My 6 month old has breast feeds around:
8am, 12pm, 3pm, 6.30 pm, 11pm, 3am
And a solids meal in the evening- about 2-3 tablespoons (big ones like the measuring spoon size) a night. This equals about a small banana or half an avocado or 4 icecubes of pear and some rice cereal mixed in. I will start a second meal in the next few days but I think a third comes in a few weeks after the second one. It really doesn't sound like you are overfeeding him. If he has been on 2 meals for a couple of weeks why not try a third or increase the amount of the 2 that you give. Or you could mix some cereal in with the veg or fruit to bulk it up. My DD takes a full breast feed whenever I offer or eveb at 3am. She is no "I'll just have a 5 minute comfort suck"!.
Its such a relief to see this thread. DS is almost eight months old and feeds 5-6 over a 24hr period (twice overnight). I was starting to wonder if it was just me getting up overnight at this age to feed. He is on three decent meals a day too, but no sign of wanting to drop his overnight feeds. Like most of you I do wonder if the night feeds are more for comfort (or routine), but worried about what he will be like if I don't feed him then
Don't worry - there's a whole 'community' of us up feeding at night... sometimes it helps me stay sane to remember that and to think that somewhere else on the other side of the country or round the world someone else is feeding too. Just wish my DS would make his mind up... two nights ago he went from 10:30 til 5:30 without calling out for a feed or anything else - apart from me waking with a start at 4:30 and having trouble getting back to sleep it was bliss! The night before that and last night were back to the usual 3 or 4 hourly room service calls.
LM - I consider a night feed to be anything that I have to wake up for. I usually go to bed 9:30-10pm - so anything between 10pm - 6am is a night feed to me!
You're right about the over-feeding. DS does stop when he doesn't want it (or doesn't like it). He's been very obvious about not wanting banana in the past few days - after previously loving it
Deidre - Thanks for the feedback about amounts. We are now up to 3 meals (of a few tablespoons each) + 6 feeds.
DS's sleeping has been so varied over the past week. Some nights he will sleep 8 hours, other nights he will settle if DH gives him a bottle with water, other nights only booby will do - every 4 hours. There doesn't seem to be any pattern to it - or any way to guarantee a good sleep! A friend was telling me today that once her son dropped to 2 day sleeps, his night sleeps improved. I'm hoping that might happen here.
Your baby sounds completely normal. Just like us, babies sleep better some nights than others. So many people hold out for the day their child can have solids - thinking that this will be the "magic bullet" for them sleeping longer - but that is rarely the case!
Narelle, people often wonder if their milk is *not as good* once their babies are a bit older - there are so many myths relating to this in the community. You can reassure breastfeeding mums that their milk is *just perfect* for as long as they breastfeed their baby.
Your babies will go through lots of changes in their sleeping and waking patterns in the next few months - no reflection on the great work that their mums are doing, more a reflection of their rapid growth and development
Regards
Barb
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