trying to put my 5.5 month in EASY (from snacking) and fear my milk supply has d

[Jessenea]

Hello,

I'm new to the forum but I have a number of things I'd like to change/fix before my lo is introduced to solids.  Up until 2 days ago, he would eat about every 2 hours (not ideal but it worked - he'd get a feeding right after waking up and right before going to bed).  He falls asleep on on his.  For the last two days I've put him on a 3.5 hr schedule (perhaps too aggressive!).  I've been pumping hoping to increase my milk supply after each feeding following the 7-5-3.  At night he used to wake up twice (once around 1 and the other around 4:30).  However, the night before he did that again but last night he woke up every 1.5-2 hr.  He'd latch and unlatch right away.  My fear is that my milk supply is not there to meet his demand. 

I decided to put him on EASY because I want to introduce solids (starting with breakfast) 1 hr after feeding him breast milk.  But if he's eating every two hours while away I fear he'd refuse the second feeding if fed solids.  My plan is to feed him solids every few days from 6-7 months and then at 7 months making it consistently say breakfast every other day.  My goal is to delay slightly the solids as I read Breast milk should be his main source of food until 1.

Also, today I fear my milk supply is low that during his naps he's been waking up after 30 minutes.  Given that I wait to get him (with such a short nap), he goes back to sleep and wakes up about 1 hr later making his entire nap about 1.5 hrs but I feel it's a disturbed nap.

I can't get him to an A time longer than 1.45 minutes .  If I do that his naps will turn into 30 minutes only for sure.  He used to be a cat napper till I increased his activity time to 1.5 hrs at 5 months.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Jess

His EASY is as follow:

7:30 - wake up - nurses
9:00 - placed back in his crib for his nap.  He generally falls asleep within 10 minutes
10:30 - wakes up from his nap
11:00 - nurses
12:00 - is placed in his crib for his second nap. 
1:30 - wakes up - today he woke up at 12:30 and went back to sleep at about 1 so he took another 1 hr and finally woke up at 2
2:00 - nurses
3:30 - Placed back in his crib for his third nap
5:00 - woke up from his nap, eats breast milk
6:30 - gets nursed again (with the idea of tanking up)
6:45 - placed in his bed for the night - but generally falls asleep by 7

At 5 I generally nurse him sort of with the idea of tanking up.

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

Hi! Welcome to BW

Have you seen this sticky at all? Lots of good info on supply there

I'm worried I may have low milk supply

I would for sure work at pushing out that A time, 1:45 is pretty low for that age, average is 2:30-3 hrs. He may take a bit to adjust but in the long run if you dont up them now you will always be playing catch up. Is nursing to sleep a prop? Or could something like teethng be causing the nw? Or a growth spurt?

I would intro solids when your lo shows readiness, while it is true that milk should come first they do still need to learn and have fun with tastes and textures. You could look into baby led weaning as well, we did a bit of that and some purees.

[*Ali*]

Is he happy to wait the 3.5hrs to eat or is he crying for food or rooting before that? That is quite a big jump to go from 2hrly feeds to 3.5hrly so I wouldn't force that if he is looking for food earlier.

I agree with pp that the A times probably need extending for him to sleep better. You will probably find the feeds stretch out naturally once he is awake longer and sleeping well immediately before a feed.

If you think after reading the FAQ pp posted above that you really have suffered a drop in supply then it is wise to go back to feeding more frequently to combat that.

[Jessenea]

Thank you! I've been increasing his activity time 10 minutes and now we're at 2 hrs A time, which is longer than before.  I'll continue working on it.  But I was basing his wake time on the Max Wake Time chart that's available http://www.mybabysleepguide.com/2013/02/average-sleep-charts-by-age.html  So far he's adjusting to the change.  I'm pumping after each feeding with the hope of an increase in the milk supply.  Last night he only woke up twice though his wake for the day was rather earlier than usual (6:20 instead of 7:30).  But it's better than every 1.5 -2 hr wake up at night.

Thank you again,

Jess

[*Ali*]

That is from an unrelated site so I won't comment on how accurate I think those times are but they do say they are averages not max times. So some babies will do more and some less. If your LO is not napping well i.e. 1.5hrs or more after those A times then it is usually a sure bet he needs a tad more A time.
The averages we tend to see for BW babies are listed here. Average A times- BOOKMARK ME!
Glad you got a better night.

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

Glad to hear he only woke twice!

[marten]

Thank you! I've been increasing his activity time 10 minutes and now we're at 2 hrs A time, which is longer than before.  I'll continue working on it.  But I was basing his wake time on the Max Wake Time chart that's available http://www.mybabysleepguide.com/2013/02/average-sleep-charts-by-age.html  So far he's adjusting to the change.  I'm pumping after each feeding with the hope of an increase in the milk supply.  Last night he only woke up twice though his wake for the day was rather earlier than usual (6:20 instead of 7:30).  But it's better than every 1.5 -2 hr wake up at night.

Thank you again,

Jess

I would be a little careful using those charts. The times there are really high and the reality is that most babies will not sleep for that long. There has been some really good research done in Australia and Switzerland that gives you the average sleep of a baby. I think it is much more realistic to aim for the average time and this should be more than enough for your baby. Check it out here: http://sleepybud.com/baby-sleep-chart/

Cheers

[zissi]

hi there,

as the other have said the A time is quite low and I would try to push it a bit.
if you feel your supply is low I would revert back to feed on demand. in my experience feeding on demand does not have to interfere with independent sleep. we sleep trained around 6 months as LO fed all night as well and we continued to feed during the day a lot, like every 1.5 to 2 hrs. I just made sure not to feed before naps or BT. I mean like 10 mins before rather than feeding to sleep. if you still feed supply is low you could take fenugreek and blessed thistle. worked well for us, baby had tongue tie and was an inefficient feeder as a result...