Feeding FAQ: 4-6 months

My daughter is not settling well after her 6pm feed and it is taking my husband and me a long time to settle her. Once settled she wakes up within half an hour and this continues until about 9pm. She then only has about 1 hour sleep before we wake her up for her 10pm feed. We have tried leaving this feed but she wakes around 12.30am. This has been happening now for a week. During the day she is sleeping for about 45mins in the morning, between 1hr & 1.5 hrs at lunch and she has a 20/30 min nap about 4pm. If she doesn’t have this nap she falls asleep when feeding or is so grizzly that bathing is impossible. In the mornings I can simply put her in her cot and she goes off to sleep within 5/10 mins but we can’t seem to do this at night - she cries intensely. Do you think she is hungry? She appears to have finished breast feeding when I try to put her down.

At present she is fully breast fed. She began this week with baby rice at the 11am feed.
Team Response

My daughter is very difficult to breastfeed. The problem started at about 8-10 weeks. She takes the first 10 minutes of a breast feed very well. Then it will become difficult .She starts crying and pulling away from breast when offered. If I persevere, she will eventually take the breast and finish feed although the whole process is tiring and time-consuming. Initially I thought that she was full after first 10 minutes. She seemed happy enough but would not settle well for naps and then would be very distressed at 6 pm and cry a lot during feed. I realize now that this was probably a build up of hunger during the day and she would need a top-up of milk I expressed earlier in the day to settle at 7pm. However, over last 4-6 weeks I have stopped expressing and just making sure she takes a full feed at each feed and she settles well for naps and does not need a top-up at 7pm.

This problem is worse in the morning, at 7 am and 11 am. If I manage to cajole her into having a full first feed, I have less of a problem feeding her at 11 and 2:30. Her 6pm and 10pm feeds are fine. I have a strong let-down although this does not to seem bother her too much, although she does pull off sometimes but goes straight back on the breast happily. I have tried leaving her until 8am so that she has had a good play and is tired but this doesn't really work either. I have also changed position so she is more upright. This helped a little. I also find that she favours the right breast so if she is refusing the left breast I swap to the right breast for a few minutes and then swap her back. Sometimes this works, other times it doesn’t. I also make sure I feed her in a separate room with no distractions. This helps a little. I have also tried to reduce her 10 pm feed. I tried this twice but she woke at 6am.

It is frustrating as apart from this, I have absolutely no problems with her. She is a very happy and contented baby. She presently weighs 14lbs.

My daughter feeds at 7.30am 10-15mins, 8.15am second attempt and will take full feed by 9am. 11am 20mins each side with a lot of encouraging, 1 cube of fruit or vegetable, 2.30pm 20mins each side, 4.30pm 3-5ozs water, 6pm 20mins each side followed by 2tsps baby rice, 10pm 10mins each side.
She naps at 9-9.45am, 12-2.15pm.
Team Response

My son was a happy contented baby pretty much since starting on the routines. He took to them immediately and always slept at the times suggested. I had to wake him after an hour in the morning, had to wake him after his lunch time nap and he always took a good nap in pram or cot for the afternoon. He was progressing well at nights, was pushing his 4am wake-up from his 10/11pm split feed and 1 day (August 10th - 11 weeks) he actually slept to 7am. At 12 weeks he started waking more in the night and we thought maybe it was because he was still swaddled and struggling to get his arms out. We stopped swaddling but he started waking maybe 2 times in the night a few nights a week. He would be breast fed at all times with some top ups of expressed breast milk (he would take maybe 1-2oz ) and a bottle of expressed breast milk at the 10/11pm feed. At the beginning of September he was still sleeping well in the day (he was a happy contented baby - no crying) and settling well at 7pm - waking naturally between 10 and 11pm, but at night he would wake twice: at 2am and 5am or 3am and 6am. Then a week or 3 into September he started waking at 12.30am, 2am, 4am, 6am and would have to be woken at 7.30am.

He would rarely settle without a feed at the night time wakings. (I never knew how much since it was a breast feed but the few times my mom stayed with him he would eat around 2-6oz at each waking). We tried water one night, but that only got him to last for 30 minutes before he was crying again. I decided to not feed him at 4am and let him cry one night for 12 minutes, I went in, gave him his dummy to settle and stroked his head - then he cried for 8 more minutes and went to sleep.

The next night it was the same thing but 5 minutes and 2 minutes. I was coping because my mom would take him in the morning (happy baby again) and I would sleep for 3 hours but when my mom left on Sept 14th I just lost it due to exhaustion. So I put him on SMA White at the 10/11pm feed and he stopped the 12:30 waking immediately. Around this same time his daytime sleep started going awry. He would wake up after 45 minutes of his lunchtime nap and would only settle with some more milk. Then his 7-10pm sleep went awry - waking up at 8.30pm for more milk then again at 10- or 10.30pm. I was getting to the point of doing controlled crying until I went to get him weighed and realized that his weight gain (which had really slowed down since hitting 12 weeks) had actually stopped. A couple of nights ago I tried offering him 4 oz of expressed breast milk after his bath (I usually give him a breast feed) and he had 3.5oz and when I expressed afterwards I only got 2 oz. That night he slept until 9.40pm so I figured he must have been hungry. I started topping him up with expressed milk at the lunch time nap for the past 2 days and now he sleeps an hour and a half.

