EBF 4.5 months - not hungry in the morning

[mama12]

My LO is on a 3 - 3.5 hrs feeding schedule. I'm in the process of increasing his A time to 2 hrs and it's going well.  My concern is that when he wakes up in the morning he is not always hungry. He drinks a little 2-3 min on one side and he gets distracted. I tried switching to the other side, I keep the light off, I don't talk to him but he starts looking at me and babbles, smiles .... And he's done eating. After an hour or so he's hungry again and if I feed him he'll finished both breasts. Do you think it's because of his 3 am feed?? How do I eliminate this feed if it's he problem ?? Here's his schedule:

Wake & play in crib 7:30/7:45am
E 8:00
A 8:15
S 9:30-10:30/10:45 (1hr)
E 11:00
A 11:15
S 12:30-2:15 (1:30/2hrs)
E 2:15
A 2:30
S 4:00-5:00 cat nap (40 to 50 min)
E 5:00
A 5:15
E 6:00-6:30 pm
S 6:30/6:45
DF 10:00
NF 3:00am
7:30 up for the day

He usually wakes up 2-3 times other than his feedings time and I just go in his room and give him paci+blanket and he goes back to sleep. Anyone has experienced this ?? Any thoughts? Thanks!

[scruffymax]

Hi, I just thought I'd let you know that my LO always slept through from 10pm DF to around 6am WU and I could never understand why she wouldn't drink much at WU.  I used to pump the other side (and use it for DF) as there was no way she was interested in both sides.  Even now that she is on formula, I only make a small bottle for WU as she doesn't drink that much.  So even after 8hrs she wasn't hungry; so I wouldn't see it as that unusual that your LO isn't very hungry after 5 hrs.  It must just be the way some babies are! 

I'm sorry, I can't give advice on dropping the 3am feed as my LO just did that on her own very early (we were very lucky) but I'm sure others will tell you it's normal to have NF at this age.  Have you tried giving him the paci at 3am?  We also used a paci and that was my way of telling if LO was truly hungry overnight - if the paci didn't settle her I would feed her.  Oh, and she was able to use the paci independently from 5.5 months so hang in there, your LO might be able to do that soon!  Before that we also had to go in a few times each night to re-insert and she would go straight back to sleep.

[Erin M]

You could try doing a shorter feed at 3 AM, or only feeding one side if you're usually a double sided feeder.  I moved in that direction with my ds as he got older -- still did the feed when he woke for it, but tried to limit it a touch -- and as long as he slept until the morning, then I would continue. 

You may also find that as you get to a 4 hour feeding schedule, that your night feed will either shift a bit or disappear completely -- things change quite frequently for the first 6 months or so. 

[mama12]

Thanks for your suggestions! I'll try a shorter feed at 3am. I still want to feed him At least once at night so I can start my day a little later 8 instead of 7am

[Erin M]