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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

baby stopped sleeping through the night

17 replies

vnique · 13/09/2006 09:51

Help! I have been breast feeding for 4 months and L has always been sleeping very well. About 2 weeks ago she started waking up at 5am so I moved the last feed a bit later which worked. Then she started waking up around 3am probably because the last feed was too late and she was to tired to feed properly. I then introduced a dream feed around 10pm which worked, until the last 3 nights when she is now waking up around 3am again... typical concern: am I not producing enough milk any more?? she's only 4 months but could it be a sign that she is ready to start on solids?? Desperate for advice as I would really need my sleep back!!! how selfish of me

OP posts:

3andnomore · 13/09/2006 10:21

Hm, tbh, I personally belief that it is pretty normal for a Breastfed Baby to still have nightfeeds when they are this young!
I don't think solids are the answer, I personally preffered to wait till they were 6month old to start weaning onto solids...but then, I never found night feeds to much of a problem, they were over and done with soooo quickly and lil ones would always go straight back to sleep!

foundintranslation · 13/09/2006 10:35

I think you'd really rather not know how many times my bf ds woke up per night until he was, oh, about 9 months or so
It's normal! She may be going through a growth spurt or her sleep patterns changing. The sleep will sort itself out again, I promise. Solids will almost certainly not help with sleeping - typical first foods actually have fewer calories than milk. Try and wait till 6 months with weaning.

VeniVidiVickiQV · 13/09/2006 10:37

THere are more calories in milk so if she was needing anything it would be more milk.

Babies go through various growth spurts and developmental phases. THe thing with b/fed babies is that in order for your supply to meet the demand, you need to meet the demand iykwim.

So feed as and when she needs to They all start sleeping eventually....(im sure someone will come along in a minute and say theirs doesnt but generally they do, ok? )

Original poster

vnique · 13/09/2006 10:38

I didn't really believe she was ready for solids, but you never know... she's always slept 10/11 hrs at night so surely something has changed!

OP posts:

throckenholt · 13/09/2006 10:41

developmental - many of them do it - I think their brains are getting so active they do not sleep so deeply. Many people start solids at that stage because they think it is hunger. It usually sorts itself out within a few weeks regardless of what you do re feeding.

Keep the nighttime wakes up low key - low lights, low voices, clam, tell them it is sleep time and try and settle again. If you can get dh to do it you may find it is not breastfeeding that is needed - just something she wants once she realises you are there.

NicSamKatie · 13/09/2006 10:42

I had a similar situation with my DD when she was 5 months. It seemed however much I fed her, it wasn't enough. So I spoke to my Health Visitor (who actually had children herself, believe me, it helps!) and she said maybe one or two spoonfuls of baby rice would do the trick. And it did . I had intended to breastfeed until 6 months, but not all babies are text book. Go with what you feel is right.

Waswondering · 13/09/2006 10:44

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

VeniVidiVickiQV · 13/09/2006 10:52

There are far more calories in milk than baby rice so i think its a fortunate coincidence NSK.

Original poster

vnique · 13/09/2006 10:55

I did notice she wasn't sleeping so deeply as she sometimes waks up, has a little moan and goes back to sleep... maybe i should get daddy to go and see her when she wakes up and see if it really is a feed she is after? I think i am going to keep trying for another few days and see how it goes, but the more tired I get the more upset I am during the day and it is not helping...

OP posts:

Original poster

vnique · 13/09/2006 11:20

Something else i should mention and I'd like your thoughts one: she is not having her daily big poos (twice a day usually) anymore, which is what also made me think she wasn't feeding as much. And the one little poo she does has gone very green... what do you reckon???

OP posts:

3andnomore · 13/09/2006 11:25

Any chance you can catch a nap during the day...or maybe get a bit earlier to bed, whilest this lasts?
NSK...hm....the weaning at 6 month is not about a Baby being TExtbook, it's about all the research that suggests that Babys are less likely to develope allergies if weaned when the gut is ready to digest it, and many other reasons!

3andnomore · 13/09/2006 11:28

Hm, gree poo can be due to infections, sometimes, but often it is due to taking in more foremilk then hindmilk, which is not as calorific (as far as I am aware) as hindmilk...so, if you feed from both sides, really make sure that your lil one gets the most from the first breast...and maybe you also want to feed more then one session from the same breast, as that will make it more likely that your Baby gets the hindmilk!
Teething can sometimes also be responsible for changes in poops!

Original poster

vnique · 13/09/2006 11:33

3andnomore, you don't want to get me started on MY sleeping problems! I sleep rather well when I am confident she is going to sleep well. But as soon as she starts a phase when not sleeping though any more, I inevitably stop sleeping well myself. I wake up before she even wakes up, wondering whether she is going to wake up or not!!!!!!!!! I am not a very good sleeper... but it's very good reading your messages ladies... it seems the common thought is that I should stick to bf and she should go back to normal...

OP posts:

LMGmum · 19/09/2006 07:03

Vnique - My 14 wk DD has done almost exactly the same as it sounds yours has. She has always slept pretty well at night and at 11 weeks started sleeping through from her dread feed at 10.30pm until around 6.30am. A week ago she started waking at 5 and wanting to feed and then it moved earlier each night until the last two nights when she is now waking at 3.30am and wanting to feed. I am trying to go with it but she is now losing interest in her feed at 7.00am when she wakes again. Also her poos have decreased in number - gone from avg 2 per day to 1 and yesterday none. I was also wondering about solids as she just isn't as contented after her feeds. I know your last message was a little while ago. What has happened to you?

threebob · 19/09/2006 07:22

4 month old babies go weird. And from reading mumsnet since ds was 4 months (now 3.6) there have been loads of threads pretty much the same as yours.

This is not to say you shouldn't have a thread BTW, just that it's developmental rather than food related and it will get better.

LMGmum · 19/09/2006 08:27

Thanks threebob - You are right I'm sure. As my mum always says babies are just unpredicatable and inconsistent. I keep trying to tell myself this but find Im always looking for a reason/answer to the daily/weekly abnormality! Will try to carry on going with it!

kiskidee · 19/09/2006 09:11

babies poo less often as they get closer to 6 months. their gut is getting very efficient at digesting everything in breastmilk. my dd, was pooing once every six days by the 5th month and up to once every 10 days is still normal for a bf baby. - when the poo did come they weren't extraordinarily big either.

forget the foremilk/hindmilk malarky. your supply sorts this out depending on how often your baby feeds. they get very efficient at feeding by 4 months too. my dd did not stay on longer than 8 mins at a time and those were the lazy feeds.

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