hungry bf baby - supplement with formula or wean early?

[cakesandchocolate]

My 16 week son is entirely bf, slept through from 8 weeks (lucky me, I know!). Has been waking for the last 2 weeks and feeding in the night for the last week - 3 times last night. Also have 2 year old who was fully BF til 10 months, slept through from 8 weeks and weaned at 24 weeks, so 16 weeks seems v early to me to wean. Would prefer to keep to breast milk only but am looking for evidence/advice re which way to go - formula or food! have been supplementing with bm from freezer - baby happy but still feeding 2 to 3 hourly day and night - and have nearly run out.
Any thoughts?

try supplementing with ffs for as long as poss, if in doubt speak to your hv about your options. good luck

i know some people who have ended up feeding hourly so then can get to the 26 weeks. can you not do this and then only use the EBM for when he is not with you?

It depends on what you want to do. It's perfectly possible to bf exclusively up until six months, and just breastfeed him when he wakes up at night. But if you don't want to do that, then top up with formula milk, although there is no guarantee that he will suddenly start sleeping through the night again, whatever you do.

16 wks is the time of another growth spurt so by giving formula or ebm you are not letting nature take its course.

there are also lots of developmental changes at 16 - 20 wks which also accounts for babies who previously slept thru to start waking up so hunger does not have to be the sole reason here.

something as simple as coming into a light sleep and noticing that they are alone and wanting company, plus there are physical changes like teething and reaching physical milestones.

have you thought of trying co-sleeping for even just a part of the night to alleviate the getting up?

I realise there are no guarantees!
Am feeding as regulalrly as poss in the day - have to supplement lunchtime and tea time as am completely drained and baby still hungry. I always bf before offering bottle. I realise it's possible to bf til 6 months - did it with ds1 - and would love to do this. But having v difficult time with lack of sleep and continual feeding. ds2 much bigger - 16lbs at 16 weeks - don't know if this really makes a difference or not.

have ended up co sleeping now and again, more as I am so knackered i fall asleep when feeding! But don't like to as I worry baby might overheat/get squashed and I generally wake with stiff neck and hips from sleeping awkwardly. I know a lot of people do it, but it's just not for me!

place baby on top of your duvet with a blanket. that way he won't get too hot. you can get sleep positioners like this if that would make you worry less.

you never 'run out' of milk. your 'empty breasts' so to speak needs the stimulation of your baby to make more milk. forget supplementing, just keep putting baby on as often as you can.

co-sleeping is safe and comfortable and the only way i can work full time and look after dd at night. it takes some getting used to but within a few nights you develop your strategy and start to bank some restful sleep.

i started out by just sleeping with dd for a couple hrs a night until i got used to it.

here is a leaflet to read.

I would recommend perservering with the co-sleeping too. I always swore I couldn't/wouldn't do it with my first baby but after giving up breastfeeding my second partly because I couldn't cope with the tiredness, I gave it a go with the youngest two. It does take a bit of getting used to, but after a while it becomes second nature. There's a sleep research centre at Durham University who have filmed lots of mother/baby pairs at night and have observed that the mothers sleep in a very protective way and are aware of the baby even when fast asleep.

The 'research' which has raised concerns about cot death and co-sleeping only showed an increased risk in babies under 8 weeks, and this has been strongly disputed by many people anyway because of the way the research was done.

It really does sound like a growth spurt, and if you can just get through the next week or two without supplementing things may well settle down again. It would be a shame to start weaning or giving formula and then find it makes no difference to how often he wakes!

I would disagree with the 'you never run out of milk' mantra - I understand the supply and demand relationship but there are frequently times when DS has finished feeding from me, there is no more to be had, he is fussy and frustrated at the breast and then when offered will sink a further 6 oz from a bottle - would prob take more if offered, but this is just enough to get him by til I can regenerate over the next hour or so. As I say I understand the supply and demand theory but at the minute I am just not keeping up!

cakesandchocolate - it is true that you never run out - it's just you don't believe it as he knocks down the EBM out a bottle. He will suck that as the teat is something different and he will suck it whether he needs it or not. In order to match your supply with his needs I would feed him without topping up for the nest 48-72 hours. That will trigger your breasts to build up supply. If you keep giving EBM your body is not getting the chance to respond to his increased needs. This is tiring and I managed it by taking my babies to bed at night to feed when they woke. I returned them to the cot if I woke and found them sleeping. You can feed 2-3 hourly ans still express if you want. Small amounts soon mount up to whole feeds. It all depends what you want to do really - the choice is yours. It is possible to exclusively breastfeed a hungry baby by feeding on demand. Once the milk supply is boosted the feeds space out again.

can you not have a baby moon this weekend and just dedicate it to building your supply up?

Purely anecdotally - I found that growth spurts didn't seem to last as long when I was co-sleeping. I know prolactin levels are higher at night, so maybe this is why.

Like said before, it is true you never run empty, no matter how "empty" you feel.
But the hindmilk is often harder to get too, and that can make a Baby unsettled, especially if they know that they will then be offered a Bottle that they can get down their neck much faster....
I know it can be difficult when they seem to feed a lot, but it is only a phase and will get better and it's worth persevering

cakes - most people think co-sleeping means in the same bed. Sleeping with the baby in a cot right next to you is also co-sleeping.

My DS would wake, I would pick him up, feed him and once he fell asleep again I would put him back into his cot again. He slept only a few centimeters away from me, but inside his own space. Like you I used to get worried about falling on him and the worry would keep me awake all night. With
his cot stuck to my bed, I stopped worrying about him, but it also meant I could demand feed.

I did this until DS was around 8 - 9 months old when he suddenly began to sleep 8 hours at a time. Even AFTER introducing solids at exactly 6 months he was still waking every 2 - 3 hours until he was around nine months old. I guess your baby could be going through a growth spurt and at 4 months most babies are developing rapidly which makes them more unsettled and fussy. The fussing may not all be all due to hunger.

My DS was always a small baby, but he went through all sorts of fussy stages until he was around 8 - 9 months old, then all of a sudden slept through and became a much easier baby. I moved him into his own room once he stopped waking in the night.

If you wish to keep at it until 6 months, just allow him to feed whenever he wants. Your supply will keep up. EBM and formula in a bottle will always be guzzled down, even when they are not hungry. I know this for a fact because my DS used to just finish off a whole bottle of EBM in minutes even when I was certain he wasn't that famished

Good luck !