you think i should return the day feeds on the days when i'm not at work or will that be unsettling for him on the days when i am at work?

alessi, well-established bf is v. flexible. You can bf on the days you are with him, and though you will be uncomfortable on the days you are at work, a single gentle hand express will prob keep you tolerably comfortable.

He knows he won't be bf when you are not there - not confusing him at all!

I don't understand MuminNWLondon's suggestion, sorry! This is a baby who is seriously distressed when bf is withheld at night and who is getting used to his mum not being there in the day. He is highly unlikely to be happy with a bottle or a cup at night. And who wants to be messing about with bottles and cups 4 times a night? Easier just to bf :)

Yes just let him BF to his heart's content while you are there and as it is only 2 days a week of what, 12 hours? He could just have food/water while you are away.

I agree with tiktok that withholding the breast at night is just going to makes this worse.

I suggested this as this is what I had to do to solve the problem with my DD. Basically she would not take the bottle until she was actually hungry so feeding all night just meant she didn't want to eat much in the day. Yes it was a couple of unplesant evenings - for DH mainly.

I guess its about whether the OP actually wants to move onto bottles and formula during the day (which is what I assumed from the OP) or whether she'd prefer to keep on feeding on the days she's not at work - in which case Morloth's suggestion makes more sense, esp if he will drink water from a cup.

I x-posted with tiktok, but couldn't really see why waking him to feed at 9.30pm was going to help when the OP said he fed at 10pm anyway.

You're right, MuminNWLondon - it's up to the OP what she does :)

My idea to wake him and feed him at 9.30 was just to re-jig his night waking times and make them a little more 'mother-friendly' without putting the baby under any great distress - yes, it is only half an hour away from when he would wake up naturally. That's the point - small changes, to avoid the baby becoming unhappy. The 'unpleasant evening' your DH experienced was prob somewhat unpleasant for your baby, too - something the OP wanted to avoid, it seemed from her post.

Could you try him with expressed breast milk during the day in case he'd take that more happily than formula?

Kellymom has info on reverse cycling, but the advice for working Mums is mostly geared around coping with night feeds - it doesn't seem like there is an answer to this unless it settles itself when your LO is more used to you not being there during the day.

www.kellymom.com/bf/normal/reverse-cycling.html

Thanks for your ideas. I'm confused myself so apologies for contradicting myself with what i'm saying and confusing the issue. Ideally i do want him to take formula during the day and then cut down the night feeding.Was just thinking that if i bf during the day at least he may be more full and perhaps not feed so much at night. However, i guess it is only postponing getting him to take formula.