Ready for solids or growth spurt or both

[FreddieEden]

Hi there,

DS is 19 and a half weeks and is an exclusively breast fed 91st centile baby.  He was a really happy chappy in the week before Christmas and just after as we had made some real breakthroughs in night sleeping and naps.  However, for about five days now he has been really unsettled (started on the day SIL came to visit but I'm sure that's just coincidence  :lol: ).  I think it might be food related as he is still sleeping through the night (though the naps are a bit more hit and miss) and he has gone from being a  baby who could take or leave four hourly feeding to getting unsettled around the three hour mark and gulping at the breast like a mad thing when it is offered (still gets distracted after five minues of gulping but what can you do?).  But, of course, three hourly feeding makes it less likely he will take long naps unless I feed before the nap (which is what I have been doing) so then I wonder if he is unsettled because he is tired.  Or maybe he is just unsettled!

Anyway, I wondered if it was worth thinking about starting him on some baby rice.  I want to get as close to the 6 months exclusive breastfeeding as I can.  What do people think?  Ride it out for a bit longer?  I would like to get my happy baby back.  We had an hour of pre-nap crying today 

Freddie

[gmmom]

Hi there.  My five month old daughter was going through the same thing.  When we took her for her four month shots, her pediatrician  (He is wonderful) said that I should start her on rice cereal.  I did not want to start until six months, but I trust him and thought "okay, just a little."  I was giving her only a small amount in the mornings for about two weeks.  I thought she was having a reaction (turns out it's just baby eczema) and wanted to stop. But I continued with the dr. saying it was okay.  I was doing so until I had her back at the dr.'s due to a cold.  The dr. I saw that day (there are seven different dr.'s at this office and my ped. was not available) told me to stop the cereal and wait until she turned five or six months. 

Talk about confusion.  At one point I felt bad for even giving her cereal, but I really trust her pediatrician.  My point - I stopped giving her the cereal and noticed a drastic change in her sleeping.  I know that there are different opinions on whether or not cereals or other solids help babies sleep better.  But once I stopped, my daughter stopped sleeping through the night (it very much could have been her cold that was waking her ). I don't know what to tell you except what people have told me---she needs more calories during theday.  I breastfeed only, and can understand about the distractions.  I started dream feeding too.  I tried giving her some rice cereal the other day and she slept through till 7:00am!!! However, all babies are different.  Maybe I'm mentally thinking it's the cereal that's giving her those extra calories. Good Luck.

[tylersmommy]

It can be confusing, can't it? Growth spurts generally only last for a few days, so if he still seems hungry and unsettled, you might consider starting solids. If you'd like to try and wait, your best bet is to either feed more often (which you've been doing) or try to extend the time of each nursing. I know how hard that can be, they're sooo observant and distracted at that age! You might try nursing in a quiet, dim room or at least eliminate as many distractions as you can. I even nursed Tyler under a blanket at home several times.

The unsettling could also be related to your SIL's visit, it's possible that a new person in his environment might have made him too distracted to eat well or made him want to nurse more for comfort and security. Keep us posted!

[FreddieEden]

Thanks so much for your posts.   DS is a much happier baby today, though still quite hungry.  I am going to hold off solids for a bit longer, seeing as he seems to have recovered.  Tried feeding him in the dim room after he had woken from his nap and he did feed a bit better so I might try that in future.  So tricky to make him feed for longer, though.  He is just too impatient to wait for the second letdown these days.  He would rather get sucking satisfaction from his fingers.  In fact, he even tries to put his fingers in his mouth at the same time as the breast :!:   I will play it by ear and not get too fussed about keeping him on a feeding schedule, so long as he is not snacking.

Don't know if it was SIL which put him off track.  She only came for lunch and the afternoon so I didn't think it could make much difference.  But there is lots of tension between her and DH which DS probably picked up on.  And she doesn't like children so she didn't engage with him at all.  He has got a bit wary of new people lately, particularly in the house.  But he had two adoring great aunts round today and was fine with it.  I think he thinks the house is his territory and intruders have to offer him lots of smiles and attention.

Freddie