5 month DS will ONLY feed when going to sleep - sleep to feed!

[SayCoolNowSayWhip]

So in direct contravention of all the advice (!) I am currently only feeding DS to sleep. However, this is nothing to do with sleeping and everything to do with feeding!

DS has been bottle fed since 16 weeks since he inexplicably stopped bfing (was ebf up till that point). Has been fine and putting on weight well, but the last couple of weeks it has been increasingly difficult to get a bottle into him unless he is just falling asleep.

He still has a couple of night feeds, which I am trying to lessen in the hope that he will be hungrier during the day. But he will not feed when he wakes up in the morning (6.30-ish) even if he has not had any milk since, say, 2.30am (like last night) and will only take the bottle when I'm rocking him off to sleep for his nap. The rest of the day follows a similar pattern.

Basically, should I just continue with this in the hope that it will change? Or do you think I should try something drastic to change it? Any advice welcome!

We also fed on waking, but DS1 fed to sleep naps and night til about 9 months, when it all stopped working.

I know LO's who don't have their first feed til quite late. Is he getting the right amount of milk over the day? In which case I wouldn't worry about the timings, unless you want to stop the night feeds. If he's not hungry in the morning, what about not feeding at 2am? He's going 7 hrs with no milk, so why not try for those hours being 12-7?

Thanks for the reply. That's a good idea, will try that tonight. Last night he didn't take much at 2, so might be able to fob him off with some water and a dummy....

Hiya

My 5mo is exactly the same. He had a similar phase at 3.5mo which settled back but this one seems more permanent (gone are my happy public breastfeeding days!!!). Although have you read the WonderWeeks? Lowered appetite is apparently a symptom of a growth spurt.

I let him get on with it in the morning, think he tanks up overnight so genuinely isn't hungry till about half 10 in the morning. The rest of the time I 'trick' him. Usually by feeding on waking, but I mean straight away, so I hover over him towards the end of his nap and do no eye contact etc until I get a boob in him. If he really not had much at all then I sometimes dream feed him mid nap.

I've also found he will now only properly feed in bed, so just always feed him there, it is our feeding routine. Have you tried feeding him in the same place/way you would do if it was pre-nap?

Only one month till weaning (which I am hoping will be the answer!)