5 month olds, routines, formula and more

Ok, I am really confused with how things are going these days. Basically since Christmas Tom and I have had a very bumpy ride. Before then he was stretching out his night sleeps and even slept through one night and then it all turned to custard with him waking every 2- 3 hours.

We started Solids soon after Xmas and that seems to be going well. He loves them and will eat heaps. But his night sleeps are getting worse. He seems hungry all the time but wont feed for long off me.

After many tears I decided to try formula (I'm still trying to get my head around it). I dont know whether I am not producing enough milk now or what. I had no problems feeding Tom earlier, in fact we had an oversupply. Things have changed for me healthwise lately in that Ihave currently got a flare up of my inflammatory bowel disease and I wonder if this means I am not getting enough nutrients therefore my milk isnt as good. Also AF returned (but Tom was no different during that week).

I still want to continue some breastfeeding and worry that if my supply is getting low and I start to introduce formula will I amke it even worse . Is Toms unsettledness likely to be hunger?


Next questions.... What routines do you have for your 5-6 month olds? How many feeds? Howmany solids? Naps? wake up times? bedtimes?

Any help is much appreciated.

There's herbal stuff you can take to increase your supply if you are worried about that like blessed thistle etc. And you could take multivitamins and improve your diet (if needed) if you are worried about the nutient content of your milk.

How many feeds? - Daniel is bottle fed but he was getting 6 over 24hrs

Solids? 2-3 a day, sometimes he would want breakfast, sometimes he wouldn't

Naps? 3, he'd have one about 8:30ish, another after lunch at about 12-12:30ish, then again at 3:30 - but this was a short as one.

Bedtime? He always goes to bed sometime in the hour of 6, usually at about 6:30. We have tried moving that further out but it just makes him cranky. So he sleeps from 6:30pm through to 5-6am, has a feed, back to bed, up sometime after 7am.

I don't have much advice with the hunger/sleeping but can tell you that when I weaned Spencer onto formula it made no difference to his routine whatsoever (that's not why I weaned him, but i did hope it would be a nice side affect).
I think our routine at 5 months was this. (roughly as each day changes slightly with him)

6am feed get up
7am back to bed
9am feed
11am back to bed
1pm feed and solids
2.30pm back to bed
5pm feed
7pm feed.

Also at 5 months Spencer went through a stage of waking twice a night, it lasted about a week and then he settled back to sleeping through (with the occassional 4.30am wake up). During that week I would just feed him, give him cuddles and put him back to bed.

Just after 5 months i introduced dinner and then breakfast at around 6.5months (he just wasn't interested in brekkie till then)
His routine now is

6am feed in his room no nappy change straight back to bed.
8.30am up for the day
9am feed and breakfast
11am back to bed
12-1pm feed and lunch
2-3pm back to bed
4pm feed and dinner (I try to always feed him at 4 otherwise he won't take a bottle before bed)
7pm feed (he is up from 4pm till 7pm) and bed.

I hope some of this helps a bit. Also as Stacey said you can get supplements and teas to help with supply if you think that may be a problem.

Don't mistrust your milk! Is he gaining weight on his graph line? Take him in for an extra weigh if you are worried. Sometimes they wake for no reason - for us Lily woke twice last night and i think it is teeth as i can see her top one ready to break through.

We were feeding 3-4 hourly until we started 2 meals of solids a day, and decent amounts of solids too (like 3-4 cubes), then she was able to stretch out.

Also feeds do get a lot shorter now, they are a lot more efficient - lily can get enough to see her through to the next feed in about 2-5 minutes somtimes, other times she wants to be on for ages.

Do you always offer both sides? Maybe offer one side, feed solids after about half an hour, then after solids and another half hour, offer the other side.

because we didn't start solids till Lily was nearly 6 months, my routine probably isn't that much use.

But basically we were having awake times of around 2 hours, until the last nap which, if it finished after 3, I would keep her up till bedtime around 7-7.30 (sometimes if desperate she would have a 30 minnute nap around 5).

