Having trouble getting 5m old off the breast...any advice??

[Dawnus]

Hi all, hoping someone will be able to help.

Currently BFing my 5 and a half month old DD, trouble is, she still feeds on demand (every couple hours) and isn't sleeping thru the night (waking up to 3 times a night, but predominantly just once at 3am). She has solids at breakfast lunch and dinner, but still feeds as often (is it just comfort??)

I have tried to switch to the bottle and have succeeded twice in the last fortnight but she just plays with the teat on all the other occasions...DH has also tried to no avail.

The other night I left her to my DH for the last feed, I was still around but hoped that she may take the bottle if I had no contact...she didn't and she was really hankering for some food. We gave up after an hour and I fed her.

The 2 occasions she has taken it, she's slept thru the night, so i'm guessing my milk isn't much good anymore??

???????

Milk is supposed to be the main source of nutrients for a while yet, so would not fret that she is still feeding as often. FWIW, ds2 is the same age and he is really unsettled at the moment and I remember ds1 being just the same. I tried solids for a couple of days but it made absolutely no difference so he is back to exclusively breastfeeding again. I think they basically go through a major growth spurt at around this time. Is there a particular reason why you want to switch to bottle feeding? If not maybe just ride it out for a couple of weeks and see if she settles down?

I think that i'm ready to have more sleep, that's the main reason, and just getting out and about in general is trickier as she feeds so often? I did think about giving up the solids as you have, but I think she really enjoys her grub bless her :D

My last 2 DDs never slept through until a year, I think there is an unrealistic expectation that 5 month olds should sleep through, check on MN most of the time they don't. My two were big babies and were weaned at 6 months, by 9 months they were on 3 meals a day plus snacks and being on solids did nothing to make her sleep through.

you have my sympathies I know how hard it is, lack of sleep.

Formula milk is heavier than BM so lies in their stomach longer, your milk is fine top notch, better than the formula, it's probably that she is waking up naturally in her sleep cycles and wants some comfort and a little drink from Mum to assure her everything is fine and she can go back to sleep

getting out and about it much harder when they're bottle fed.
you have to find somewhere to make up the feed, you need hot water, if you have a fussy baby like mine the feed needs to be warmed (if you're using cartons) or cooled quickly if you're making it up from powder. if you get held up you have no way of providing more food.

it's a nightmare. breastfeeding is sooo much easier.
she prob wants bf more because it's about so much more than just food. she likes it because it's so comforting to her