16 week old ebf feeding non-stop like a newborn, feeling v demoralised

[LCRLCR]

Hi - I'm feeling very tired and very disheartened. 16 week old DD has turned monstrous - she wants to feed all the time and I feel like we've regressed to the bad old newborn days. I'm still not yet dressed todayas she screams as soon as I leave the room and just wants to be on my boob. I know there is 4 month sleep regression - is this part of it? My breasts feel totally deflated - can I keep up with the demand? She is very cross and grumpy and hasn't stopped whinging for milk the past few days - could my supply be down, is she hungry and I am not satisfying her? She is having 4/5 feeds during the night too when it was 2 - i feel like I can't keep up.

A zillion questions I know but if someone can reassure me that this is normal behaviour that would be great as I am having a serious loss of confidence in my breasts right now. Plus she is a bottle refusnik so DH can't help out with expressed milk either.

With both my DD and DS I was on my knees with the 16 week growth spurt. Like you I had heard of the 4 month regression but hadn't expected it to be like someone flicking a switch and having a newborn feeding again.

With my DD it lasted about a week and a half but with my DS it lasted weeks and weeks - I've never been so close to giving up bf for formula. The good news is that IT WILL PASS. Just do anything you can to stay sane in the meantime!

Meant to say, in my experience (am no expert) it is highly unlikely that your supply is down.

If anything you are probably making more than ever before its just that as soon as you are making it she is drinking it and then wanting more and more so it feels as if you never have any milk. Remember demand = supply in all but a very rare few cases, you just need to give it time to settle down. Send DH out for choc and trashy magazines and sit it out!!

It is exactly like having a newborn again isn't it! DS was fine at 16 weeks and I thought I'd got away with it but at 18 weeks he suddenly started feeding every 2 hours day and night.

It's a growth spurt and it can be really hard, but it does pass, I promise. Don't feel disheartened - it's very common.

my ds has been like this from birth (apart from a 2 week break @ 10 weeks when he was an angel) he is now 21 weeks, and finally settling. the only thing i could do to get through was for my DP to take the nightfeed so i could get at least 2hours sleep uninterrupted. the two of them get up and have some father-son time. if my DS doesn't feed then my partner will wake me up with cup of tea and warm slippers and i take over. My Dp also does this on his days off, and my mum will occasionally take my son on long walks, good exercise for her, fresh air for him and peace for me :)some time its nice to be able to miss your child.

OP, sounds totally normal (if absolutely hell). Have you seen the 4 month support thread?

I'm right in the middle of this crazy growth spurt too and find that chocolate cake helps a lot.

Yes completely normal. It will settle back down, however there is another one at 20 weeks!

Just keep telling yourself "this soon will pass" and have a packet of chocolate hobnobs.

You are doing fab :)

Oh my God - That made me feel SO much better! My DS is 17 weeks and for the last week he has been waking for feeds every hour and a half. I breast feed him over night from his bed time feed to first thing a.m and had started to panic that my supply was down - he is ff during day as of 3 weeks ago when I had to leave him al day with dh (don't know why I feel need to justify that but still...). Unfortunately this lack of sleeping and snacking through the night has coincided with him being realy constipated and I thought the two were linked, but maybe not? (I just posted the not pooing problem on the health thread).
Sometimes it's good to hear that you're not the only one up most of the night freezing your boobs off and repeating the phrase "Why are you so hungry? You used to sleep through!"!