Nearly 5mo DD is keeping us awake all night feeding - help!!!!

[Enfyshedd]

I've started weaning DD 4weeks ago and in the last week she's started BFing all through the night, and I mean all through the night - I've been awake since 2am the last 4 nights running.

I think my supply is drying up and she won't take formula - advice please?!

It's probably a growth spurt and she's upping your supply. Keep going if you can, it will pass eventually :)

Likely to be the 16 week growth spurt, it's a killer. Are you giving plenty of milk in the day? Give milk about 30 mins before meals so she takes plenty.

Thought we'd had the growth spurt a few weeks ago - the lack of sleeping has never been this bad with previous growth spurts.

so you started weaning her (as in, introducing food other than milk?) 4 weeks ago, which means she was not quite 4 months old - were you advised to start weaning so early (against guidelines?)

OK, this means that she is being fed pureed stuff, I guess, as she won't be able to feed herself at this young age. In this case, she is getting her tummy filled with mushed veggies or whatever, which have nothing like the calorific/nutritional content of breastmilk, and she is probably making up for the loss of calories/nutrients by feeding more at night.

I would hold off on the weaning for a couple of weeks, and feed her more breastmilk during the day.

she is also going through a major developmental spurt and will need all the nutrients she can get

HTH

Had dropped one daytime feed about 2.5 weeks ago - think will have to reintroduce it...

She's 5mos on Sunday - started weaning at 17wks.

Did you drop the feed or did she? Try and let her make the decision if you're breastfeeding.

She wasn't appearing to be hungry after having her solids at lunchtime, so I stopped offering the BF.

you must give her milk BEFORE feeding her solids - her little tummy will be filled up with stuff that she is really too young to digest properly.

you do know that milk should be the MAIN food until she is 1 year old?

again, wondering why you are weaning so early? were you advised to do so by a medical professional?

What JellyMould said above is correct - with such a little one you need to give milk before food. They should get the majority of their calories from milk for a long time yet.
Eating at this age isn't about getting full, it's about learning about texture/how to eat. Eating for fullness comes later.
I would definitely reintroduce any dropped feeds and feed before a 'meal', then let her decide how much to take at each feed and when to drop feeds.

I'm going back to work in a couple of months - I thought it would be better for her to be less dependant on milk by then and that by introducing solids earlier but gradually would be better than waiting until she was 6 months and only having a month to start weaning her off the boob as her main food source.

I agree with the others. Milk always before food.

Weaning is initially just to get them usedto the texture of something other than milk.. it's not about filling them up. Milk should be doing that.

I'd try offering more milk during the day and cut right down on solids for the time being ...

Dropping feeds before 6 months is not a good idea at all - a nursery will feed her as much as she needs to be fed. Solids in the first year are just to get baby used to the idea of feeding - they are not there to provide an alternative source of nutrition just yet. Swap BFs for FFs by all means, but don't drop feeds at all and, if I were you, pack in the solids entirely until the recommended six months. She's got way too much going on in terms of growth and development that only the calories from milk can provide.

Op, even if you stop BFing before 1 year she will need to have formula. Solids cannot be a replacement until she's a lot older.