can't keep up with 21 week old hungry BF baby

[karney]

I've always had a good milk supply. I expressed milk regularly and freezed it for my ds's overnight stays at his gran and papas and generally for me to have some time to myself and give dad the chance to feed him. Over the past 2/3 weeks my ds has been waking up through the night again for more feeds and taking longer feeds through the day. I have started to introduce him to some baby rice at lunchtimes but I'm struggling to express milk now. I really want to continue BFing my baby but have considered using some formula for the times when i just don't have enough milk stored to leave him with family Not keen on giving him formula but on the other hand I feel like the family are missing out on their time with him. And truthfully, I,m missing the wee bit of time I get to myself.

karney, waking in the night is normal for babies of all ages, even when they have been sleeping longer. Changes in feeding patterns are normal, too. It's also normal for expressing production to lessen as time goes on - mums cope with this by expressing more often. OTOH if he has had long gaps between feeds recently (when he has had the EBM) maybe the gaps have been long enough to impact on your supply?

Giving rice - he's quite young for solids, was there a reason for starting - will have an impact on your milk supply, especially if it is replacing breastfeeds, which is one of the drawbacks of early solids.

So - you have choices

• express more often
• ditch the baby rice for another month at least
• breastfeed more often

Actually all of those will help

thanks tictoc
have just started to introduce the baby rice over the past two days. Had discussed with HV that he was waking through night after a period of sleeping through, was "interested" in us eating and seemed hungrier in general. She said that as long as he was over 17 weeks then I could make the choice now to introduce purees but she in no way forced me. Had intended to introduce baby rice very slowly to see how it went but don,t want to do any harm and i,m in no rush to put him onto solids.Do you think I should postpone? Thanks for any advise.

tictoc sorry have just read my message and i sound like i want someone else to make my mind up for me ... I suppose what I want to say is there any longterm harm to him by starting baby rice now? thanks

karney - prob no longterm harm to use of rice, except possibly in your case to the breastfeeding.

Def no benefit - waking up, showing signs of interest in food and extra signs of hunger are signs of being four-five months old, not of needing other food, and giving extra milk is the healthiest first response. When other foods are given early they tend to replace milk, not add to it. There is research on this, and this lies behind the now internationally consistent guidance that babies do not need anything else before 6 mths.

Take a look at the threads in the weaning folder for discussions on this - will help you decide, I think.

tictoc thanks for the advise, really helped. Got the breastpump out and I,m prepared to express more often. Will take a look at the other threads too