If waking to feed earlier isn't a weaning sign, what can you do???

[ChocOrange05]

My DS has been waking earlier from his sleeps to feed:

• waking at 9.30pm instead of being woken at 10.30 for a feed
• waking at 6am instead of 7am

He is almost 19 weeks, I am keen to wait the full 6 months before weaning and also interested in BLW. I am reading the Gill Rapley book and apparently a common misconception is that waking earlier is a sign of needing to be weaned. BUT I have heard many people say that babies don't sleep through the night (7-7) until they are fully weaned. So surely there is a link between food and sleep?? That one confuses me ??

Is there anything I can do to "fill him up" enough to sleep as before without resorting to weaning?

Hi there, at the same age dd needed a formula top-up after the last evening feed, ie 6:30pm. I know many people will say that breasts are clever enough to produce what is required, but that's what worked for us. And we were able to wait until 6 months to introduce solids

Just give him more milk, and more and more until he's satisfied.

I bf both ds's and weaned ds1 at 19 weeks due to similar circumstances as you describe(and didn't research into why the advice was to wean at 6 months) but his sleeping remained unchanged. I just gave ds2 more milk and held off until 6 months to wean and found it all much less stressful.

He could be going through a growth spurt which could make him more hungry so you could give him extra feeds.

Chances are his sleep 'pattern' will change many many times until he's much older so I wouldn't worry too much yet about thinking he must be ready to wean. My DS slept till 7 for ages but now wakes up at 6am like clockwork (he's now 8 months).

Younge babies who sleep 7-7 have very lucky parents, and I dont think it's about anything more than luck!

If your already giving him formula at the 6:30pm feed you could try changing it to hungry baby formula (if your using aptimal, not sure if the other brands have similar)

this might make a difference, you could just buy the cartons to try rather than the full tub of formula.

If your breastfeeding at that time then completely ignore me

I am bottle feeding at 6pm and 10pm but BF the rest of the day. dramaqueen I don't think its a growth spurt as he went through one of those 2 weeks ago (woke at 3 or 4am and took both breasts and still hungry at 7am).

Last night he woke at 9.30pm (after bottle at 6.15 of 5oz) and gulped down 7oz bottle in about 5 mins, which he has never done before (usually 5oz max) and 2 mins after finishing projectile vomited everywhere - again which he had never done before .

Its very frustrating!

Tediously, I think advice is to basically put up with it until 6 months .

DS's sleep deteriorated steadily from about 4 months, but started to improve about a week before we started weaning (started just before 6 months). If we'd started weaning a bit earlier I would have assumed it was food improving things, but obviously his feed/sleep needs were just going through some changes.

Also, they take such teensy amounts of food in the early days, I just refuse to believe that it can have an effect on sleep. I can understand why, when they're on 3 reasonable meals a day, that their sleep might be better, but weaning earlier isn't necessarily going to mean bigger meals earlier, just longer doing tiny little teaspoon meals.

All that is just my opinion though, have no 'official' knowledge at all

Just woke up at 9.30pm again, 3rd night running. He has slept from 7-10pm with no wakings since 6 weeks old (and most nights before that) - DH and I seem to be losing our evenings a bit

Solids didn't have any effect on my DS1's sleep, and if anything, my DS2 slept worse for a week or so after starting them. Mind you, mine have rarely slept for 12 hours solid.

I don't think waking up an hour earlier counts as being hungry enough to need solids. Now that the sun gets up earlier, so does your DS .

his room is completely black outed tortilla. Last night he woke at 1am, 4pm and 6.45

teething? coming down with something? just a habit now left over from the growth spurt a few weeks ago?

It all sounds pretty normal chocorange tbh. A lot of babies that age are still waking up for feeds in the middle of the night so 9.30pm till 6am is pretty good. Like hopefully says, their feeding/sleeping patterns go through a few changes as they get older.

I'd be really surprised if weaning would make his sleep an hour later in the evening and even if it did, you'd need to weigh that up against the potential risks of early weaning.

You could try easing his 6pm feed back a bit later. Move it to 6.15pm for a few days or a week, 6.30pm a few days later. I did this with my DS about 4 months so that when by the time he was weaned at around 6 months and having his dinner around 5pm-6pm there was a bit of a break before his bedtime milk. Now he gets dinner around 5.30pm , bit of play, bathtime, milk about 7pm and is usually conked out by around 7.15pm.

You will get your evenings back before long, I promise!

And I hate to put a damper on things, but dd is 8.5mo, has 3 meals and last night still woke up at 11pm, 3am, 5:30 and was up for the day at 6:30. This having slept 7pm until 6am three nights running and not needing any night feeds for the past two weeks. And despite all the extra milk, she ate her usual breakfast.

Like someone else said, it could be teething, or some developmental thingy like sitting up or crawling, or the phase of the moon

i would just feed him more. as he grows he will want more milk, that's normal.
when he weans that might change, or it might not.
neither of my children's sleep and feeding patterns changed at all when they were weaned.

ifhe is hungry, just offer more milk. but remember the more formula you give the less milk you will make, so if you want to continue breastfeeding it's probably worth breastfeeding rather than giving more formula top-ups

and from next weekend it'll all go tits up again anyway!

I weaned my DS early (20 wks -ish). he didn't sleep through until the age of 2.5 yrs old! DD is 17 wks, no intention of weaning anytime soon - has been sleeping 7-7 since she was about 12 wks old.

It's a load of tosh, this 'solids=sleep' stuff

Waking up every three hours sounds quite normal. My 15 mo still does.

Maybe your DS is not getting tired enough during the day and that leads to waking up more often during the night. Can you do more activities with him or cut down one of his naps? There are so many other things that can cause the wakings thou, so I wouldn't worry much.

How are his feeding patterns during the day? does he seem too hungry as well? What about his motor skills, can he sit up without or with little support? pick up objects and putting them into his mouth?

tortilla he feeds every 3/4 hours in the day but doesn't seem that interested - he chugs it down for a couple of mins and then gets distracted. he can sit up in his highchair but does slump slightly to the side. Do they have to be able to sit up completely unaided (i.e. alone on the floor) before weaning?? He puts everything in his mouth!!

sitting without support is probably more important for BLW than purees, otherwise there is a higher risk of choking. Although now that I remember, my DD was slumping to the side for quite a while after 6 months, even if she was very well balanced when sitting on the floor.

At the risk of being flamed, it's not a big deal if you try out now (either BLW or purees) and see what he does. If he's not interested just wait a week or more. But be realistic that it might not make a difference to his sleep .