dd2 not sleeping though the nights and appears to be still hungry despite being weaned - what next?

[Wills]

I'll try to give a brief synopsis of all the issues that have led to my current position. My dd2 had not been putting on enough weight so I ended up seeing a paed who told me what I knew all along that she was fine, just a little small. He did however suggest that possibly my milk was a little "thin" through the stress of four months of thrush and that he was "very happy for her to be weaned whenever I wanted". At the time I had no intention of weaning her until 6 months however a week later after sleeping through the night from approx 8 weeks she started demanding a feed every two hours round the clock. Thinking that it might be a growth spurt or the fact that we'd flown to Florida I perservered for 10 days before giving in and weaning her onto baby rice just once a day. 3.5 weeks later although she will now go up to 4 hours between feeds she will not go through the night. Since she managed it happily for nearly 8 weeks it would be nice to get her back into this routine. I don't think she's comfort feeding, the one or two feeds that I'm still doing during the night can last up to three quarters of an hour - which IMO suggest she's hungry. So what can I do. I've had two thoughts neither or which I'm keen on. Thought one is to increase the number of solid feeds. Not keen on this because since weaning her she's had awful wind. This could be down to a long running slight cold but I'm extremely nervous that it could also be an immature gut struggling to cope with the baby rice. Second thought is to introduce a bottle of formula. For some reason I hate this idea most of all. Again concern over her gut and allergies etc. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

I think long feeds like that can be comfort sucking not hunger. Your paed is wrong though. Milk doesn't get 'thin' through stress according to all the research. I'm not much help though as my ds was a terrible sleeper at that age, but I can send sympathy vibes! One thought: would three hourly feeds be a possible compromise between two and four hours for you? Formula isn't more calorie dense than breastmilk so I can't see how it could help. It never made my ds sleep better, though others say different.

Thanks for that aloha, I think the same thing about formula so I loathe to use it because I don't think it would resolve the issue. Cheers

My 17 week son doing exactly same. Was sleeping though and now latching on about three times during night. Often wake up in morn with him still there. Think is a comfort thing as getting plenty of milk in day. Cant offer advice but just to let you know your not alone in this

Again, can only sympathise as my 21-wk-old dd is now wanting 2 feeds during the night, when she previously slept through. I am trying to discourage this by a) offering breastfeed for a minute or so, then detaching her - sometimes this works sometimes not, b) not maintaining eye contact or talking to / smiling at her, c) keeping well out of the way and letting dh try to settle her.

I have had limited success with each of these, but am convinced that she is not actually hungry as she has a 7oz bottle of EBM/formula before going to bed at 7.30 each night.

Am actually getting quite used to the broken sleep!

Have to say that in my experience (dd now 14 months) formula did help with spacing out the feeds. Lots of people formula feed from very early on, so don't worry too much if you go that way. You don't say exactly how old your little one is but I'm presuming about 12 weeks - keep going, sleeping through should happen any day now. Are you feeding just before your own bed time? I found that eventually, if I fed my dd at 11, the times when she woke during the night got later and later, until we were doing 11pm through to 7am.

Also, if she is little, then it will take a bit longer - her tummy is smaller too.....

Also, could be early, but have you looked to see whether she's teething - that can throw everything.

Do let us know how you're getting on....

Wills - could you try feeding her 3 hourly during the day so that she needs less milk at night? Could you express milk and get you DH to do one of the night feeds? Can you feed her lying down and sleep as you do it? That is what I did when doing might feeds. I really don't think formula will necessarly be the answer - I think you would be devastated if you gave formula and it didn't solve the problem. When do you give her the rice? If it is at bedtime, try moving it to teatime. Some people have noticed that rice later in the evening or at night time leads to increased wakening.
Don't agree with 'thin milk' statement but other than that your paed sounded really nice. I think her sleeping through the night did not help perceived weight problem - she may well be making up for lost time in the long run. She will settle again. You have done so well through all your problems - I hope you find things easier soon. Is the thrush gone?

My DD (now 24wks) had been waking every 3 hrs at night recently but I was reluctent to start weaning. 2 teeth later, she has now gone into her own room and her cot, gets herself to sleep and doesn't wake up till 4am has a feed and goes off again. she now rolls onto her tummy to sleep. I am so glad i didn't give in to the pressure from others to wean her as this has proved to me that it was other things waking her.

Good luck. i hope it improves for you soon.

Hi. DD2 is 5 months today. Mears, the thrush is still there but about to go. The thrush treatment, weaning, formula issues all feel like an enormous rock weighing me down. My gp finally relented to enormous pressure and put me on the proper dose of Fluconazol and its working - Yipeee? I hear you saying - well at the same time the gp I'd contacted privately went and did some research into Fluconazol and the levels that I'm on. I got these results a couple of days ago and they horrified me. If you contact the company that manufactuers Fluconazol they will tell you that at the levels that I'm now taking the drug there is the possibility of it causing both myself and my baby liver damage and fitting. For the first time in 5 months I'm free of pain and only have a very slight itch. I haven't blocked/engorged in over a week (whereas I had been doing it every two to three days), dd2's bottom and tongue are clear and its really obvious that my baby is finally also clear. I worry the effect that 5 months of being riddled with thrush will have done to my baby's digestive system. I worry that I'm weaning her to early despite being pushed to do so by a leading paediatrician. I worry that I'm misreading my childs hunger and that its really teething altough dd1 didn't gain her first tooth until 11 months, nor did I and nor did my dh so I seriously doubt she's teething. I worry that now that I've weaned I shouldn't stop, I worry that I'm not doing it enough (because the paed has encouraged me to go full steam ahead), I worry that I've already done damage. I'm desperately avoiding a couple of the other threads because a brief read of one of them reduced me to tears. Phew - sorry.

Since weaning dd2 went almost back to her old routine, this happened within two days of weaning its just that I'd hoped to get it all back . I think the first few threads might be right about her needing comfort but that I'm sooo wrapped up in feeling guilty about anything re: food and her that I'm rejecting that as a possibility. I will have a go a rocking her back to sleep instead of picking her up straight away and see if we get anywhere.

dear Wills...
Hang on in there. I know how you feel. Thrush ruined my early weeks with my ds and when you have it it feels like it will never end. I'm sure you have, but did you try Daktaryn Gel on your nipples/baby's mouth? it worked well for us. Hope it's finally cleared. Ours took ages to diagnose and I ended up feeling like a rubbish mum who couldn't position her baby properly as improper latching was the explanation I originally kept getting for the pain...
I'm also struggling with whether or not to start solids early with a very hungry baby. If it helps, advice seems to change every decade and my mother started us all on mashed banana and rusks from about 2 weeks! Although that's strictly against all advice these days, we're all fine strapping grown ups. I know what you mean about formula - I have a (probably illogical) aversion to it too! However many of my friends have thriving babies on either a mix of formula and breastmilk or just formula and remember you've already given your baby a tremendous start with all that breast milk. I'm sure things will sort themselves out for you soon. good luck

wills - just a thought from a completely different direction - but maybe the unsettledness and long feeds are nothing to do with hunger? could you get someone to look in her ears to see if she has an ear infection? especially if you said that she had a long running cold as well. This might bother her enough to unsettle her, and she would also be quite likely to sant to suck for ages for comfort and pain relief. Children can get sort of chronic ear infections that bother them but aren't massively painful. Would be worth eliminating anyway. I think it is odd for a baby that previously slept v well to be waking so often - it can't really be hunger I don't think?