Night Feeding for 5 Month Old Breastfed

I'll second the side-lying nursing. One of the best things I ever did with my son. I would fall right back to sleep. When i woke up later in the night sometimes I would put him back and sometimes I would just let him sleep in bed with us. It was so much better than getting up and sitting in a rocking chair ;-)

Feed on-demand.

I breastfed both my kids.
For the 1st year of life, breastmilk is a baby's PRIMARY source of nutrition, NOT solids and not other liquids.
AND during growth-spurts (6 months is a growth-spurt coming up) a baby gets hungrier and needs more intake to keep up with their development.

Babies sleep is NOT static. It changes. He is no longer 3 months old. So don't expect it to stay the same.

My son, was a big boy too and still is. He had a GINORMOUS appetite... and he "cluster fed" a lot. Cluster feeding means, a baby gets hungry even every single hour. It is normal. They are growing.... and thus you need to feed on-demand 24/7. A baby's intake need to increase as they grow.

Do not feed him cereal. It will not make him sleep more. That is a myth.

Does he feed at Daycare???? Do they feed him ON-demand? Or by a 'schedule'? You need to find that out. If they are not feeding him enough at Daycare, then sure, he will be hungry trying to make up his intake at night.

Also make sure your milk supply is adequate... or he will not be getting enough intake either.

I fed my kids on-demand the 1st year. Day and night. This is also per our Pediatrician.
Both my kids had GINORMOUS appetites and were in the 97-98th percentiles for growth/weight. My kids, were very very hearty feeders. And yes, they woke more when they were growing.... which is normal.

all the best,
Susan

I don't think it has anything to do with his day care situation. Babies won't go hungry, and he doesn't have the comprehension level to understand the difference yet.

He's at a critical stage in his development - he's likely going through a huge amount of change, getting ready to sit-up on his own, requiring less sleep during the day.

When you nurse him, do you do it in bed on your side so you can sleep while he's nursing? I, too, worked full-time while nursing our son (different story with our daughter, but not relevant for this conversation). I was driving up to 200 miles/day, and I needed the sleep desperately. It was a life saver.

Ask your pediatrician about cereal before starting. Both of our kids started at 4 months upon ped's advice. Not all peds have the same philosophy.

He may also be teething, have an ear infection, something he can't tell you about that is waking him and is being soothed only by nursing. Our 2 year-old has had tubes twice, the first time at 10.5 months. Her only symptom has been horrible drainage from her nose. Otherwise, we'd never had taken her to the doctor.

Good luck - be patient. The sacrifice with an infant is toughest on you, but it's worth it.

You should be able to start cereal. Sounds like he's hungry!! I personally had the same trouble of being up all night breastfeeding. I started my lil girl at 5 months mixing breastmilk with cereal and feeding with a spoon in highchair. Then, started using nursery water with the cereal a couple days later. I also started feeding nursery water in a water bottle. (The opening of the water bottle is small.) About 2 or 3 weeks later we were feeding her baby food squash.
I know it seems early to start those things, but my lil girl was hungry and thirsty! She loved the cold water in the water bottle. I had to hold the bottle, but she would sip it pretty good. I was trying not to use bottles or sippy cups because my first kid was really hard to wean from sippy cups, and they didn't have those when I was a kid anyway.

I would first make sure your son is eating at daycare -- they should be recording how many ounces he eats at each feeding as well as the time of each feeding. Then talk to your doctor about how many ounces of milk he recommends per day for your son (they do it based on age/weight I think). We started cereal at 4 months but my doctor said it was mainly for practice eating solids -- not for the nutrition/calories in the cereal.

It could be that he is just wanting extra mama time now that you are back to work. I agree with Dana -- if you are comfortable with him in your bed, nursing laying down is awesome because you can sleep a lot more than if you are going into his room and sitting in a chair. Then when he wakes again, you are right there and you can help him latch on without really waking up.

Could be a number of things. Don't you just wish that they could just talk and tell you what they want or what they are thinking??
He probably just prefers you over the bottle. I think they also kind of go through a little growth spurt around 5-7 months too. Since you co-sleep he may just smell you and want to nurse.
I NEVER co-slept with any of my kids because I think it is a bad habit to break but hey, whatever works to get sleep, right??!! But you may consider moving him into his own bed, then that way he can start soothing himself to sleep without nursing. Good luck!!

I am not a complete believer in the cry it out method either. I get to the point that I want to try it but can never stomach it. However at 5 months, I did stop feeding my baby in the night. I was breastfeeding every 4 hours and not getting enough sleep to make it through the day at work! I read a book that said by 4 months a baby can make it all night without eating. So, one weekend night I decided to try not feeding him. I think I had my husband go in because baby can smell your milk, but I ended up going in at a different time. We just comforted him and tried not to pick him up (although we probably did). Anway, the second night he woke up once and the third night he never woke up. He has been sleeping through the night ever since. So, I know it can be hard, but I would try to stop feeding everytime your baby cries at night. Give it a shot. If it doesn't work, you try something else. And hang in there. You will get sleep again eventually!

