How do I know if she's getting enough???

[NatashaB]

Hi there,

5 1/2 month old BF every 4 hours.  Was sleeping through the night, now wakes every 3 hours for food.  7pm - 12am - 3am etc...
Eating a "very" small amount of cereal in the AM with fruit, fruit and veggies and lunch and veggies at dinner....in "small" amounts.  My doc thinks she's waking at night and fussing or cryng for attention...I think she's actually hungry because she will only settle for another 3 hours after I feed her??  Am I feeding her enough every 4 hours??  Any suggestions??

Thank you

[EllenS]

That's a LOT of solids for her age.  I think it's likely she does not have enough room for milk in the daytime, and needs to make up the calories at night.  Baby solids have NOWHERE NEAR as many calories as breastmilk, they are just for practice until 1 yr old.  In your place I would back off to 1 serving of solids a day (or drop them altogether till after 6mo) and if she continues seeming hungry at night, then feed more frequently in the day.

[NoelleChristine]

Waking for attention at 5 1/2 months... makes me go hmmmm.

I think what Ellen said is a good place to start.  If she was sleeping through and then recently has started waking I'd say she's not getting enough calories in the day, going through a GS, or maybe even a milestone.  Recent roll-overs...crawling?

I've also heard of many babies who were sleeping through and then started waking once they started solids.  Check out the solids board too, they may have some advice over there too.

[NatashaB]

Thank you for your input.  I'm going to take your advice and cut down even more on the portion size of solids so that she has plenty of room for her milk feedings.  The size of solids I feed her now is truly very minimal....but I'll see how that works out.

I think it may be a combo of needing more calories and a GS as she is rolling on her back more often in tummy time!  No crawling yet. 

Thanks again,
Natasha 

[Mum of 3 + 2 stepkids]

Hi, another thought. When are you giving solids? I BF first and then do soilds about 10-15mins after, that way my lo is filling up on the milk first and then just a top up of the solid. Not sure what your doing but i found that this is good for us.

Kate x

[Kimberly®]

I would actually say cut the dinner solids out all together. 1 meal a day is enough at this early age so they get plenty of BM as thats got all the calories she needs. Having to many solids, or solids at night can cause tummy issues which can also contribute to NWing.