Snacking LO makes EASY difficult!

[spiritedmama]

Hi all,

My LO is nearly 4 months and amongst various other issues (mainly sleep) he is a serial snacker! This means that I cannot for the life of me get him to take a full feed upon waking, he'll have a tiny bit and then he's hungry about an hour later so nearly impossible to get him into the EASY routine. He also on that feed after an hour of being awake, will more than likely not take a full feed either, though more than when he first wakes. This is a pattern that repeats throughout the day and also because he relies on bfing to get to sleep. I'm going to be doing PU/PD with him when he hits four months, but for now, it's one of the only ways I have of getting him to sleep at night as he really doesn't know how to resettle...

Any advice for turning a snacker into a full feeder?

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

We actually did snacking on purpose at that age, but the key was keeping the 2nd feed a ways from the nap....so our day went EAEAS. Though we did it because DD3 is lsn and had super long A times so needed an extra feed to make it through a nap. Otherwise I probably would have slowly tried to move the 2nd feed back until she finally took a more full feed right after a nap allowing the 2nd feed to be dropped. We never had a feed to sleep prop though...

[spiritedmama]

Hmmm...just not sure about holding a feed back, he can get pretty tetchy! Maybe the key is to hold it back 15 mins extra every day and see if I can get him to take a full feed. The issue with him only feeding after sleep is that he only catnaps, 20 min to 30 min at the most - unless I take him in bed and bf him to sleep - in which case he is both eating outside of feed times and using feeding as a prop 

Very hard to rectify....

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

Hmmm...so is the feeding to sleep a third feed in addition to the two during A time? If her naps are that short she for sure won't be hungry on waking then. 4 months is kind of the age where they are ready for more A time but some bf babies cant do the 4 hr feed routine so the 2 nd feed during A compensates for that, but in order to avoid the prop needs to be separate from sleep time. How are his A times looking?

[spiritedmama]

He roughly has 1.5 hr of A time. I'm not on a proper EASY routine as it's so hard to get him in one...he is also bottle and breast fed to further compound things. He started rejecting the breast because of slow let down...he basically eats when he wants!

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

I think regardless of feed times, upping his A time might get you some longer naps and naturally extend the feeds (though the nursing to sleep prop is a whole other issue!). My DD fed on demand when we were ebf but still just kept concious of squeezing a bit of A in after a feed and before the nap (but we did have our other props  )

[*Ali*]

Is he demanding a feed on wake up? If not can you hold him out until he asks for a feed?

Have you tried breast compressions to keep him interested? Breast compression

Or google dangle feeding.

[spiritedmama]

Yes I tried compression and all manner of herbs and even domperidone to up my supply...the issue is a slow let down and his spirited personality means that he doesnt want to wait and put the effort in, so formula has been creeping in and supply lowering even further. He got used to snacking as a newborn as he used to fall asleep waiting for the let down...now he kind of gets annoyed!

Just wondering how I can increase what he takes at each feed so as to space them out but he just plays/pulls away from either breast or bottle when he's had enough but then wants to eat 2 hours, sometimes even less, later! Therefore, combined with catnapping, it's extrememly hard to get him on EASY!

[*Ali*]

Can you express until you get a let down and then put him on? Then when he gets fussy you can offer what you expressed to top him off perhaps.

There are also some great ideas here to cue letdown. http://kellymom.com/bf/got-milk/supply-worries/letdown/

[spiritedmama]

Thanks for the suggestions Ali...I've given up on expressing as I never manage to get much out. My LO tends not to feed from the breast for any longer than 5 minutes then needs bottle top up - just to give you an idea about my supply/flow.

[*Ali*]

How much is he taking as a top up? At this age my LOs were down to 8 and 6 mins BFing and that lasted 3hrs plus. By 4.5mo they were both on 4hrly feeds with little more than 5 mins of feeding. Many BF LOs will take an ounce or two after a full BF just because it is there and easy yk?

[spiritedmama]

Hm...interesting. Sometimes he takes 60 ml (2oz), sometimes he takes more, sometimes less. He's increasingly fussy on the bottle too so I have no idea what's going on. Acts hungry but then wriggles and fusses. He usually pulls off the breast and whines as if he's looking for more so I give him the bottle. But he seems to want less and less bottle lately but still eats very frequently. I think he's just got used to being able to eat whenever he likes so as long as he's not starving any more he loses interest - spirited, very very susceptible to distraction and stimulation - but cos he doesn't take a full feed, is hungry within a couple of hours and the cycle repeats!