Is there a 20 week growth spurt?

[trixymalixy]

Have had no sleep for the past 3 nights as DS (20 weeks)has been wanting to feed.

DH wants me to give him some formula and my Mum wants me to start weaning him.

I was intending to hang on until 26 weeks bfing exclusively, but I'm just so knackered I don't think I can make it.

Can anyone reassure me that this is just another growth spurt and it will settle down?

Trixy : here are some facts :

• Appetite spurts can happen at any time and do indeed settle down
• neither weaning nor formula has any real impact on sleeping behaviour (there is no research on this at all, at least not at the age of 20 weeks, but there is a lot of anecdotal information that shows how individual these things are)
• babies of this age wake up for many reasons and need for comfort may be one of them
• the healthiest outcomes are seen in babies who bf excl to 6 mths

That said, early weaning or formula is unlikely to cause active harm at this age...but there are no benefits to it.

Are there was you can make night times easier while this stage lasts, I wonder? If you give formula or solids, and you feel sad or disappointed, does that make up for feeling tired or not? It's your decision

Can't see what your mum has to do with it, BTW - your DH may have a view, but your mum?????

Of course tiktok is absolutely right as always, but just wanted to add that between 4 and 5 months is a VERY common time for there to be a big growth spurt.

Just tackle it one day at a time, rather than thinking that there's still 6 weeks to go .

Tiktok - I think I would feel a bit sad giving him formula, I feel a bit weird giving him a bottle of EBM.I would be absolutely gutted if the formula didn't make any difference. I think my DH is just a bit worried about me and wants me to have a bit of a break.

It's also quite tempting to give formula when you are really tired and the only 2 babies in my post-natal group that aren't sleeping through are those that are exclusively bf.

I think he possibly does wake for comfort as sometimes he falls asleep practically the moment my nipple is in his mouth. Have you any suggestions if this is the case tiktok?

What my Mum wants doesn't have any say in it. I probably didn't phrase my OP quite right. She suggested that him waking so much might mean he might be ready for solids.

Thanks tiktok and CSWS. I am taking it a day at a time, just some days seem harder than others .

Ds is 20 weeks too. He is mixed fed and we have started weaning.

He still doesn't sleep through (that's not the reason we weaned / mixed fed btw).

He used to wake just once a night, but wakes twice now, for a REALLY BIG feed! And he is not going for so long between feeds in the day either.

I am blaming a growth spurt (lol, he has been having a growth spurt for 5 months now..)