Now we do solids twice a day, dinner is her favourite meal and the one where she eats the most - and probably leads to our better nights.

If you aren't wanting to do the formula thing (although as a top up for a dream feed that would effect your supply the least as he could be sleeping though at that age, so supply for the rest of the day should be unaffected) then explore other options, like cluster feeding at night, giving a larger solids feed at night if he wants it, doing a dream feed if you aren't already, rejigging naps so he is getting enough but not too much day sleep, checking the bedroom for anythign that has changed (like windows open etc) that could be waking him, or going through a stretching routine (when he wakes, comfort him, or better yet get Dh to, and see if you can resettle him. If he is still upset and awake feed after 15 minutes.)

Nikki, ...I think it must be the age. Bella has had a huge change in her routine (and I say 'routine' loosely as it all seems to have flown out the window of late ). I remember my karitane nurse saying that they do re-adjust around the 5-6 months, so I have just been (trying) to let Bella set her own schedule.

Before this Bella was EASY, it was 2 hours up, 2 hours down and so on where she would get 6 hours of naps during the day. I've noticed in the last month, she'll only sleep 3 hours MAXIMUM for the entire day and that is usually broken down into 30mins to 1 hour in the morning and 2-2.5 hours in the afternoon...a huge change for me to deal with!

We have 2 solid meals a day (I have tried her on and off brekkie but she really isn't interested) and that is lunch and dinner.

As for the night thing, she still sleeps pretty solidly during the night - down at 6.30pm and sleeps till 6.30am, but she does quite often wake crying around the 4-5am mark but re-settles immediately with the use of a dummy (which is good for her, but not so much for me as I am awake and can't get back to sleep )

I really have no other suggestions as I am just trying to take it as it comes myself, but don't feel bad that things aren't going the way they used to as I truly believe this must be some developmental thing and no doubt he will get back into another routine soon.

ETA: Bella has 4-5 bottle feeds a day of 200ml each. If she has 5, the last one is usually only 100mls just before going to bed.

Edited by ShellandBella

Good to hear that you had good day and are feeling a bit more positive now.

I have been having a rough time with Ella too- she still wakes up in the middle of the night for a feed (last night we were up at 12,2,4.30 and started the day at 6.50) and I know it can get really tiring.

She is having 3 solid meals a day (although she has been quite fussy with her foods lately) and I am trying to give her afternoon tea every day now as well (just some finger food for her to play around with). She also has 4 breastfeeds a day (4 hrs apart) and I was worried for a while how much she was actually drinking as she never seems to feed for very long, but once I figured out that she just likes to have a little bit of gap between the 2 sides I felt a lot more confident that she was drinking enough.  She does get really distracted while feeding, so I always take her into her room, close the curtains and then feed her...I was also caused that she has been getting too hot while I have been feeding her  (body heat from me) and therefore doesn't want to feed for long, so on the hot days I turn the fan in her room on low and have that going while we feed.

In terms of her naps, she is still on 3 naps a day(most days) (a know of bubs her age are only on 2 but most of the time she really does need a late afternoon nap)- 1 hr in the morning, 2 hrs after lunch and 45min late afternoon.

Some days it can just really frustrating......particularly when you know they are hungry but won't eat. Luckily when I do get a bit cross with her she just gives me a huge smile and climbs on me for a cuddle and that makes everything seem worthwhile

Hope Tom behaves himself tonight

I am glad to hear that you are feeling better today.

At the moment I am reading the baby sleep book by William Sears and I have found it really good and reassuring. It doesn't make you any less tired or give you a magic bullet, but it is good to learn about the natural sleeping rhythms of babies. After reading that I began to understand why some babies night wake for most of their first year as I suspect mine will

Not sure if this is any help but the guide in the book says that many babies who have previously slept through can begin waking again at around 5-6 months.

Do you think it could be thirst from the heat. I have noticed that my baby is feeding all the time, but it seems more thirst than hunger if that makes sense!!