so, we've got this night feeding problem...

Mrs.Reem

Clearly it takes a lot of milk to fill a 22lb six month old. I get that. 

...but this is ridiculous. Ana has created a habit of eating every 2 hours day or night. I'm not too tired but she should be sleeping better by now.

With Katen, she was taking pumped bottles when I broke her of the overnight feeding habit, so I just added a little more water to her bottles each night until she decided it wasn't worth it to wake up. 

How do I break the habit with a baby who is breast fed?

I tried nursing for a shorter amount of time but that created 2 problems.

1) I still have an oversupply so stopping the feeding results in milk squirting and dribbling everywhere while I try to get Ana back into her crib. 

2) Ana gets mad and refuses to go back to sleep. We're talking SO mad that she's up for 2 hours before falling asleep again.

Help! What do I do? 

Nicole.

my only thought would be to feed her more during the day (although if she's eating every two hours around the clock, I don't really know if that's possible)- and making sure she's getting FULL feedings during the day and not snacking (but again- she's a 22lb 6 month old- so she's surely growing well). 

Gosh- I'm stumped!

hannah&ben

Henry was the same way for quite a while (eating every 2 hours round the clock).  Around the 6/7 month mark I really really started focusing on daytime feeds - he was nursing often but not always efficiently b/c of distractions and wanting to play, etc.  So, I started taking the time to sit in a dark room and make sure every daytime feed was long, uninterrupted and on both sides.. till he was absolutely full!  I also didn't offer much in the way of solids then either, I wanted him getting a good lot of calories from milk... not so many calories in pureed sweet potato.

Sure enough, he wasn't nearly as hungry at night and started going 4 hours between night feedings. 

charmcitygirl

I'm at a loss here.  I wish that there could be a little bit of longer stretches for her (and you) overnight.  You know that by this point, she would want/need to be sleeping for longer stretches.

I'm not sure if you've started solids, but perhaps that might fill her up during the day a bit more so she'll be less hungry at night.

I wish that she was sleeping longer stretches.  For both of you!  Hope she turns around soon!

CMM05

I have no advice because as you know I'm the formula feeding Nazi....

I just want to tell you that you are supermom-I have no idea how you are still feeding her every 2 hours and dealing with Katen!!

 Noah is eating every 4 hours (by bottle....) and its still tough dealing with Connor!

 I give you so much credit!

I *think* you start solids on the later side, right???? What about increasing her solids?? 

Mrs.Reem

Maybe I'll give more protein packed meals for a few days to see if that works and if not, then I'll move on to plan B. (whatever that is)  lol! 

Hannah - that does make a lot of sense. Ana is constantly popping off to see what Katen is doing. I'm thinking maybe even a nursing cover might help our situation. Good thought!  

CMM05 - Katen is my superkid. She is so amazing. When I feed Ana she's usually an angel. I never have to worry about her. She just does her own thing. She'll color or we'll all sit on the floor and play. 

Naps are a different story. Ana doesn't nap much these days but Katen has a really hard time being quiet while I'm putting Ana to sleep. She's constantly waking her up.   Overall, I'm counting my blessings though. 

I hope you're enjoying summer!! 

DavezWife

increase solids?

And I'll throw something out there.... don't you deal with DM2 (or was it 1?) and a thyroid thing? Far fetched to say the least, but big baby, insatiable hunger... hereditary possibility or something related? I would maybe bring it up to a ped if you think my questions might mean anything.

and, um, DAMN! big kid! 

 

Mrs.Reem

Gosh yes davez, and to be honest that never occurred to me but could very well make sense. She was a 7lb newborn but grew FAST.   

I'm hyper-thyroid so I wonder if I'm burning too many calories and she's getting "skim milk" - although she's obviously growing okay but maybe only because of the frequent feeding.

I'd be more inclined to think I passed on type 1 diabetes if she were losing weight but it's definitely worth exploring either way. I currently have an appt to have katen checked because she got all skinny on me while still eating well. That's a whole other story though.

You are a smart lady!  

somethingchangd

No real solution, but I feel your pain.  The only thing that helped us was time.

And, um...I didn't read this post before I posted my AW above.  Sorry. 

efooey

When Lucy started getting up at night it always meant it was time to increase her solids.

I'm jealous katen behaves during ana's nursing time.  luce figured out real quick that when i sit down she can do anything she wants and mom can't stop her. 

Kim777

Wyatt ate every 3 hours around the clock until 7.5 months. Then he suddenly started going 10 hour stretches. Mason still woke once/night to nurse until 9 months and then finally started going the 10 hour stretch too. Now they both go 10-12. I think it was a combination of time and gradually increasing solids that finally helped them both to start sleeping so much better.

Mrs.Reem

Okay so there's hope.   

Somethingchanged - Oh gosh no biggie! I'm HAPPY for people who actually get sleep. You must be doing something right.    You go girl!

efooey - Katen did that in the beginning. Those little stinkers catch on quickly! My plan of attack was to go ahead and get up - learned very quickly to walk while nursing - and stick to our usual discipline plan. For a while I felt awful (AWFUL) that K was getting in trouble all the time but I really do feel like sticking to our rules created the reliability in her life that she needed.  I think if we hadn't gone ahead and disciplined, she would have been getting in trouble for longer. I'm not saying that would work with Lucy because every kid is totally different, but that's how we approached it. 

I promise. The novelty of having baby around will wear off for her in a few weeks.  

MonkeysGirl05

I'm a little late here, but I'll throw out my $.02 too.

The same thing happened to me when Henry was 4/5 months (right after he got out of the hospital). Prior to his hosp stay, he had been sleeping in 3-6 hr streatches. When we got home, it was every 2-3 hrs. I didn't think he was actually hungry, but more comfort nursing (about every other feed). I was back to work, so this schedule was killing me. So, I turned to Ferber. There is a section in his book on decreasing the dependency on over night feeds. I think at 6 months he thinks all babies should be STTN, I just wanted to get back to one or two feedings a night. So, what he suggested basically is increasing the time between feeds each night. So, the first night I'd wait a minimum of 2 hrs between feedings and the next night would be 2 hrs and 15 mins (adding 15 minutes each night until I got to where he was waking only 2x per night). Some CIO is involved, but it really helped. Before I knew it, he was down to one waking each night and around 8 months he started STTN. It was amazing, like a light switch went off.

Good luck to you whatever you end up doing!

JGirl2005

hi, mrsreem.

I don't have any answers for you.  I had so many problems but I had low supply and a big baby.  I think he was 19lbs at 6m, so not quite 22 lbs. 

He fed every 2 hrs until 9m or so maybe later...it was crazy.  he started STTN (what I considered it -more than 5hrs straight) at 11.5m.

hugs, is she eating solids now before dinner.  i have to say that solids never helped my LO sleep longer.  I never had enough to pump and then have someone else feel him too.

futrkingsley

My big boy kept up the waking to eat every 2 hours routine for a long long time.  Like he's almost 2 and is just now sleeping more than 3 hours at a time.  I tried lots of different things (more food didn't work, refusing to nurse until a set time had passed didn't work as it made him more awake and I got less sleep, etc).  Eventually time won out.  And he started asking for a cup/bottle/sippy of milk before bed.  And I gave it to him.  And he slept. I wouldn't have supplemented him like that before now though -- I work outside the house and evenings/nights is our time to nurse and my milk supply would have vanished a long time ago if he did that at 6 months instead of 23.

Good luck.