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Infant feeding

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

Original poster

Mad HV or could this really be true? Am I letting my big boy go hungry?

26 replies

bearhug · 31/12/2008 13:27

My 14 week old baby is on 91st centile for weight and on 99th for length. He's also staying awake between around 8PM and approx 10PM most nights, afer first having gone to sleep like a goodun at 7PM. HV suggested this might be because he is hungry and I don't have enough milk for him in the early evening and that I should consider giving him a bottle of eiter EBM or formula

Any thoughts? Could the HV be right?

OP posts:
NAB3lovelychildren · 31/12/2008 13:28

My instinct is she is talking crap. Surely he woul dbe crying for 2 hours if he was hungry? Seems like he has got in to a habit of a nap at 7 and then awake time for 2 hours.

revjustaboutwipestheslateclean · 31/12/2008 13:29

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

12StoneNeedsToBe10 · 31/12/2008 13:29

If your baby was hungry he'd definitely let you know!! Is he crying between 8 and 10? Perhaps he's just nosey (my DS was sooo nosey when he was tiny ).

Your DS is in the 91st percentile for weight and 99th for length so he's obviously progressing well, if he was in the lower percentiles perhaps HV would have a point.

CarGirl · 31/12/2008 13:31

She is talking rubbish. If he is hungry and wants to feed lots then, let him after a few days your body will have the milk ready and waiting for him.

I excl bf my 98th centile baby no problems, didn't wean her until 6 months and she slept through the night very early.

Please have confidence in your body & your mothering skills!

bubbleymummy · 31/12/2008 13:35

HV is NOT right! I really wish they wouldn't say things like that - it completely undermines breastfeeding. You are doing a great job - obviously your son is thriving on your milk and if he needed any more he would let you know and your body would produce it. Well done you!

ilovelovemydog · 31/12/2008 13:35

Both mine did cluster feeding in the evenings. Totally normal. Your H/V is full of crap.

Original poster
bearhug · 31/12/2008 13:35

No he's not crying for 2 hours - He doesn't sleep though and winges a bit so I have to keep going to him to reassure him. I'd so love to have a bit of evening to myself...

But he is only little so maybe that is too much to ask for at this stage.

OP posts:
MarlaSinger · 31/12/2008 13:37

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

NAB3lovelychildren · 31/12/2008 13:37

My youngest used to cry and fret and need holding between 7-9 for a quite a few nights. A friend had a theory that his sibl;;ings had gone to bed and it was his time for attention. Stopped as suddenly as it started. I BF him until 9 months and he slept through about 6-7 months.

prettybirdinapeartree · 31/12/2008 13:49

She is talking crap. Cluster feeding in the evening is normal. If it also helps him sleep throguh afterwards, then just go with the flow!

PlonkerAlkaseltzerInMyGlass · 31/12/2008 13:49

Sounds to me like between 8 and 10 is your LO's 'awake' time - there's nothing wrong with that, it can take years months to develop a sleep pattern for babies and your gorgeous boy is still very very young.

Cluster feeding is very common early evening. It doesn't mean he isn't getting enough, its just his way of filling up ready for the night.

Is your ds gaining weight? Are there plenty wet/soiled nappies? Is he generally content? Are you feeding him on demand? Are you letting him feed for as long as he wants to feed?

I think your HV is talking crap. The surest way to affect your supply is to start supplimenting with formula. I would recommend you feed him when he wants, for as long as he wants. You sound like you're doing a great job

treedelivery · 31/12/2008 13:59

Your prolactin levels [hormone that makes milk] are higher in the evening, making you more responsive to stimulation and more 'willing' to make milk.

This is the love hormone - hence women want sex at night and hardly ever in the morning!!!

Whilst your baby can't see the fact it's 9pm, he has his own sense of hormone day and night. He is programmed to feed like a maniac in the evening - to ensure you continue to make milk for the street if required.
He is also aware that night is a dangerous time for him [speaking about primeveal instincts here] - animals hunt at night and he doesn't want leaving in a corner of the cave to be eaten by a tigger. Mummy smell = safety and warmth. Hence he will wake frequently ay night to satisfy himself all is well despite the quite and the dark.

You may notice that by 4 am or by morning that you are quite full and seem to have almost too much milk - this is his doing. His feeds may be shorter yet more filling in the am due the sheer volume. If so get it expressed and stored for the day you'd like to go out.
You may not be that full in the morning in which case your body is in the finely tuned supply and demand groove and is operating at very efficient levels.