Right now his nights are just exhausting me. He sleeps from 7-9.40pm-ish; he has 5 oz when he wakes 9.40 (sleepy feed) then we keep him awake until 11pm; yesterday he had another 4 oz and went to bed at 11:20pm half-swaddled with draw sheet. For the past week he has been waking up every hour and half and will mostly only settle with milk - not even a dummy will do the trick. I am confused now because of his weight gain (or lack of it) that it could be hunger BUT how can he be hungry at 1 or 2 am when he drinks 7- 9oz at 10/11pm split feed? The other thing could be he has associated feeding with sleeping. So over the past 2 days I have tried to wake him up after feeds to burp him and put him down awake. I let him whinge and cry for about 10 minutes and then pick him up and he gets really sleepy. When he is almost going to close his eyes I put him in the cot; he then opens his eyes and moves a little, but goes straight to sleep. The other day he really went for it at lunch time and after 25 minutes I went in and he was all red in the face and his face was wet with tears, I immediately started to cry and picked him up and he let out a huge burp (not sure if he had it before all the crying).

I am so exhausted; I know its affecting my milk supply and all the expressing has made my nipples sore. The below is a sample of yesterday. Weaning was started at 17.5 weeks. His feeds are listed below:

- 6.30am: breast feed, 1side, ½ second.
- 7.30am: top up breast feed.
- 10.30am: one side
- 11am: 3/4tsp baby rice and ½ cube of pear
- 11.45am: 3ozs expressed feed
- 2.15pm: breast feed (5-6mins)
- 3pm: 2ozs expressed followed by another 2ozs greedily at 3.30pm
- 5.15pm: 1 side, ½ second.
- 5.40pm: ½ tsp baby rice
- 6.30pm: 3-4ozs formula or expressed
- 9.40pm: 5ozs formula, sleepy feed, wakes fully after burp.
- 0.40pm: 4ozs formula
- 1.30am: small breast feed 3-5mins, asleep by 1.45am
- 3am: small breast feed 3-4mins, asleep by 3.20am
- 5am: large breast feed 6-8mins, settled until 7.50am.
He weighs 15.6ozs. He naps from 9-10am, 12.15-1.45pm, 3.20-3.30pm 4.45-5.15pm.
Team Response

I have had a contented dream baby up until the last 5 or 6 days. He is waking more frequently, he seems starving, his hands are in his mouth etc. I would like to hold off solids until 5 months, and keep reading everywhere that he should be able to be sustained by breastmilk until then, but I feel as though my milk is drying up. Admittedly I am under some stress; my husband is away; we are due to move overseas in 3 weeks; our 18 month old is fairly demanding; I have no time to put my feet up! I have been feeding him at 7am, 10.30am, 2.30pm, 5pm (he has always been starving for this feed) and 6.15pm then sleeps 7pm to 7am. 2 nights ago he woke at 5am, last night at 1.30am and 4am for feeds; he was ravenous. I am expressing at 12.00 midday (all of 1 oz) then 8pm (1oz again) then 10.30pm (2oz max) is there any way I can increase my milk production further? I am not sure of his present weight, he was 7lbs 8ozs at birth.
Team Response

My baby is almost 6 months old and seems quite happy with a mixture of formula and breastfeeds. I plan to start giving him solids soon but wondered if I should be changing the formula to one of the follow-on ones that say they should be used from 6 months.

Fiona Hinton's Response

My baby is four months old and has been quite happy with her formula until recently. However, she has just started getting grumpy a few hours after feeds and I think she might be hungry. Should I try one of the formulas I’ve seen that are supposed to satisfy hungrier babies?

Fiona Hinton's Response

My 5 month old daughter who weighs around 14lbs has never been an eager feeder. I held back on beginning to wean to try to improve on her milk intake, but she started to wake in the night as well as showing the other signs so I commenced at 19 weeks. I am having a problem with the 10pm feed which she still needs to help her get through the night but is reluctant to take when woken.

I am taking the weaning process slowly. She is now waking between 5 and 6ish and I leave her to talk to herself or drop off back to sleep until 7-7:30ish.

I begin to wake her at 10pm and try to feed her at 10.30pm. She will take 1-2ozs before losing interest. It is only when I put her down and the lights are off that she will then fuss and then takes a feed of 4oz close to 11pm. I know at this stage I can't cut back on this feed as she isn't going through the night properly yet and must be hungry if she takes 4oz. How can I move this feed closer to 10pm and not let it go on for an hour?

7.30am: 6-7ozs
11am: 4ozs formula followed by 1 cube sweet potato then 3-4ozs formula.
2.30pm: 4-6ozs formula
5pm: 1oz formula mixed with 2 teaspoons rice, 1 cube apple or pear.  1oz water
6.30pm: 6-7ozs formula
10.30/50pm: 4- 5ozs formula

Daily milk intake 26-30ozs.

