Is this ruining my supply?

[APixieInMyTea]

About a week ago I started giving my 5week old a bath, change and feed at 5.30pm and getting him in his Moses basket for 6pm.

This was so I had a full hour to spend some one on one time with my toddler before his bedtime at 7pm.

The first few nights the baby would then wake up around 7.30/8pm and I'd just bring him back into the living room to feed until I went to bed then we'd co-sleep and he'd help himself through the night.

However, the 'routine' must be settling him very well because from him going to bed at 6pm he's sleeping until midnight (ish) having a 20minute feed then sleeping till 6am.

I thought this was great but noticed today that he doesn't seem satisfied with his feeds anymore and my breasts just seem so empty and I'm wondering if him not feeding through the night is affecting my supply and if I should be waking him up to feed?

Just as a side note, he has no routine as such during the day, he sleeps when he wants and feeds when he wants which is around every hour and half or so for 20-30minutes at a time. Does this mean he is just getting all he needs during the day so he doesn't need so much at night and will this keep my supply up or, like I said above, should I be waking him up in the night to feed?

In what way does he not seem satisfied? Could it just be that breastfeeding is established well and supply has adjusted to demand, so that's why your breasts feel softer?

If everything else seems fine and he's gaining weight etc I would be reluctant to wake him.

if he was not satsified he'd not sleep for so long at night.

MoonUnitAlpha I latch him on, he takes a couple of sucks, gets frustrated, starts pulling on and off, crying, falling asleep then 5 minutes later the whole cycle starts again. This has only been today though but can't think of anything else that could be wrong with him. I try winding him, changing sides after a couple of cycles of the above but he just seemed really unsettled every time I tried to feed him.

MumNWLondon. You have a very valid point but it's my supply I'm worried about. The fact he's sleeping so long is great for me, it's been a very tiring day with his fussing, I'm just tin king it might not be great for my supply.

When I BF ds1, I knew no-one and nothing about BF and had to rely on my HV's advice who said giving up BF at 6months is perfectly normal and that he needed formula from that age for the extra vitamins. It wasn't until months later that I found Mumsnet and learned that this was a load of crap.

Feeling guilty that I did something that felt completely wrong (giving up) and didn't do my own research and followed my own instincts is making me completely determined to do it right and for much longer this time with ds2 hence me worrying that it's already going tits up.

My DS2 slept from 10pm to 7am from 8 to 16 weeks and I don't think it affected supply. Do your breasts feel full in the morning after 6 hours of not feeding? Mine were initally rock hard in the morning but after a week or so of him sleeping all night they were quite soft in the morning too. At 16 weeks he had a growth spurt and woke up every night until weaned at 6 months.

Sounds like growth spurt type fussiness, which isn't anything to do with not being satisfied. If he wasn't satisfied, I'd expect to see weight loss and more frequent night waking. As long as you are feeding as often as he wants, for as long as he wants, and there isn't a known medical problem causing him to be very sleepy, I'd just enjoy it.

Kellymom has information on fussy feeding and growth spurts as well as supply issues.

Sounds like you're doing a great job. :)

Not an expert, but breasts do soften once milk supply is more established. When they feed directly from you, you can't gauge how much they're taking, but it's usually more than they would take from a bottle of expressed milk.

I'd agree with the poster who suggests that a baby who sleeps for a 6hr stretch at night is clearly satisfied. But if it put your mind at rest, you could try latching him on in his sleep around 10pm for a "dream feed". Personally I never tried to wake a sleeping baby, but you could try that. It would possibly mean him waking after another 6 hours (around 4am) for another feed, as you could disturb his routine.

You could try offering a second breast at each feed - that's a good way to stimulate your supply.

Sounds like you're doing the right thing though - feeding on demand during the day. Keep going with that and things should be fine. It's likely too that he'll wake more at night during growth spurts so maybe you should make the most of having a bit of kip!

Hope this helps.

if he is fine within himself - alert, weeing, pooing, growing - then all will be absolutely fine. at this stage, your supply is more established so can go up and down according to how much he needs. the behaviour you are describing sounds like he has been sleeping and growing, and now he needs more milk again so is feeding like a mad thing to up your supply ready for the growth spurt that is coming.

my ds used to pass out after a bath at 6/6:30 and would often sleep till 12, 1, 2 or even 3 for a couple of months around this time. like i said, if he is fine, enjoy it, and get some sleep lol - it might all go tits up at 4 months or thereabouts when they start waking up every hour .

i've just seen i'm repeating what others have already said, sorry!

Most probably 6 week growthspurt/developmental progression. I actually used this as my routine with my younger 2, and found the 6.00pm bedtime worked great and also let me then have time to put my older one to bed. No issues with my milk supply, and like you I fed on demand in the day.