Either way you are a breastfeeding Goddess and may I suggest simply not getting him weighed unless you are concerned about a specific problem or his wet nappies fall off.
His weight gain and growth will be sporadic and fluid - as humans never had any intention of following a line on a chart.

bluebump · 31/12/2008 13:59

My DS is always awake from about 7-10pm most evenings, he just doesn't want to go to sleep then! He goes to bed around the same time as us - and he is now bottle fed only so formula makes not a bit of difference to when he was fed breast milk. My health visitor just said as long as he seemed happy it was just normal for him and not to worry about him. As much as i'd like him to go and be asleep in his own bed at this time, he isn't really keen on playing then he just wants to lay on the sofa and just 'be' with us.

treedelivery · 31/12/2008 14:02

Its a thing about the UK - if a bf baby so much as hiccups it's pinned on the BF. Bluebump posting shows that babies the world over have the same programming and don't give a stuff you are ready for bed.

I think they wonder why we didn't just sleep all day like they did. Good point too.

zzzzzzzzzz

Original poster
bearhug · 31/12/2008 14:13

thank you all for the vote of confidence - just what I needed!

I know my boy is growing and developing well, is weeing and pooing plenty and that there is really nothing to worry about.

No idea why I allowed the HV's suggestions to affect my confidence in the first place!

OP posts:
SydneyB · 31/12/2008 14:15

Total rubbish. Both mine cluster fed all evening and its incredibly normal and common. Your baby is tiny and doesn't know that its time for bed at 7. Hang in there, it'll sort itself out.

treedelivery · 31/12/2008 14:21

Bearhug - good for you. Apply that confidence and become bull headed about bf. I did!! and also suggest the HV go on a bf course when you next see her

lilLAURAfeelingontopform · 31/12/2008 15:05

what all 4 of my dc had a sleep pattern like that!! the evening part is what i love the older 3 dc go to sleep and thats my quiet bonding time with 6 week old thats what i have done with all of mine - i wouldsay she is talkin bllx until they are doing more during the day (playing crawling etc) then why should they be quiet and go to sleep in evenings take no notice of her

peppapighastakenovermylife · 01/01/2009 09:27

I'm sure with my first baby I used to put him down to sleep at around 7 ish. Now I dont get much time at all with DD in the day so I really enjoy it if shes up (and happy!) in the evening. She goes to bed properly with me around 10 pm and will then sleep until about 8 am the next day (not all in one go I may add - she feeds 2 hourly!).

If he was hungry he would let you know. I am guessing he just likes being with you/that is his alert time etc. Nothing wrong with it and nothing formula would fix I dont think. He is still only relatively young.

Coldtits · 01/01/2009 09:29

Perfectly normal for a baby to be wakeful at these times at this age. Ds2 always was, and he was formula fed. Ignore her. I cannot believe the extent to which HCPs will push bottlefeedng, I really can't!

ObsidianBlackbirdMcNight · 01/01/2009 10:48

my 15 week old baby has always been awake in the evenings. He's now FF anf has been for 5 weeks and it's made no difference! talking rubbish

katpink · 01/01/2009 21:49

HV talk crap universily as far as i can see my HV told me such a load of crap i didn't bother seeing her for ten months.
my DD is nearly two she only weighs 20lb and is tiny, hardly sleeps moves contantly. i have always feed her myself she wouldn't have a bottle. HV told me to mix cheese triangles in to all her food that was her only suggestion. crap. keep BF. No matter what you do your unliky to get much time to yourself in the evenings make your you time when ever your little one sleeps and make DH whatch baby in the evening.

WilfSell · 01/01/2009 21:53

Oh for god's sake! Please complain about her. This is utter crap. Many, many babies cluster feed in the evenings and by recommending a top up she is risking your BF relationship. She is NOT right.

I had three babies all above the 90th centile at that age (two of them on the 98th!) and they were all chubbing up quite nicely by that age. It is also normal to have periods of cluster feeding followed by less and then back again...

It makes me so cross that people who know nothing spout off on BF.

WilfSell · 01/01/2009 21:55

And by the way, the latest bub, still BF, still chubby and still in clothes 6 months- 1 year older than he is (but not fat, honest) now sleeps pretty much from 7-6...

faeriemoo · 01/01/2009 21:56

My 7 month old still often wakes for a couple of hours between nine and midnight/1am. That's just the routine she is in. Babies don't know how to read the clock.

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