16 wo crying during evening feed - top up?

[titferbrains]

4 mo growth spurt I know

He feeds for a good while at bedtime then seems to get upset. So now crying when put to breast after about an hour of feeding. I normally feed him to sleep so what do I do now? He isn't crying at the mo but he needs to go to sleep! He's on my lap watching me type... Other feeds all fine but very frequent day and night. Ebf and I don't want to top up. But it's very upsetting seeing him upset every night. Feel like I'm doing something wrong.

Struggling to find enough time to express to top him up at this time but top ups that have done don't seem to make much difference. I can only get about 25-30 ml per session. I know this doesn't indicate supply.

So he doesn't seem to want to feed but you think he needs to feed to sleep? I would say you need to find another way of getting him to drop off rather than worrying about top-ups. I'd use a sling and just walk, rock him down but you might want to try putting him down awake too.

Their sleep changes all the time and 4 months can also be a time of big developmental changes which can keep them awake and tire them out = fun! Nothing lasts forever...

Agreed with Albrecht.

My ds is 16 weeks on tues and this is exactly what the last 2 nights have been like for us. The first night I put him down awake and after a bit of grizzling he settled himself to sleep. It didnt work tonight though, he just revved up to a full blown cry so I went back upstairs and fed him for ten more mins with the lights off and then he was asleep. I worry so much about feeding to sleep, I do it every time he wakes up in the night too, but it seems like the only way to make sure anyone gets any sleep at the moment. Sorry none of that really helps just wanted to say you're not alone.

Are you eating/drinking/sleeping enough? I found if I got knackered/hungry/thirsty I had bugger all milk come bed time. A bit more rest and really healthy drinks and snacks might help as well. Fruit smoothies with yoghurt and some oats or seeds in are really good- tinned or frozen fruit are great for that.

I also didn't feed to sleep after the first few weeks- putting them down awake helps some children with good sleep habits. I never let him cry but he grizzled to sleep- you can tell the difference. We used to get 10-20 mins snorting and grizzling, one loud cry out then snoring .

Is he too tired to relax? I remember DS going through this and we had to tweak the time of the last nap and bedtime so he wasn't getting too tired. If we left it too long he'd pass out feeding then wake after 45 mins and be impossible to settle for hours.

Any suggestions for how much time between last nap and bedtime ?

I'm struggling to keep to any routine because naps all over the place, I am taking what can get in the aft then I wait till I think he's ready to sleep. I try to start bedtime feed betw 630 and 7.

I feed to sleep for all sleeps, am a bit scared to try putting him down awake. Going to try pu/pd this wk after dd goes back to nursery

We went for making sure DS woke from his last nap two hours before target bedtime. So awake by 5pm and last feed after bath etc started at 6.15pm and aim to be asleep by 7. Could sometimes be hit and miss if naps were off though!