Feeding and sleeping issues

[PuppyMummy]

Hi

looking for advice on feeding and sleeping. I have a 5 month old BF (occasional expressed bottle which he may or may not take).
He is still waking every 2 hrs in the night. this has been goin on for at least 6 weeks.
I thought it was the 4 month growth spurt at first but it hasn't improved. (I hav the wonder weeks app!)

My question is, every time he wakes I feed him. Sometimes he has 5 mins and drops to sleep sometimes maybe 20 mins.
Can he really be hungry each time?
id like to try not feeding him each time but im worried he may need it?

what do people think? (im back at work in Jan so could really do without getting up to him 4/5 times a night!)

thanks

Hi puppymummy. I'm no expert but pfb is 4 and a half months. We are having the 4 month regression at the moment. I was having the same question, should I be feeding her several times in the night? We went through many weeks of her only waking to be fed once in the night. Then got back up to twice a night. Monday night I fed her once, and the second feed she actually stopped herself after 5 mins started chatting to me! Last night she went from 6pm to 5am without a feed. So I definitely think my DD doesn't need it in the night, it's more habit.

So I would ask, how long does your DS go between feeds in the day? If it's 4 or 5 hours, maybe use that as a guide in the night too. That's what I do, so if DD wakes around 10 or after I try food. Them again another 4 hours min from whatever time she last woke.
I think the boob is like cake: if you offered me cake any time of the day or night I would eat it, regardless of whether I was really hungry :)

Or I've seen other people suggest on here to either try to cut one feed at a time, so settle him another way OR reduce the time of the feed by a minute each night until hopefully he doesn't wake.

Good luck, sleep deprivation is awful isn't it x

I'm having this with mine (5mo next week) at the moment. Fed him 5 times between midnight and 6.30 last night. Other nights it might only be twice but that is rare and it is mostly at least 3 or 4. I have 2 older DC so the sleep deprivation is hideous as I cannot catch up during the day. Co-sleeping is not helping - we have been doing this since he was born and I no longer feel rested. Most feeds are 5-10 mins, but to be honest his daytime feeds are only 10-15 mins so I don't think he is feeding much less than in the day. In the day he feeds every 2-3 hours apart from one 4 hour stretch between 7am and 11am if he has a long nap.

I was actually just coming on here because I am pretty certain I am about to try a bottle of nightly formula to see if it is a feeding thing. I am feeling hugely conflicted about it and wanted to discuss it. I don't think we have a feeding problem but I have a massive sleep deprivation problem. The formula may not help at all but I am getting desperate. If he was pfb I might just live with it but I have 2 other DCs to consider too.

And I'm also back to work in January so this really needs fixing!

feel a bit better that its not just me!

during the day he still feeds every 2 hrs but is just beginning to go to 3. (he can go longer if he is napping). He also does short feeds never more than about 20 mins and can be as little as 5.

previously he was going 5 hrs at night, going down at 7.30 and not waking til 12/1ish then again at 4, so he can do it!

I have also considered formula before bed but I dont really want to, a lot of ppl are telling me to wean him as it will make him sleep but I want to do blw so I don't want to start just yet.

I am going to try him in the nursery tonight as I think sonetimes he wakes, and wakes me so I feed him. if he didnt wake me he might settle on his own. (he rarely wakes up crying during the night, just chittering!)

I like the cake analogy!!

Yes I'm trying to get him on the cot in case he's waking because I disturb him or I'm responding instantaneously when I should give him a few minutes to self-settle.

I'm so sleep deprived I can't really think through what I want/need and what he wants/needs sensibly!

Evertonmint we can compare notes then! he went into the cot in nursery today for his nap so fingers crossed!

I also 'double feed' him at bed time to try and get as much milk in him as possible because he is prone to falling asleep before he is finished. I feed off one side, trying to keep him awake for as long as possible then when he is done or falls asleep I change him (which wakes him) then put him on the other side.

I thought it had helped as he wasn't waking til 12 but the last week he has woken between 10 and 11 and yesterday woke at 9!

tricky little creatures!

evertonmint how have you gotten on?

going into the nursery has really helped. we had 3 wakeups and then just 2!. im also doing a dream feed when I go to bed. around 10ish.

Fingers crossed it continues to work!