Hi Gina
I would hazard a guess that because he is more relaxed at night that may be why he eats well, my LO has always taken more when shes sleepy at night, her DF for example was her best feed of the day.
My LO is in the 25th percentile always has been and during our heatwave summer and again before I dropped the DF was down to taking about 10min BF first thing and 3-5min max for both midday feeds, then maybe 10-15mins before bed, admittedly her DF was 30mins but she still managed to keep steady weight gain, I was amazed as I was worried about how little she seemed to eat. So don't fret too much they can take a feed a lot quicker than you might think. The other thing you need not to do is force the issue of eating, when LO first started doing 3min feeds it became a battle to try to get her to take more, which just got her upset and me feeling guilty, she would really start to scream the minute I tried to offer her more or the other breast. My health visitor told me not to force it and get her upset as this can lead to a total refusal of the breast, I'm assuming this could be the same of a bottle too. So really try to relax with it and just follow his lead, in-case its becoming a phobia about food full stop, wherever it comes from.
Its not ideal but he is eating at night so first is to get him relaxed about eating during the day by relaxing yourself, then when his interest picks up and it stops becoming a battle try to cut down the night feeds.
This coupled with changing his meds should really start to have results.
With regard PU/PD, if shush pat works then by all means continue to use it, however past 6 months it can start being preventative of LO's falling asleep, instead of helpful. LO's do seem to cry more with PU/PD but don't forget it is a technique you don't normally use so a lot of the crying will be him not knowing why you have changed the way you get him to sleep. The other reason crying can increase is if you don't use exactly the right adaptation for your age LO, as they get older holding on too long will just make them cry even harder when you put them back down. You do need to be committed to the technique and really stick at it, but it really does work, done correctly I don't believe there is a child for whom it wouldn't work.
Keep us posted
newmum x
