My little boy is 16 weeks. He is breastfed. He barely eats during the day. He snacks. When I try to nurse him more after he only nurses for a couple of minutes he cries like he is pain! He goes down for the night at 7-8 p.m. and then is up at 1 am, 3 am, 5 and then 7 am if not more. My first child nursed every 2 hours and slept thru the night. Listen, I understand that he is young and some babies this age to night wake; however, i truly believe it is because his caloric intake during the day is too low. he does not take a bottle well and I do not want to give formula. I know some of your response to that is that formula is fine but I choose to only give my baby breastmilk.He is not a good napper during the day either. Just cat naps. Any suggestions as to how I could remedy this would be much appreicated. i mean , i can't force the milk into him during the day, so what do i do?? has anyone else had this happen to them. ? thanks so much in advance
we had an issue very similar to this and my son ended up having silent acid reflux! Chiropratic is in the end what made him better.
I feel for you--my baby days are many years past, but maybe I can offer a little advice. It's not uncommon for babies to get their days and nights mixed up. Not sure how you would do this, but maybe you could hold him off a little bit at a time when he gets hungry during the day, to try to turn his clock around. Maybe hold him and rock him for 10 minutes when he is hungry, then feed him. Obviously, I'm not suggesting you starve him, but a few extra minutes of waiting may make him hungrier to where he'll eat better. I hope you get some great advice!
My first suggestion you're not going like. Try formula during the day, maybe he likes the breast milk when sleepy and during the night. Formula will not harm him, maybe it will help. Being a single mother I couldn't keep up with enough water and food to breastfed so I turned to formula and my daughter is perfectly healthy and happy. Try feeding him less during the night so that he's more hungery during the day. Does he use a binki? Some parents don't like using them but babies as young as yours may really need it, maybe it will help him sleep better and longer.
Does he have normal poops? If there hard that could be sign of constipation and reason for not wanting to fed during the day.
Best of luck and please don't rule out formula, it's healthy for him to have balanced mixture of breast milk and formula.
Are your producing enough milk?
Is he latching on properly? If not, he will not be getting enough intake.
Does he have gas? If so give him Mylicon Infant Gas drops.
Is your let-down, strong or too slow?
Again, is he latching on properly?
3 months old was a growth spurt period and developmentally. If not getting enough intake, they are always hungry. And need nursings.
I would check your flow and his latch.
Per naps, he sounds over tired.
When are you putting him down for naps?
Where are you putting him down for naps?
Maybe, he needs absolute quiet and the room dark. And maybe use white noise. My kids, as babies, were not portable nappers. They ONLY would nap, at home, in their crib, and it had to be really quiet. My daughter as a baby would wake screaming, even if a toilet flushed down the hall. For example.
Tell your Pediatrician.... and/or see a Lactation Consultant.
I know you said you don't want to do formula - but you should consider giving it a try and see if it makes a difference. If not, resume breastfeeding and no harm done. If it helps, then I think it would be cruel to not allow it. My son was a MESS for the first 6 weeks. A crying, screaming, mad mess. One day, we switched to formula and he was a different kid altogether.
We also battled reflux pretty bad and this is maybe something you should think about? Reflux is worse when they're laying down so sleeping suffers and you said your guy also cries a few minutes into feeding. If this is the case you may have to alter your diet if bf'ing or in my sons case, he had to go on meds for the reflux but my oh MY it helped!
In regards to napping and sleeping, he's probably way overtired by now, making it harder and harder for him to sleep. Make sure you lay him down in a quiet place often for naps. You should lay him down while he's still awake so that he learns sleeping skills. He should be laid down for naps before he is acting tired - generally by then you have missed your window. At his age, he should be laid down 1 to 2 hours after waking up in the morning and probably anytime he has been awake for 2 hours. Also, make sure he has an early bedtime - between 6 and 8 pm. A well rested child sleeps better than a tired one!
How is his weight? Do you know if he is gaining at all? I'm wondering if he could have reflux? You mentioned that he cries like he is in pain after a few min. of nursing. I'd recommend calling the pedi and discussing it with him/her. Might be a good idea to get a weight check too since he eats so little.
Hang in there- I know it's not easy when they are up so much at night.
Best wishes!
I'm thinking you should check into a local Le Leche League meeting and also look for a CLC or IBCLC - pronto!!
While you are googling those... I advise trying to lay down with the baby in a nap like environment - white noise, no direct or bright lights, soft bed, etc and nurse that way (both of you on your sides). I would also recommend bed sharing overnight where neither of you have to become fully awakened in order for the baby to nurse.
Majority of babies will eat the most overnight because infants are designed to need to be close to their Mothers and mammals as a whole group tend to 'co-sleep' - only certain human subgroups choose to NOT co-sleep or animals forced from their young in agricultural settings.
if you can pump your milk and give him oatmeal cereal mixed with your milk to a lose constanctany. he may need that extra filler, i would try it around lunch time at first to make sure he takes okay to it and after a few days try it at breakfast and then an hr or so before bed time to help fill him up before bed
If your child is not losing weight and is thriving, the longer you can stick to breast feeding only, the better.
If his cries are cries of pain, check with his doctor about that. I seriously doubt it's from hunger if he's gaining at the normal weight for a breast fed baby. Like someone before me said, babies this age get days and nights mixed up.
The only worrisome thing you said is the part about "cries of pain". Formula wouldn't help pain, just hunger...I suggest checking with your pediatrician about the cries of pain.
