is he weaning

[amy densley]

i have been giving my 5mth old a bottle of formula before bed for the last few days to see if it will help him sleep better because he is a terrible sleeper and he takes it fine and i express that feed so my supply doesnt drop but im finding that he isnt feeding as much now im not sure weather it's he is prefering the bottle or he has just started solids and he is also teething how do you know when they are weaning themselves?

[drewid]

Hi :)

Sometimes bubs just go through stages where they won't eat as much for a few days, and then they go back to 'normal'.

I guess seeing as you are doing both breast and bottle, then it is possible that he is preferring the bottle? But you haven't really said enough for me to make that call! Is he rejecting the breast, or just fussing on it? Lots of bubs get fussy on the breast and then go back to 'normal' in a few days. My son goes through stages like that every few weeks. And like you said, it could be teething playing havoc!

Its just a big guessing game sometimes! :D

Anyways I hope things sort themselves out for you! Feel free to PM if you need a chat :)

[giggles]

Hi There,

I also began to supplement with formula and found my Ava was getting really fussy on the breast. She gets antsy as soon as the first lot of milk has stopped and is too impatient now to wait for another let down.

I spoke to the child health nurse and she suggested Ava was getting used to not having to work so hard to get her milk from a bottle and maybe to try using the smallest possible teat so it was a bit more difficult....

Maybe you could try that!

[bubbles28]

I went through the sam prob with my DS at 6mths. I was fully BF and decided to introduce a bottle of formula at night in the hope that he would sleep better. This he did not do, however he did decide that he prefered the bottle and has subsequently almost totally weaned himself from the breast. He is now 9 1/2mths and only has one BF in the morning.
I knew that my DS was weaning himself because he always use to pull away and cry and just refuse to feed.
If you want to continue to BF i would be carefull about introducing a bottle as your bub might prefer it.
My DS is now on 3 bottles a day and still doesn't sleep any better.
Good luck

[Sarie]

Even though my boys are both bottle fed they both went through something similar at around 5 months. I have even cut PJ back now to having 150ml bottles and he doesn't always finish those. I think he prefers his solids and he's having snacks more often during the day, so I guess he's not needing as much in the bottle stakes.