waking at night

[speake]

My lo has been on easy since she was 6 weeks old and has been doing great. She's 4.5 months now. This is her routine:

w: 7:30
bf:7:35
a: 7:35-9:00
s: 9:00-11:00, sometimes wakes after one hour
bf:11:05
a:11:05-1:00
s: 1:00-2:00
bf: 2:05
a: 2:05-4:00
s: 4:00-5:00, sometimes to 5:30
a: 5:30-7:00
bathtime 7:00
bedtime and top up at 7:30

She's been sleeping through the night for about a month now and has always gone to bed at 7:30. The past week and a half I have been giving her rice cereal and she loves it. I just tried sweet potaoe the other day and she enjoyed that too. For the past 2 weeks she's been eating from both breasts and sometimes seems to want more after that. It seems like I'm not producing enough, so I've been trying to drink more water and even after her feeding from both breasts for a couple of weeks, it still seems like it's not going up. The past 2 nights she's been waking at night at around 12:15 and crying her little heart out. I fedher the first night and that didn't work so i gave her gripe water. The second night I gave her gripe water first thinking it might be an upset stomach, still cried so i fed her again, then she went back to sleep. She's had a runny nose the past couple of days, so she could be teething. When she cries she arches her back and throws her head back grabbing her ears. I just don't know whats wrong. any suggestions? I  haven't really been giving her any rice cereal the 2 days.  Should I suppliment with formula before she  goes to bed? Maybe she's not geeting enough.

[Layla]

I would suggest stopping all solids. She's really too young & there is a supply issue, giving her solids is not the answer. Hang in there... I might get a BF mod to help you out here as well.

Does she seem satisfied after each feed? ALso I've noticed that you are BF at 7.30, 11.30, 2 & the nothing until 7.30. Is that right or am I missing a feed between 2 & 7pm??? She could also be going through a growth spurt so if she seems hungry, I would feed her.

Layla

[Samuel's mum]

Assume there is a feed after 2pm and before bedtime? If not, I would definitely add one in as that could easily explain night hunger.

If she's grabbing her ears and not seeming herself I would visit your doctor just to rule out something like an ear infection.

The main way to increase supply is by increasing demand (i.e. that feed after 2pm!) but also through pumping. So if you spend a few days pumping after a few feeds a day it sends the signal to your breasts to produce more. Remember this isn't pumping to 'get milk out' - after a feed very little if anything will come initially - you are pumping to send signals to increase milk production. If you pump for even just a few minutes and change sides a few times it's the best way to send those signals. So 5 min on one side, 5 min on the other, then 3 min and 3 min, 2 min and 2 min. It's quite important to pump as soon as after the feed has finished as you can so that you are sending the signal that more milk is needed in that feed. What you are doing here is the equivalent of what babies do during a growth spurt - continuing to feed on a fairly empty breast (though breasts are never completely empty - even the fullest feed only takes about 75% of available milk).

If you have fed both sides and she still wants more - do return to the 'third' side i.e. go back to the first. There will be a new letdown and there will be something there and you are sending more of those important signals.

This is a recent thread from the bf board about supplementing with formula:
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=97485.0

[speake]

oh yes I forgot to put a feed down at 5:00, when she wakes up from her nap. I have since stopped all solids, she slept througth the night last night and only woke to play around 4 but went back to sleep. she still seems unsatisfied after feeds though so I tried 1 oz of formula with some breast milk and she loved this, so I think I'll try this for awhile. thanks, sheri

[Samuel's mum]

Good Luck.
Come back to the bf board if you have any worries about supply slipping.

[Layla]

Great to hear Sheri  !