Supplementing at Night

[newmama12]

My ds is 5 months old and has been EBF since birth. He's a big baby and I'm very worried about my supply now that AF has returned. He is not sttn either (usually up 2x). I 'think' that one reason he might not be sleeping longer than a 4 hour stretch at night is b/c he's hungry. He tends to be very tired by the time he nurses for bed time. He doesn't nurse well and ends up getting too fussy and frustrated. He'll drink the letdown off both sides but then sucks and fusses like he's not getting enough. After a few minutes of this, I end up putting the paci in his mouth and burping them and he falls asleep on my chest. Lay him down and he sleeps for 4, maybe 5 hours and is up again for a feed. BTW, he's 18lbs and should be very able to go longer than 5 hours at night! 

Every day, I consider supplementing with some formula after I nurse him at bedtime. A few times I have given him a pumped bottle of 3 oz to see if it helps him sleep longer, but it rarely does. He will drink it all though. Honestly, I'm not really concerned about whether he sleeps longer or not. I'm really concerned about if he's hungry. Pumping is very difficult now since my supply is evened out. I usually can get 2-3 ounces in one 20 minute pumping session. I don't know if I should keep trying this with pumping and then giving it to him at bedtime or if I should try formula if he's still hungry.

I guess my question is....do any of you bf during the day and then supplement at night/bedtime? Any major issues with supply?

[Tay]

Hiya, ((hugs))
From what you're saying it doesn't sound to me like supplementing will help your LO STTN, if it had been hunger the 3oz bottle of EBM would have helped with his sleep.
A few questions:
- what's your LOs daytime routine like? Is he on a 3hr, 3.5hrs, or 4 hr EASY?
- are your doing a DF at all? When you say he wakes up twice is it for a DF and then 1 more NW (If so, it's pretty normal for babies your LOs age to still be doing this)

About your supply:
- why are you concerned about it? Is it because of the night sleep or is there any other reason?
Is your LO gaining weight ok? How doe the daytime feeds go? Does he feed well?

xxx

[newmama12]

Thank you for responding! To answer your questions...

Typically, he's not a good napper. 3-4 naps per day that range from 30-60 minutes. However, the past few days he'll give 1 longer nap about 1.5 hours. So, maybe we're on to something??

He goes to bed at 7pm and recently he's been waking up at 10pm. I have never done a DF b/c there have been times when he will wake at 10, feed, and still wake up 4 hours later. Then there have been weeks where he slept 7pm-1am, fed, slept 1:30am till 5am, fed, slept till 6:30/7am. But like I said, for the past few weeks, he's on a 10/10:30 pm wake up. I feed him and he'll go back to sleep till 2-3am and then wake again around 5 and then fuss/sleep till 7ish. It's getting crazy! I have to say, he is very gassy and I think that also has a lot to do with it. He may be waking and wanting to comfort nurse hoping his belly will feel better, but in reality, it just makes it worse. Today I have officially started a dairy free diet in hopes of straightening things out.

As far as his eating schedule during the day, I cannot seem to get him past a 3 hour. Sometimes, he'll go 3.5 (and very occasionally a 4 hour stretch) if he's napping thru a feed. He just seems hungry/fussy come that 3 hour mark. Another reason I 'stress' about my supply and wonder if he's eating enough at each feeding. He does stop on his own and seems satisfied most of the time. Now he is gaining weight just fine. He's just over 5 months and weights close to 18 lbs. So, in that respect, he's all good. But...b/c of that, again, I wonder if he is hungry. I don't know! I think I'm just stressing about it b/c he's gassy and being fussy from that along with fussing from getting his first tooth! I plan on starting solids in about a week or so, hoping that will content him a little more.

[Tay]

I know... we can stress about everything with our LOs... I know it too well....
I must say that it's not uncommon for LOs your DDs age to be doing the 2 NF at this stage, and that doesn't mean that you have a supply issue. But it is good to rule out any discomfort from wind or teething that may be causing the NWs. Have you tried any wind meds?
Also wanted to say that it does sound like your LO is getting plenty; he's gaining weight well, finishes the feed satisfied/ not fussy (am I right?) and is lasting at least 3hrs between feeds.
So I'm guessing it might have to do with his routine, maybe he needs to be on slightly longer A times/ a 3.5hr/4hr EASY.
Could you try extending his daytime feeds, by or 10 minutes increments (whichever your LO can cope with without being too distressed) and see if it helps a bit? The way i done with DS was: I extended just the first gap between feeds by 5 or 10min one day, then kept the rest of the feeds at 3hrs, kept extending that first one until I was 3.5hrs, then I started working on the second gap, iykwim. I eventually got to 4hrs (but don't worry too much about the 4hr, some BF babies don't get to 4hrs until much later, after they're well established on solids).
In theory it should start helping with the daytime naps as well (cause you're talking about increasing A times). As well as helping your LO take bigger feeds, which in turn will help him go for longer between feeds (and hopefully between night feeds as well!!!!)

The typical A time for LOs your DDs age is between 2 and 2.5hrs, so it might be worth trying to work around that for daytime naps (have that as a guide and watch your LOs cues).

Sorry if I'm not making sense, I think I need to go to bed now...
xxx