5.5 mo hungry all night

[aidenmc]

Ds wakes a lot through the night, has since birth due to reflux, gas, etc., and now can't fall asleep independently (going to sleep train after Christmas). The thing is that he has not been a feed to sleep baby (despite the fact that I moved his feeding to right before sleep due to reflux (sometimes had to feed during sleep due to refusal). Anyway, at night I have been able to settle him for many nw's by holding and patting and giving soother. Now seems to always want the boob. I can't fight him off - he will squirm and cry for it. He usually drinks pretty well. I don't always give both sides and sometimes he falls asleep after drinking for a while, but I am pretty convinced he is quite hungry. He gets one bottle of expressed bm at night and whereas 2-3 weeks ago he would barely take 3 oz, now he easily drains 4.

Tonight he was a so hard to get down to sleep. He was a little OT but seemed hungry (seemed like nothing left in boobs) so I gave him my bottle of expressed milk (probably 3oz - so none for dh's bottle). He then woke half a dozen times between 7 and 10. Whenever I went in he wanted on boob. Put him on one side he sucked then stopped (I know know it was probably empty), but every time I went to put him down he woke. Finally gave him the other side. He drank that then finally to sleep. I would often pump milk at this time to make dh's bottle but obviously now have nothing to pump  .

I think he is hungry. Is it possible I don't have enough to fuel him right now? During the day he takes about 4 feeds including the bedtime one. He is not on solids (trying to hold him  off due to intolerances, reflux - suspect his tummy may not react the best), but is desperate to eat anything. Would starting him on oatmeal or something help?

I don't think this is just a new habit at night as he doesn't usually bf to sleep (he will then go to sleep with the soother generally). Could I be wrong? What's strange is we had this bedtime problem a few weeks ago (he wasn't satisfied at bedtime and I thought my supply was dropping), then things seemed to get better. Now they are back to the same again I think.

[~ Vik ~]

I don't have any experience with reflux, so hopefully another mom will jump on with some BTDT experience for you

What you're describing definitely sounds like hunger (again, with no reflux exp. here), so you have a few options depending on how you want to go...
 - you can feed more frequently, more on demand, almost like a growth spurt (which this could be, there's one around 6mo so your lo could be a bit early).  Though this may alter your routine a bit, you may find that even adding only 1 or 2 feeds during the day will help decrease your nightwakings and will also increase your supply.
 - you can keep your routine, but take some active steps to increase your supply (pumping, herbs like fenugreek, skin to skin contact, eating oatmeal, etc. see http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=65905.0) knowing that you might have to supplement with ebm after feeds as you work to increase supply.
(you may even want to do those first 2 together)
 - start solids.  Though the WHO recommends solids not be started until 6mo, there are varying stages of readiness, and some babies are ready sooner than others.  Have a read through http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=36922.0 to see if he's ready.  With food intolerance, pears might be a good first food to try.  Tracy always recommended them as they are mild flavoured, easy to digest, and not likely to cause an allergic reaction.  Rice cereal is a recommended first food in Canada, but it can be difficult to digest (though again, not likely to cause a reaction).

Not sure if anything here is helpful?

[aidenmc]

Well the same thing happened tonight. Am still not sure whether it is OT or a reflux flare or hunger but he was up 5 times in the 2 hours since bedtime. Every time he wanted to nurse and cried pitifully when this was delayed. I think I will try to nurse more often tomorrow.  It is hard because I think he is so excited by the world that he can distract himself from it during the day. Maybe I will try a top up after naps, although trying to pump as well -hard to find enough milk for it all. He doesn't like to nurse if the milk isn't really flowing. In fact I think he likes to switch before the first is fully emptied as it gets to slow for him. If he wants to make up for it in the evening it's the worst time as well as my supply is lowest then. I will also look for fenugreek - perhaps that will help some.

[Vicku]

Hi Becky,

I don't have very much reflux experience either, but to me reading the post GS really came to mind, and it could well be that he's having the 6mo GS a little early as Vikki suggested may be happening.
You say he doesn't really like to nurse when the flow stops.. Could you try switch nursing? So when he loses interest on the first side, switch to the second side, then when flow slows and he is losing interest here, you switch back to the first side again, then again to the second side if he'll take it. This has really helped my LO who is similar to yours in that she's not liking feeding to sleep and loses interest quickly with a slow flow. Switch nursing is also great for increasing supply so wether it's a GS or not it should be beneficial for you.
I hope the extra feeds in the day will help too. 4 daytime feeds at 5.5 mo is really the minimum usually recommended, so an extra or even two might work better for him. How long have you been on the 4 daytime feeds? Thinking that storage capacity might play a part in your perceived low supply http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/milkproduction.html#storagecapacity Some mums will need to do more feeds in a 24 hr period than others to provide the baby with the same amount of milk. Doesn't affect the baby, but does change how your routine will look. Just some thoughts.. What do you think?

[aidenmc]

Thanks Vicku. I do end up switching back and forth, which seems to help some. I think part of this is reflux as well. Tonight we had a similar bedtime issue with ds taking forever to get to sleep. This time I know he had a good feed but he kept wanting back on the boob and having to be burped and burped - just generally uncomfortable. Luckily he's only woken once so far this evening (knock on wood).

Not sure how long we've been on 4 feeds actually. We gradually moved to feeding before sleep (once at every nap then before bed) when I was having such a tough time getting him to nurse longer than 3-4 minutes at a time. It worked in that he took bigger feeds but I think struggles to feed at any other time unless starving. I do think he needs at least one more per day.

I wish I could somehow move his feeds. He is often very hungry by naptime and it takes a while with all the burping and discomfort - oh and he will require 1-2 diaper changes as well - tends to poop during feeds. I think sometimes he ends up OT by the time he needs to settle down.