Weaning 5mo onto formula..Will it fix his random days of being unsettled/waking?

[3lilmonkeys]

Hello wise bottle feeding mums 

I've been struggling with my 5mo for a few weeks now. His weight gain has dropped off slightly and it feels like on some days my milk just isn't cutting it. I'm not "full". Before bedtime I've been topping him up with formula and he takes about 2.5oz. A few nights ago he STTN (with a dreamfeed from the breast at 10pm) for 2 nights in a row! My breasts definitely felt fuller on those days.

BUT yesterday I felt low on milk again. Last night he only took 1oz bottle top-up, didn't settle well, woke 4 times before midnight (he took another 2 oz of formula at about 10pm then breast at 11.30pm), but was then out for the count until 6.30am.

I'm soooo confused!!! Is it my milk???  He's so erratic. Some days he settles & sleeps very well. Other days he's the opposite. I thought perhaps he just doesn't like the bottle yet but if I wean him onto it full time he'll learn to take more ounces and then be more settled?

Any help very appreciated

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

At this point the breasts function on a supply/demand basis instead of storing the milk they make it as it is requested by baby, hence the less full feeling.

I mixed fed all three of my kids at various stages and honestly the ratio of bm to formula had very little bearing on how settled they were and more to do with temperment and other factors like teething, growth spurts and developmental milestones (loads of nw's from practice - whether rolling, crawling, standing etc).  Formula does take longer to digest than bm but with all the other factors it is hard to know what the issue is!

[3lilmonkeys]

Thanks Heidi, I think he is going through more developmental leaps. Seems every time he learns even the tiniest thing (even chewing!) he has trouble with sleep. Hopefully he'll do better tonight.