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Ending Reverse Cycling?

Sept07b2bSept07b2b member
in Breastfeeding

So I went back to work about 2.5 weeks ago.  My LO is now 14 weeks old and has never loved the bottle.  She'll take it, but not lovingly! 

Anyway, over the past couple of days, she is barely eating 6-8 oz during the day while I'm gone.  I'll nurse her first thing in the morning (around 6:30am), in the evening around 5:30pm when I get home and the again before she goes to sleep at about 8:30pm.  And then she'll get up a few times at night to eat, but essentially she's eating about 8 oz between 6:30am and 5:30pm!! 

We were down to 1 wake-up around 4:00am-4:30am before I went back to work, and now I'm worried she is reverse cycling.  Does anyone have any suggestions for how to break this cycle?  Should I have the nanny force her to eat more during the day?  She is also sleeping a lot during the day, which I imagine has a lot to do with the fact that she isn't eating very much, so she's likely very tired!!!  Am I destined to have a baby who never STTN?!  TIA!

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Re: Ending Reverse Cycling?

  • Sept07b2bSept07b2b member

    Thanks for the reply!  For clarification, I am not expecting my LO to STTN at this point (although that would be nice!).  I was fine with the 1 wake-up to eat.  It's just the frequent wake-ups that's starting to hurt!  Especially since she was getting close to STTN. 

    I was very worried this was the advice I was going to get, since that's the only advice I can find on the internet.  I'm adamantly opposed to co-sleeping, since I don't get any sleep that way, and I really don't want to start that precedent, so that really won't work for me.  It's extra hard with a toddler at home because he is very demanding on the weekends and in the mornings, so there isn't much hope of sleeping in or napping.  Unfortunately, I have a very demanding job, and being exhausted isn't really a great option for me.  I recognize that a lot of other people are fine with just accepting that this is the case, but it can't hurt to try, right!? 

    I really don't want to give up breastfeeding, but unfortunately, that might be my only option if this continues.  Sigh!!  My son was the total opposite.  He hated breastfeeding, and I constantly had to fight to keep him at the boob!!  I used to laugh at people who said they couldn't get their LOs to take a bottle!  Maybe karma is coming back to bite me!  :) 

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  • desdemona39desdemona39
    imageCrash Into Me:

    Well, first of all, babies don't always STTN.  It sure seems like all babies on TB do STTN, doesn't it?  DD reverse cycled from 3 months old until 8-ish months old.  You absolutely cannot force her to eat more during the day and if you try, she may reject the bottle all together. 

    The best thing you can do is try to make peace with the situation.  Do whatever you have to in order to make it through.  Co-sleep, bed share (safely, of course), try a dream feed right before you go to bed, shift your bedtime earlier, sleep in on the weekends, nap if/when you can, and so on.

    It sucks while you're going through it but it does end.  My DD was an awful sleeper while she was reverse-cycling, but one day she drank both of her bottles at the sitter's house and even had more milk thawed that day, she slept really well that night and here we are, about two weeks later and things are still going pretty well. 

    ITA.

    FWIW, If DD didn't reverse cycle, I would have had to supplement because I wasn't responding well to the pump.

    Co-sleeping really helped early on, and when I  transitioned her to her crib at 5.5 months, she only woke 2x per night and could drain both boobs and be back sleeping in her crib in 15mins flat. Now that she's a year old, she sometimes wakes 1x, but usually not at all.

    Hang in there! For many LOs reverse cycling is a short phase, but there are upsides if LO does it longer- if your pumping output is good, you may get to pump less.

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  • pepomntpatpepomntpat member

    Are you opposed to cosleeping or bedsharing? They are not the same thing. I am not sure what I would have done if we hadn't bedshared.

    As for helping to break the reverse cycling cycle, you can try to offer to nurse more often when you are with LO. So, get up earlier and get LO up earlier so you can nurse twice before drop off. Nurse again at the daycare before you leave. Nurse at the daycare when you pick LO up. Just offer the breast more often. Latch LO on lots and lots especially right before bed.

    Otherwise you will just have to wait it out.  

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  • desdemona39desdemona39
    imageSept07b2b:

    I really don't want to give up breastfeeding, but unfortunately, that might be my only option if this continues. 

    If you switch to formula to get LO to sleep longer, you may just find yourself having to get up and warm formula with a crying baby and being up longer. 

    I would offer the breast more, have your DCP offer more (but not force) in the bottle, or pump before bed and have your SO give a bottle of pumped milk so you can get a longer stretch of sleep if LO wakes at night.

    ETA- look into the 4 month wakeful. Sleep regression at that age is very normal, and it will pass.

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