nw at 7 months hunger or habbit?

[toscacat]

So my 7month old has been waking through the night since birth (occasionally he has slept through) and I am wondering if it is hunger or habbit...  breast fed plus solids...he has dropped his milk feeds himself no matter how much or little I give him solid wise so on advice of hv we are going with it and getting the calcium etc in him another way.

he self soothes for all naps and bedtime (apart from occasionally when he is tired at bedtime and he falls asleep whilst feeding).


our EASY

Wu 7
E bf at 7.15am
A7.30-1000
S 1000-1130 (I have started waking at 1 and half hrs)
e bf offered few sucks not interested even in dark room
lunch 1145-1200 ish
a 1200-1410
e 1415-1425 (only time he will take a full bf in the day but doesnt fall asleep)
S 1430-1615 (sometimes I cap this to 1hr 45mins)
e 1645-1715
A 1715-1830
Bath and feed at 6.30 and bed by 7.  Sometimes bath time is brought forward to 1815 if he looks tired which he generally does.
 Nw... between 1-3am for about twenty mins.
I did try to stop feeding overnight about a month ago but he was taking an hour and a half to settle back using shh pat...used since birth doesnt over stimulate him. So should I try again or because the waking are at different times does it mean legitimate hunger?

[toscacat]

Sorry should also add that if he wakes nearer 1 he will want a second feed about 5 sometimes.  No df everytime I tried to introduce one it made it worse.

[Layla]

Hi there,

I wonder if maybe he is genuinely hungry, given that he isn't taking very much from the breast during the day? From your post, my understanding is that he takes 2 feeds? Do you give him a feed before bedtime? I have asked for a BF mod to have a look at your post and hopefully give you some suggestions as to how to get him interested in taking more milk as in my opinion milk is much more important than solids for the first 12months.

Routine wise, the only thing I can think of is that maybe his afternoon nap needs to be also capped at 1.5hrs so that he's sleeping a total of 3hrs during the day and the rest at night as it may be also a case of too much daytime sleep (you mentioned you only sometimes cap it at 1hr45mins ...how long is this nap usually?)

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

Layla is right...the milk is the most important thing at this age (and while you can get calcium from other sources, besides formula, nothing else will be as nutrient dense as breastmilk). 

My DD3 is a similar age but we are mixed ff & bf - but she still takes 3 bf a day, 2-3 bottles of formula and a bit of solids (breakfast mainly otherwise we do blw) and she has one night feed most nights.

How many solids meals is he having? I would for sure consider dropping the amounts and giving it a few days if you want to be able to get more bm in him in the day - otherwise I think he will continue to need the nf (and a lot of ebf babies continue to need a nf until older to begin with).

Waking at different times is usually hunger here...but could also be teething, developmental stuff etc! Df did not work fornus either.

[toscacat]

Thank you...he generally will do between and hour and a half to two hours in the afternoon.  I can try capping them both and see.  Sometimes when I cap the morning one I can only get 2 and half hours of a time though.   In terms of feeding he is a pickle! He is a smaller baby (14 lbs 7oz at 6 and half months)and just fights the breast if he isnt hungry but he is also very chilled so doesnt cry for food so I have to guess!

He is on 3 meals a day and eats a good 4-7oz each meal. I use 2 oz ebm to make his porridge to get it extra milk In  him . I have tried not giving them and it doesnt alter.   He has three breast feeds in the day- morning, afternoon and bedtime. I did try offering every four hours but was worried he was snacking so thought three good feeds were better than snacking.  Also if he does a four hour feed on wake up 3 hrs of a time it only gives him an hours sleep before the next e.
The afternoon feed I have to do so close to nap time a bit like a bedtime feed to get him to take it...I could try that before his morning nap too but worried about keeping e and s apart. We have tried before meals after meals no meals so any help would be great.He wont take a bottle top up and will only take an ounce or two from a sippy cup.  Thank u for your advice so far nice to check the easy. I feel bad waking him for both naps though as surely he needs it? Sorry if I have posted this in the wrong section.

[*Ali*]

What sort of thing is he eating for solids? Can you add more breast milk or even formula to that?

I would stick with the NFs for now.  It is not unusual for LOs to have 1-2 NFs at this age even when on 4 or 5 day time feeds. So if you can't get the milk in in the day then I would do it when you can at night.

[toscacat]

Ok I am happy to keep feeding at night if it's a genuine need just didnt want to be creating habbits.he is eating all sorts. ..breakfast is easy and I get two ounces etc in him...he has mainly ebm in the sippy cup with occasional water so I don't have issues later.

lunch and dinner are a selection of mashed or partially blended meats, fish, veggies, pasta, rice, yoghurt and fruit.  I could add ebm to that.  Thank you for your help.. am I better offering frequently in the day even if he only takes small amounts or keep it to three decent feeds? Feel free to move this post to feeding now it's become a feeding thread!

[toscacat]

Also. ..how much milk am I trying to add over the course of a day?

[*Ali*]

It is so hard to tell when BFing. 25ozs is the average intake of breast milk for a 6mo but without knowing what he takes from the breast it is impossible to tell what needs to be added. Tbh if he is having 3 decent feeds in the day and at least one at night then he probably gets what he needs in 24hrs from that. The idea to add more EBM to the solids was to try to move the calories to the day so he would eventually be able to skip that NF in a few months. I suppose about 6oz per feed assuming he takes 4 equal feeds so if you could get that in him in solids that would hopefully eventually cancel out the NF. But there's no pressure to do that and he may not be ready to drop the NF anyway. Many BF babies need a NF until 12mo or later. Mine were 12.5mo and 15mo respectively before we dropped the NF and just had 4 feeds in the day.

If it were me I would probably offer at the 4 usual times during the day but if he has a few sucks at one of the middle feeds and then isn't interested I wouldn't sweat it. He might take a decent feed at that time one of these days though so worth offering it for a little longer IMO.

[toscacat]

Thanks that's really useful...it is so difficult as I know milk should be his main intake and everyone implies he should be sleeping through that I just wanted to check out what we were doing but genuine hunger...I can handle that