Formula change due to allergy, now waking through the night

[lisa6464]

My 4 month old has been on a new formula for 4 weeks now due to a milk protein allergy. She has gone from feeding 4floz every 3-4 hours on her old formula and sleeping 6 hours at night to feeding every 3 hours and only feeding 3floz. I have tried to get more in her during the day but she refuses to take it. She is still on a 3 hours easy even through the night. I Have tried just giving her a dummy when she wakes at night and i may get another hours sleep out of her but by then she is frantically sucking on the dummy and starving. i have also tried tanking her up.Her last feed is 10.30 pm. Any suggestions?.

[becj86]

She should be getting up to 4hr EASY by now - she's probably not hungry enough to take a full feed after 3hr and is starting to snack. The other thing is that this is possibly a growth spurt - she's obviously hungry from what you've said.

I'd start gradually extending her A times towards 2hr instead of 1.5hr and she may do better.

[Bex09]

Hi there, I agree with Becky and it is probably time to transition to a 4 hr EASY. You don't have to jump straight away to 4 hrs between feeds though as your LO might find this too much to start with. These links might help you as they lay out how you can start to push longer between feeds and extend A times to fit everything in. This usually happens around the 4 month mark so give them a read and see what you think? HTHs.

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=120362.0
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=63161.0

[lisa6464]

Thanks guys. I looked at the links and i will give it ago. I think she should be on a 4 hour plan too by now.

[LisaK1]

Just a thought.....is the formula thicker?  If so, have you increased the teat size so that the thicker milk flows easily enough for your LO to get it out of the bottle as easy as he/she did with thinner milk. Could be they are just getting too tired to suck a lot past 3oz....

I know we had an issue similar to this and had to go to a vari flow teat at about that age - crazy but it worked.

Just a random suggestion.
x

[lisa6464]

The milk is actually much thinner than normal formula. Much like a watery consistency. I am trying the transition to a 4 hr E. a s.y but its stressful as she cant really manage past 3.5 hrs. Last night she went down at 8.30 woke at 3am fed 2 scoops in 4 water  as im trying to cut out the night feed then woke at 7 am.

[Bex09]

Can I just ask why you are trying to drop the NF? Does DD not seem hungry? It is still very normal for a 4 mo to still need a NF, especially of you are still trying to transition to a 4hr EASY. If DD can't manage to go longer than 3.5 hrs in the day then it is expecting quite a lot for her to go all night without a feed yk?

Have you seen the link that I posted about just adding 5mins on everyday? This might help your DD. Also it is quite common for LOs to transition from 3 to 3.5 hr easy and then after a while of 3.5 hr move to 4hr. So it is great that you have got to 3.5 hr, maybe your DD needs to stick at that for a while. Have you pushed her A times a little too? How has that effected the NW?

[lisa6464]

So far today she is on track for a 4 hr e.a.s.y. I have tried to dream feed at 10.30- 11pm but it makes no difference to how long she goes at night.I find that she gets terribly windy and her sleep becomes more disturbed with a dream feed. I am  trying to get 6 floz at every feed as directed by the instructions the Pediatrician gave me for the special formula that she is on.
Im confused as to whether i should give her a feed at night if she wakes.I tank her up at 5&7 .Some books say by 4 months she  should sleep through without having night feed. Iwas thinking that gradually diluting down the night feed so eventually it was just water she may no longer wake a 3 ish. Is this the way to go or not?. Really confused!!

[Bex09]

Lots of people/books say that by 4 mo a LO should be able to STTN. But in reality that is not always the case and all babies are different. Bear in mind too that usually when books refer to STTN it means doing a 6 or 7 hr stretch without a feed, not actually a full 12 hr night. If you are sure that your DD isn't hungry at night then reducing the oz of feed can work well to wean the NF yes. If she is needing that feed though she will likely just keep waking or crying until she is fed. Does that help?

Do you wind her after her DF and NF? We had to with DD or she would be in awful pain. Even though it meant she would be a bit more awake than usual for a DF we had to do it.

[*Kara*]

Just popping in as a fellow FF momma


Please remember that "STTN" is actually defined as 5 hrs of night sleep without a feeding.

[lisa6464]

Well i stuck to a 4 hr e.a.s.y and my 4 yr old was away most of the day which helped and it worked so well!!. She slept better in between and fed so much better too. Her last  feed was at 8.30 pm , bed at 9 and she woke briefly at 3am . I gave her her dummy and she went back over till 6.30am!!!.
I tried to stick to exactly what i did the next day but she couldn't go the 4 hrs and didn't sleep as long or as soundly in between. Who knows why.  I did notice that she is a lot more settled in the day when the others are at school and its quieter. Im so grateful for all your help here guys.

[Bex09]

That is great hun, so pleased that the 4 hr EASY has sorted things out. It may just be that until DD gets used to it that you have to revert to 3.5 hr now and again. As long as you are making steps towards the 4hr DD will soon be used to it.

[becj86]

So glad it worked out nicely for you

I would suggest maybe she needs to go to bed earlier as that's a pretty short night and might be affecting her ability to do 4hr EASY the next day IYSWIM.