My daughter did the same thing about that age, except she was up every 30-90 minutes. I slept while nursing my son, but that just didn't work with her at that point. I started her on solids, but that didn't help as I woke every time she latched on. I eventually moved her to her crib and did cry-it-out despite not wanting to do it because I was loosing my mind after a month of only cat napping. It took a week and she still has "relapses." It was so hard, but I knew I was a short way from becoming a terrible mom from lack of sleep (I was having a hard time driving, loosing my temper, break down crying, etc.). To me, a few nights of distress for my daughter was better than living with me when I was that sleep deprived. I know this is so tough. Do what you think is best for your child and hang in there.

I had the same problem with my second child, she wouldn't eat at daycare from day one - literally. She always refused to take a bottle no matter what kind we used or what was in it. So, she obviously didn't get enough to eat during the day and would then cluster feed at night. My semi-solution: cluster feed all evening. It is annoying and time consuming, but it was better at night then. She still woke to feed at night, but not near as often.

I tried starting her on cereal, but it didn't make a difference......it really is a myth. Actually, it gave her gas and made matters worse.

Maybe they aren't making it warm enough. Remember, he is used to getting it body temp, so room temp is pretty cold. maybe if it's warmer he will eat more during the day.
Good luck to you!

He likes to be by mom. My daughter did the same thing after I went back to work. She just wanted the snuggle time with mom. I continued to nurse on demand until we quit at 15 months. I do have to admit that it was a rough first year. I hardly got any sleep and she didn't want to be out of my sight, but I wouldn't have traded it for the world. She is almost 3 now and so independent that I don't get the calm, snuggle time anymore.

I was against crying it out too until my son was getting up every hour at around 5 months old. He wore me down until finally I read Dr. Ferber's book. If you always nurse the kids to sleep, they will be thrown off when they naturally wake up at some point in the night and they are not in the same spot they were when they fell asleep. Babies at 5-6 months are able to fall asleep on their own and sleep through the night without eating. It isn't easy, but it only takes two to three nights and then your baby won't wake up anymore. My son is 4 now and since we did the Ferber method with him at 5 months, he has been a fabulous sleeper through the night every night!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! My son did the same thing. 5-6 hour stretches for about a week and then started teething and was up all the time after that. I totally understand what you're going through.

First, don't even think about cereal so early. Size has NOTHING to do with readiness. They keep doing research and over and over they prove that it's not only not good for them, it's actually BAD for them to start cereal before around 6 months old:( It hurts their stomachs and sets them up for life-long allergies and digestive issues. You don't want to do that to your child do you? Read this:
http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/delay-solids.html

Have you tried putting him in his own bed next to yours or even in his own room? I'm all for co-sleeping when it works, but it totally didn't work for my second son. He was up every 1.5-2 hours until he was 9 months old!! I didn't want to have to go back and forth that often just to breastfeed. My husband finally said if I would just try it for a week, he would get up every hour if that's what it took to get the baby and bring him to be and then take him back if I'd just try putting him in his own room.
So we tried it. He slept through the night for the first time ever. The next night he was up once. After that he was up once or twice a night for another month or so (usually when he heard my husband get up for work because our old wood floors are very loud :P) and then started sleeping through the night regularly. I think he was just being woken by our movements and noises and needed it quieter.
So, take a weekend (maybe Labor Day so you have an extra day) and try changing the sleeping arrangements. Get your husband to help for a few nights.

Read this and realize that CIO is detrimental to your child:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1305892/Six-mon...
I know it can be hard, but we've chosen to bring these children into our lives, the least we can do it respond to their needs as they come up and not pretend like we know better what they might be going through than they do:( It's hard now, but it's a short time and it will pass.

As for the day-time bottles, that's not uncommon. Many babies that age would rather just take the edge off their hunger and wait to really nurse. I know it's hard, but it's really a compliment:) Those bottles just aren't the same as mommy:)

Does he have any sort of routine going? I ask the daycare to not let my daughter go more than 3.5 hours between feedings, which sometimes means that they have to wake her up to eat. If she goes too long during the day, her night times get mixed up. He could definitely have an ear infection, milestones, etc. Don't do the cereal because of sleeping. It has been proven that it doesn't help them sleep through the night. I nurse on one side during the day except for the last feeding, and then do both sides. I also noticed that my daughter started wetting more and she was waking up. Nursing helped soothe her and she went back to sleep, but when I realized it and remedied it, that helped even more.