Very fussy breastfed 5 month old noy putting on weight - please help!

[Joebo]

This is the first time I have used Mumsnet so please be gentle with me! I am desperate for advice on the following.....I have a 5 month old boy who has been breastfed exclusively and who has only been putting on 1 ounce per week (if that) since birth. He was going for 6 hours at night at 4 weeks but this has gradually reduced to 1.5 hourly although he will do 3 hours during the day. My health visitor has advised introducing a bottle which reluctantly I've tried but so far I've tried 3 different types of formula and three different makes of bottle/teat and he won't take any of them. She then suggested trying to wean him and so I've tried baby rice, pureed apple and pureed pear but he spits everything out with a face like he's being poisoned! He's generally a very happy and content baby so I'm not concerned about his health but I'm very tired (and I also have a 22 month old to run about after during the day.....). If I have to put up with all the night feeding until he will finally swallow some food then so be it and I'll buy lots of concealer to hide the dark circles, but I'm open to any suggestions! By the way, I have tried to express to see if he'll take breast milk from a bottle and he did once, but I think that was a fluke as since then he's refused it. We've also tried getting his Daddy to give him the bottle in case he could smell my milk on me but no joy. And finally he does have a dummy as he's a very sucky baby so I know he's not just using me for comfort - he really does guzzle! Does any of this strike a cord with anyone???? Thanks!

Poor you - you must be knackered! Hmm, well, my DD never took to the bottle either so I gave up trying and felt much better for relaxing and accepting that I was just going to bf. But, I do sleep with DD so bf in the nights is much easier - just a case of latching her on and I do that half asleep. If you are really tired though, the advice is not to sleep with your baby (though I don't believe any mum would actually roll on their baby!).

If he's not interested in food I'd leave it a bit longer. HV seem obsessed with trying to get you to wean as the answer to everything (mine was). Anyway, purees are much lower in cals than breastmilk, so I don't think it'll help in the putting on weight dept. I know it can be really exhausting bf and not getting great sleep, but remember that it does pass (my DD started eating well from 7 months and is sleeping longer now too). See if you can go to bed earlier to store up some sleep for now. Make sure that you're eating well too, and that will help with your milk supply. You say he's a happy baby though, and that must surely be the biggest indicator that all's well.

sounds kanckering. Can you increase the frequency of your daytime feeds in the hope that this will make him need less at night?

I don't have any personal experience (other than a little wieght loss blip with my 9mo old DD a few weeks back) but I know that there are plenty of mums on with similar issues. there was a great support thread here, although I'm not sure how active it still is.

I wouldn't worry about the not wanting food thing, as annie75 says, BM has more calories anyway. HVs do get a bit obsessed with weight and charts, but remember that to get the averages, some babies have to be either at the top or bottom of the charts.

Welcome to MN by the way

Sounds like my DD1 5 years ago - I gave up on HV advice, gave up on the bottle and introduced her to beakers. I bf'ed until she was 14 months. She only started sleeping through at 11 months. She was fine and it must have been early signs of her personality, as she's never changed - she still has less sleep than her friends and she's still a fussy eater. Some kids are like that, but HVs mostly go by the 'norm' rather than the exception.

how much does he weigh? If he is feeding that often I'm surprised he is not putting on more than an ounce a week. My ds1 had poor weight gain but he was a poor feeder.

Hi Joebo...

I have a nearly 6mo boy who has had very similar problems at night- started off well, but after about 12/14 weeks his sleep completely deteriorated. Didn't have problems with feeding, though, so I can't help you with that- but maybe if he slept better at night he'd be hungrier during the day and more likely to feed well?

So, my suggestion is to work on getting him to sleep longer... I have used 'The No Cry Sleep Solution' for nearly 4 weeks now, and he has progressed from never sleeping more than 2 hours to more often than not doing 4/5 hour stretches, going to sleep by himself and napping better in the day! It's like a small miracle! It might not be the answer, but it may be worth a try?

Good luck!

Thank you for all your messages and suggestions; very welcome after a terrible night where DS fed regularly again then woke up wide awake at 5am!!!!!! After cooing and shouting to himself for 2 hrs (and he is in a crib next to our bed.....) he fell asleep again just as DD woke up! Anyway, to answer your question qjbtc he weighs 12 lbs, but although he feeds often during the night, he only feeds for 5-10 mins at a time, even during the day. I think he feeds well as he does gulp very fast (as if he's starving!) but only for a very short amount of time and I thought all babies did this until I was with a friend today who commented that he only fed for a very short amount of time. DD was the same so I didn't think this was anything strange (but she never had any problems with weight or sleeping) so is this normal??? Could there be a problem with my milk flow or does your body automatically control the flow depending on the demands of the baby??? I like the idea of 'The No Cry Sleep Solution, WLD1000, as he isn't great at getting off to sleep by himself (and that's another thread altogether!) and I agree that getting him to sleep better at nights may mean he feeds better during the day so is it a book and if so who's the author? Thanks again.

He sounds just like my son. He needed a small op but consultant wouldn't contemplate doing it till he was 12 pounds. I remember replying that I would see him when he was about 10 then!!!!He finally had op at 12 months when he had reached the heady heights of 16 pounds!!
Hope things improve for you soon boys eh?!!!!!

hi again.

It is a book! By a woman whose surname is Pantley... here. Available at all good bookshops!

My boy's a superfast feeder too. Other people comment but personally, I think it's rather convenient and ignore them! All babies are different, it seems to me, so they must feed at different speeds too. I don't know how it feels to be worried about weight gain, so don't want to trivialise anything- I just try to trust that my body knows what it's doing.

I breastfed my daughter but it all went wrong with poor weight gain and I followed HV advice and mixed fed which ended up her being on bottles. Now I have a 5 month old who is exclusively BF, for me the trick has been gallons and gallons of water and regular feeding. I found that he would feed for 5-10mins and then when he got sleepy I would feed again (NOT feed to sleep I hasten to add) just a little top up before his nap, this is when I think he got the fatty milk and he has always put on 3-6oz a week. I am also weaning at present, and he has taken to it great, I started just by putting a tiny amuont on my finger (cleaned thoroughly if course) so he could get used to the taste/texture. I did this for 2 weeks then gradually introduced a spoon. Just keep going with it, feed regularly during the day, I never let my son go over 3 hours and I keep putting him on the same side until he tells me theres nothing left (by constantly coming off, sucking his fingers etc). There is no right and wrong but please dont listen to everything the HVs say, I wish I hadnt first time round.

Well the good news is DS has started to take to baby rice and so is having a couple of 'meals' a day, and it has pushed his night-feeding to 2.5 hourly!!! I'm not going to worry about the weight gain as he's such a happy little chap. It's been really useful to hear about everyone's experiences and I vow to add some of my own to other threads in the hope I can help someone else in the same way I've been helped by you lot so thanks again Now to tackle the sleeping........