Help anyone??

[chevit]

Hi all,

My son is 5 months old and EBF. He's recently gone from feeding every 3 hours, to every 1.5 hours. Routine ATM is :
• 6.30am/7am wake up & feed
• 8.30am feed
• 9am nap
• 10.30am feed
• 11.30am feed
• 12pm nap
• 1.30pm feed
• 3pm feed
• 4pm nap
• 5.30pm feed
• 6.30/7pm feed
• 8pm expressed breast feed with gaviscon
• 8.30pm bed.

So that's 9 feeds a day, some are only 10 mins, in the morning and evening it's sometimes up to an hour. I can tell some times he's just suckling but not always. I do produce a lot of milk but even I don't think I make enough to keep up with his demands!

Is this normal for 5 months?

Is he teething? Does he have a cold? It might be for comfort if he's in pain or a bit poorly.

Is he big for his age? He might be angling towards more food. You could talk to your HV about introducing solids soon!

@BroccoliOnTheFloor
Thanks for replying.

He's not especially big. He's 50th percentile for his corrected age (he was 6 weeks early) and 90th percentile for his actual age.
His teeth are moving around in his mouth, we can see the little bumps, but no teeth have cut yet.
I guessed it may be a comfort thing but it's every day, for weeks! I like the routine for his naps and I don't mind the frequent feeds, but it really restricts me leaving the house during the day. If I break the routine he lets me know about it!
I'm also worrying about what will happen when I go back to work in a few months... hoping this is just a phase!

Does he have a dummy? That might help if he's suckling for comfort?

It could be the hot weather. Your milk becomes thinner more watery in hot weather as the heat makes them want and need more fluid water etc.

Could be a growth spurt. Mine had patches like this for a week or two at a time.

I started weaning a bit before 6 months (about 5 1/2) as he was grabbing for food.

Oh good point bf1000

No dummy. I was really conscious about his teeth and about him not having yet another thing to wean him off. Not going to lie, I caved a couple of times and tried a dummy but he spat it out.

Good point about the milk! Do you think offering cool, boiled water may help? We're going to start introducing some foods over the next couple of weeks and I was advised to offer cool boiled water with food

To be honest I wouldn't worry too much about their teeth. I have 2 dc (3rd on the way) and they both had dummies, they did not have an open bite too but I made sure they were off the dummies before they were 4 and within just a couple of months dummy free their teeth corrected themselves. As long as it's gone before 4. If baby doesn't want a dummy like you said then you can't force it into a baby's mouth lol. Just an idea that popped up when you mentioned the suckling so thought I'd ask 😊

You could offer water but breastmilk is all that is needed as consistency changes to accommodate weather, baby needs etc and offering water would quench thirst but he may feed just as much to get calories needed anyway. Also be careful not to give too much water if you do try this as this can cause issues with messing with the balance of nutrients etc.
I know formula fed babies have water but they do need it due to formula being more dehydrating.

If possible I would just go with it and make sure you keep him cool during day. I know it's a pain but just make yourself comfy and ignore the unhelpful comments off others saying things like 'feeding again!'

Also if he's having a growth spurt or wanting comfort it's likely only hood will do anyway.

Thanks everyone. I haven't bothered with the water as my boobs have refilled. I did give him some mashed up carrots mind you and that seems to have worked a treat! Offered him the breast before and after but now he's gone to sleep off schedules... which means he'll be a pain this afternoon.

Have you tried expressing? Maybe you can feed him from a bottle and it's still your breast milk. That way you can see how much he's drinking too

@MyNameIsNotYourName
The problem with expressing is is have to set aside 20 mins to do so, and then 20 mins to feed him, plus holding him upright for 20 minutes. So 60 mins every 90 minutes would leave me even less time during the day to do anything. Plus milk doesn't adapt to babies needs as well if they're not actively feeding from you.
As he sleeps through the night without a feed I always wake up with two very full boobs, so he has one and I express the other which does for his bedtime feed with some gaviscon added for his reflux. I know I can get 8-9 oz off one boob no problem so I know my supply is plentiful.

My 4.5 month old is feeding more frequently in the warm weather. Your supply and the milk will adapt to it.

And don't worry about how many feeds he has! Adults don't count how many drinks they have. He won't take more than he needs.