four month old guzzles at night, disinterested in the morning

[twinsister]

I seem to have got us into a rut where my four month old takes a big feed of 6-7 ounces at 10pm (her only formula feed), another big feed (breast) at about 4 or 5 am, and then is really pretty uninterested in feeding the rest of the morning until about 2. Have tried giving her water for the middle of the night feed but she's completely disinterested and seems genuinely hungry then. Any tips on how to rebalance things so she's taking more during the day?

she isn't guzzling at night - she is sleeping through!

does she really not feed until 2pm?

sorry - baby was on my knee ...

So she feeds at 2 pm and then what does she do until you give her formula at 10 pm?

my DD feeds at around 6.30 pm, then bed and feeds at 11 ish, 3 ish and then maybe 5 or 6 ish

she doesn't always want a feed on waking which doesn't bother me (she usually feeds around 30 - 40 mins after waking)

she is 22 weeks old so a bit older than your DD

if she s waking in the night and is hungry, then you should give her milk.. water is not necessary or actually that appropriate for a 4 month old, especially one who is predominantly breast fed

10 pm feed is not a night feed.

why are you not feeding her when you give her water?

and i would be concerned at her not taking another milk feed until 2pm, if she feeds at 4 -5 am and then nothing until 2, not least as it could well affect your milk supply

what is she having for those hours?

if you feed responsively, i.e not water, but milk everytime she is rooting/hungry she will find her own way

how many other milk feeds is she having ?

and why do you offer water in the night?
\it is normal and pretty much expected a 4 month old will want and need milk in the night

I know, I'm completely okay with her sleeping it just seemed like she was taking so much of her daily milk at those two feeds..which I would have thought would be the next ones to drop? She has a half hearted feed at half seven and ten but nothing more than about two minutes. Then a good feed at two and another at half six ish. Maybe I'm worrying for nothing, she might just not be a morning person!

I should clarify I only tried water on two nights as a comforter in case it wasnt really hunger. But I've dropped that notion now

ok... i honestly think the best thing you can do is to feed on demand/responsively.. if she is weeing/ pooing and happy and content, meeting milestones , gaining weight etc. then she is probably just fine, although it does not seem like a huge amount of feeds, she is doing ok.. you can always go to a breastfeeding cafe or other peer support group or speak t someone at the NCT if you want face to face breastfeeding advice and support

twin is she distracted when feeding in the day? This could be why she's taking less. Try feeding with minimal distractions or catch her drowsy immediately after nap.

Does she fuss at all when feeding? If so something might be up and she prefers the bottle and night feed as she's more sleepy so feeds on instinct.

My DS did this - hardly fed in the day at about 12 weeks. He started to drop daytime feeds so had to catch him drowsy or reduce distractions.

I spoke to NCT and Le Leche who advised me to rule out any medical cause e.g ear infection/thrush/teething for DS not feeding properly when awake.

His weight gain was and still is fine. How's your DD's? I'd suggest ringing a BF helpline as they can get an idea of what could be going on.

Iggly that's really good thinking. She does seem to fuss and be really distracted when she's feeding awake, particularly at the 10.30am feed. I might try feeding her as soon as I've got her up from her first nap and see how we go. Sleepy feeds are definitely the ones that work the best.

Weight gain is fine. She's dropped a bit, from 50th to 25th percentile but they said nothing to worry about.

many thanks all, really helpful advice

Let us know how you get on twin! it's also worth bearing in mind your supply - if your DD is taking less maybe you should express once a day? I did this as sometimes DS would skip a feed altogether. I froze the milk so has a good stash. Useful especially as I don't express anymore!

My dd was exactly like this at 4 months. She was so distracted by everything going on that she just would not eat during the day. What worked for us was going into a quiet room with no other people, no telly, no radio, sometimes no light, and letting her feed in peace. She started to feed for 40 mins or so instead of the 5 mins that she had been doing. As a result, she ate more during the day and much less during the night.

I spoke to a La Leche League bf counsellor about this and she said that this kind of behaviour is absolutely typical at 4 months.