Hi,
DS is 3.5 months old. His feeds during the day are erratic and he only takes about 1/3 of the amount he'd used to take before (he had 1 feed at 3 am, no DF, which I consider STTN) - and now he's up every 2-3 hours, every time taking a decent feed, and wouldn't settle without one. I do try to feed right after the nap in the dark room, but it makes some difference, but not much, after 5 min he turns his head away and screams if I try to put him back on the boob. I express what he had left in the boob (normally 60-80ml) and give it in the bottle, this way he probably takes further 30-40 ml, but I feel it's still not enough, and he used to down one breast and have a decent sip from the other one for each feed, now it's 1/2 breast only.
We moved to 4 hr easy but it doesn't seem to help. He holds it easy and doesn't seem to be too hungry. He actually refuses a feed at all when he wakes up in the morning, so I feed later during A time.
I have a spirited toddler and really not ready to coop with crying at night, if he wakes up DD she would be a nightmare to settle back, so I do my best to try to settle with the paci, but if he starts crying, I give in and feed.
Not sure how else can I make him take more during the day...
What if I actually feed more often during the day - for example do EAES? I have a forceful letdown so there is no fear he'd fall asleep on the breast if I do it closer to the sleep time... wonder if anyone tried that? It's a bit of snacking but at the same time he'd take more overall, don't you think?
He falls asleep independently with the paci & white noise (I still have to reinstall the paci a few times, so I do stay in the room, but not that he sees me) for both naps and the night. I still AP for sleepcycle transition as he wakes at 35 min and then at 50 min and 1 hr marks - so I come, reinstall the paci and rock the crib a bit, but nothing related to falling asleep on the breast etc. For NW when I feed, again he never falls asleep on the breast, I put him back to the crib awake and then hear him babbling a bit and falling back asleep within 5-30 min.
I tried feeding right after the naps when he just woke up, but didn't seem to help much, he does take more milk, but again not enough I feel. Unfortunately worst is the morning, as I have to deal with the toddler around, and she never allows me to feed quietly, and DS is very distracted. I end up feeding him a bit when he wakes up in the morning (whatever I can achieve with DD throwing some unhappy tantrums around, and then I go to put him down for the first nap and he's giving me full blown hungry signs, and I feed then again before the nap. As I said I then put him to the crib and he fell asleep within 5 minutes. At this time as the room is set for the nap and he's tired, he actually feeds much better. I did this morning and will try to have one feed during next A time, but probably closer to the nap again. I know it's not ideal but I did this 2 feeds during A time yesterday and he had 2 NW at 2:30 and 5:30 am which is better then 4-5 NW I had a few nights before.
There is also something going with the breast refusal of some scale, at 5:30 this morning he had 2 sips, then started crying and turning his head away, and I walked with him and calmed him down for about 10 min, and then he took the breast and had a small feed. To be honest I'm so lost as to why (I ruled out bottle, neck problems, any mouth infections, teething), my only other guess is forceful letdown, but then again he had it from birth, and should have coped with it by now.
If the baby is not falling asleep on the breast, what is wrong with feeding closer to the sleep, rather then right after? He gets hungrier after decent amount of A time, so takes bigger feed?
TIA
