5 mo old feeding more at night... oh and wonky boobs...

[NoviceKnitter]

Hi there, DD has always been one to cluster feed in the evenings and the last month or so has cut down her feeding in the day to a few tiny snacks. Now she's upping her night time feeds to every two hours. Any tips to re jig this? Apart from knackering to be up in night, she only naps in sling so daytime feeds are my only sit down time!

Also, one of my boobs is suddenly much bigger than the other. I think it's because when she was on one or two night feeds i always used same one - this is because we co-sleep and i like to keep her my side of the bed for safety. Since she's been eating more i've been alternating them so not sure why this has happened but what's best way to balance them out again?

thanks for any thoughts or advice

just bumping

I'm sure someone more knowledgeable than me will be along in a min, but some thoughts were... is she on solids yet? Or is she interested in things in the day and so not having proper feeds (ds does this) and so topping up at night? Or could she be teething and waking up for comfort feeds?

As to the wonky boobs, it's probably because you're milk suppy was settled in a certain pattern and now that's changed. I would just be careful that one side doesn't become engorged if it's filling up with milk and not getting drained properly.

Not sure of the wonky boobs but my dd was on 90 minute feeds at night during her 5th month. I let it go on for 3 weeks as I thought it might be a growth spurt, then I started to extend the gaps by half an hour at a time. It was horrible, she cried lots but after 10 days we were down to 7pm, 11pm and 5am. She is 8 months now and she still sometimes wakes for an 11pm feed, but she usually lasts till 6.30 or 7am.

I got really depressed with sleep deprivation so try and make up for sleep when someone else can take dd even for a couple of hours.

Good luck.

Thanks - going to start solids xmas day and hope that will help, tho i've heard others say their los then stick to nighttime for milk Yes sandybeach to the distraction during day but have tried keeping things boring and same setting as evening cluster, but no luck... i also know things change all the time so won't let it get me down!

My ds is into everything and all over the shop when it comes to feeds at the mo. My milk suppy is completely haywire and I'm leaking milk at embarassing moments! Oh the joys...

oh yes,much leaking and spraying and dd staying up late how old is your ds?

Hi, my dd is almost 10mo now and started waking for night feeds at 5mo... and they have just got more and more frequent!
Sushipaws - how did you do the gap extension thing? Just wait while she cried until it was "time" for a feed? And then she would wait to wake up the next night til the due time? Or am I not understanding?
Sorry to butt in... but good luck everyone. And yay to us for keeping the bf going

DD2 now 2 yo, BF for ten months, still have wonky boobs, although up side is they are both bigger than they were before DC. Am really embarrassed to get them measured. Do they make bras with different cup sizes???

Ds is now 7mo.

Sarah2bratz - not sure about different cup sizes, but I would deffinately get measured and get a bra that fits well. I imagine they would go with the larger cup size. To be honest, I've always had that problem

oh joy so crepe paper belly AND wonky boobs are for keeps?

Can you imagine going on 'how to look good naked'? How would he put a positive spin on that??

My boobs are lopsided because ds2 has a major preference for the left one. He's always preferred it (seems to be more comfortable being held on that side) so the supply in it is much better and therefore it's noticeably (to me) bigger than the right.

I really hope it goes back down when I stop bfing [panic].

lol @ crepe paper belly, thats my tummy for sure.

AnnaPx - Yes, unfortunately thats exactly it. If she woke at 9.30pm I would rock her or cuddle her until 10pm. On the second night she would wake a little bit later and again I would wait until 10pm, once she'd got used to this I'd add another half hour. It didn't seem to be working at first then it just suddenly clicked. She still wakes up at night but I just soothe her back to sleep without feeding if I can help it. My rules are No Feeding before 11pm or 6am, unless she cries and wakes up repeatedly for an hour. This usually works and she no longer uses me as a dummy Though she was sharpening her teeth on my nipple earlier.

Thanks Sushipaws - I think I need to try that. I am a human dummy at the moment
Not looking forward to the whole teeth thing - dd still hasn't got any, but I can't seem to get across the "no biting" message at the moment...

NoviceKnitter - lol @ crepe paper belly - yes I have one too. One thing I found helped a bit for distraction during the day was to wear an interesting necklace - that way dd can fiddle with something interesting while still feeding.

Noviceknitter, I could have written your message almost word for word. Except my LO is 4 1/2 months.

We are going backwards. Dropped breakfast feed altogether (I am having to express), only snacking during the day and then... from 8pm to 6am... every 2 - 2.5hrs.

Like you, I have tried everything in terms of minimising disractions during daytime feeds.

i have tried dummt instead of boob at night but that makes him really angry and he spits out and cries harder so we co sleep to try to minimise the impact. but today my eyes are hot and gritty, so tired.

As a result, now under presssure from dh to start early weaning (20 weeks) to try and switch things around. but i feel very guilty about going against guidelines

Trimum2 , please don't feel pressured into early weaning. I started just before 6 months and now wish i'd waited, my family kept pressuring me too.

I know so many mum's who have gone through this stage, some just grow out of it and others, like myself have to persuade dc out of it. If your dc are going all day without a proper feed then you should be able to swing it round to night time instead. But easier said than done.

I spoke to a very helpful hv who told me not to try and do everything at once. So instead of feeding I rocked my dd to sleep and spread the feeds. Yes, that meant she was reliant on the rocking but that too was easily weaned slowly without bad hysterics a few weeks later.

We still are not the best sleepers but I know how you feel getting up every 90 minutes. I felt like a lunatic, mood swings, angry tantrums, feeling alone and very depressed.

I think sometimes they go through growth spurts and want to feed a lot more than usual, or they're trying to increase your milk supply with frequent feeds. My 8.5mo little boy was sleeping through most of the night at only about 3wks but started getting hungrier at about 4-5 months. He still wakes in the night for feeds, but I usually have him in a dropside crib next to the bed, so I hardly wake up for his feeds. He's hardly having any solids, so I'm just about his sole food supply!

I'm also tandem feeding his sister (just turned 2). Didn't actually plan on doing things this way ahead of time, but that's how it worked out, and I don't have any regrets. Does mean a fair bit of "feeds" off me between the two of the, but I have always had more than enough milk (enough to just about choke my daugther when she was tiny, such an abundant letdown), so tandem feeding has worked for us. Just wish my daugther liked to sleep better at nights, as she is usually the one who wakes me more than him! lol (And she has 3 meals a day of solids plus loads of snacks!)