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Infant feeding

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

6 month old - mixed feeding and sleep

5 replies

3ormorecharacters · 20/06/2021 09:30

I have a 6mo DD and have always had a few reservations about my supply. I've managed to EBF up to recently and she has maintained a steady centile curve in terms of weight gain (dropped from 50th to 9th but seems to have stuck there) and has had plenty of wet and dirty nappies, so I've been assured that supply must be ok. But she is a very snacky feeder, very little and very often, and gets particularly frustrated with my left boob. Both boobs are quite small and the left one a little smaller. (I know size isn't supposed to count but I feel like it must play a part...) I rarely get that 'full' feeling that I had in the first few weeks after a couple of hours not feeding. I never leak milk and can express very little.

Her sleep has always been quite terrible. A good night usually involves a 2-3 hour sleep to start the night, then sleeping for 45-60 minutes at a time. I started giving her a bottle of formula in the middle of the night which has given us another 2 hour ish stretch of sleep.

Now she's started to drop that 2-3 hour sleep at the start of the night and just sleeps for 45-60 minutes at a time. I'm wondering whether to give her a bottle at the start of the night too, or will this affect my supply too much?

I don't want to give up breastfeeding or lose significant amounts of whatever supply I do have - it's so convenient to be able to do (esp as we will probably be going away in a camper van over the summer) and it's such an easy way to settle/calm her. How do I get the balance right?

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shouldistop · 20/06/2021 17:46

It's nothing to do with the milk. It's a sleep regression which is common at this stage. I have permanent over supply, ds2 is massively chubby and is the same.
Ds1 was formula fed by this age and was the same.
Work on self settling but it will pass. Formula won't help. Any formula you regularly give lowers your supply.

stuckinarutatwork · 20/06/2021 19:15

I never had the 'full' feeling (like you get in the early days) after about 10 weeks. That is quite normal as your body adjusts to make the amount of milk your baby needs. Don't assume you're making less milk.
Sleep regression at this age is also normal. What are you weaning her with? A common issue at this age is that babies are weaned with fruit / veg purées which are very filling at the mealtime but don't provide many calories (compared to the milk feed it replaces) so the baby wakes up hungry. You could try some Ready Brek for supper (made with any milk, could be full-fat cows' milk or breast / formula milk).

3ormorecharacters · 20/06/2021 20:01

Thanks, that's good to know about the 'full' feeling.

I know all about the 4 month regression, she seems to have been in it for most of her life 😭 I thought we might be coming out the other end but it seems to have gone backwards again.

I have started weaning but had heard about the possibility of losing calories so have been keeping up milk feeds and plying her with Ready Brek made with formula before bed (which she loves!).

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shouldistop · 20/06/2021 20:07

Ds2 is 6.5 months and got a bit better after the 4 month regression and has been bad again from 6 months again. At this age frequent waking really isn't to do with hunger unless you've been dropping feeds during the day of course.
She'll come out the other side, honestly. I remember all this from ds1 and at least I can say to myself now that this will pass.
Solidarity on the sleepless nights though, ds2 has been up hourly for the past 2 nights and every 2 hours for a couple of weeks before that.

3ormorecharacters · 20/06/2021 21:33

@shouldistop thanks for the solidarity and reassurance! It just feels like one step forwards, two steps back at the moment, though I know logically it won't last forever. It's hard not to feel like it's something I'm doing wrong but I guess these babies are a law unto themselves!

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