She naps at 9-9.45am, 12-1.30pm and 3.45-4.30pm. She settles at 6.30pm.
Team Response

My 18 week old son has been a very CLB and has been following the routine like a dream child since he was 10 days old. Over the last week feeding has become an increasing problem. Until recently he has always fed well. Over the last couple of days each feed is becoming increasingly difficult. It started out about 2 weeks ago with him leaving 2 ounces at each feed (on average I was offering him 7 oz per feed). Over the week this has progressively increased and yesterday and today he is leaving as much as 4 oz in the bottle at each feed. I have moved him from a size 2 teat to a 3 as I thought that could be an issue but it has made no difference. I have also tried splitting the feeds but it just means he takes less at the second sitting and in aggregate eats the same. He takes the first couple of ounces well and then pushes the bottle out with his tongue and if I persist he arches his back and starts crying. I have also tried giving a short break but he refuses the bottle once the initial intake is over.

I have spoken to the HV and she seems to think there isn't a problem as he seems happy in himself but I hardly recognize the baby I know when it comes to feeding. He is barely taking 24 ounces in a day which just can't be right given his weight - he was taking around 30 – 32 ozs.

I have not introduced any solids for obvious reasons. He is also waking at night now, although this is not included in the report of sleeping times. Two nights ago he started to wake at 4 and 5am. I am sure he is hungry but I am confused as to what to do as I don’t want to just feed him and then reinforce any bad habits that are developing.

My son feeds at 7am, 5ozs, 11am 4ozs, 2.30pm 3.5ozs, 4.45pm 1.5ozs, 6.30pm 5ozs, and 10pm 3ozs.

My son naps at 9-9.45am, 12.30-2.15pm and 4-4.30pm. He settles at 7pm.
Team Response

My 5-month-old son, who weighs 8.46 kilos, is on day 13 of the weaning plan. When offered sweet potato and apple he has gagged and bought it all back. He enjoys baby rice when mixed with pear. He only just manages to eat carrot and pear on their own. Should I keep trying new tastes but stop again if he gags and offer them in a couple of weeks?

My son takes his formula well and since starting on baby rice he has slept through the night. I am sure he won’t like the baby rice and courgette to be offered in a couple of day’s time.

Feeding details

7.00am: 7oz formula
11.00am: 8oz formula, 1 cube pear puree
2.30pm: 7oz formula        
4.40pm: 2oz diluted apple juice
5.45pm: 7ozs, 3tsp baby rice mixed with 3oz formula
6.50pm: 4ozs formula

My son naps at 9-9.40am, 12-1.20pm and 4-4.35pm. He settles from 7pm- 6.30am.
Team Response

I think my baby of nearly 5 months has reflux, although not diagnosed by a doctor as we live overseas. But he has most of the symptoms. He has always had problems with wind but, since starting solids, his sleep at night and during the day has become disrupted. Despite sleeping 11pm - 7am since he was 6 weeks old, he started waking up several times a night at 3.5 months, and will only settle back to sleep once he has been winded. He is feeding according to the times in the CLB. I noticed that some foods make him worse (apple, carrot). Are their particular foods that I should avoid, that would prevent him waking up with wind? Feeding Details 7.00am - breast feed, one side for 20-30minutes 11.00am - breast feed, one side for 20-30 minutes followed by 3 cubes of vegetables such as sweet potato, butternut squash, courgette or carrot. 2.45pm - breast feed, one side for 15minutes 5.45pm - breast feed, first side for 30minutes followed by 5tbsp of potato and leek flavoured baby rice or plain baby rice and 2 cubes of pear puree 6.45-pm - breast feed, second side for 15 minutes Daily milk intake:Five breast feeds Nap times: 9.15-9.45am, 12.30-2.30pm and settles at 7pm.
Team Response

38.

My 5mth daughter does not want any solids. I have been following the weaning guide, but she is not interested. I have to force her to eat any and she never finishes 1 teaspoon of vegetables or baby rice. She drinks approx 800 ml of milk a day and if I try to reduce her 10pm feed she wakes earlier than 7am. Should I stop offering her solids for a while until I see her appetite increases, should I reduce her milk, or should I continue as I am?

My daughter was taking full feeds of 240mls so on the recommendation of my doctor I started to wean. This was to happen at 4mths but she then caught a stomach bug. I waited for this to clear and her appetite to return before beginning to wean her although she did not seem as hungry as she was before she was before the illness.

My daughter feeds at 7am 200mls, 11am, 150-200mls followed by 1teaspoon sweet potato which is rarely finished, 2.30pm, 100-150mls, 6pm 200-240mls followed by 1tsp baby rice with carrot, rarely finished and 10pm, 80-150mls.

She naps at 9-10am, 12-2pm and 4.45-5pm. She settles at 7pm.
Team Response

Having been a perfect CLB from birth, everything has started going wrong this week! My son is 18wks and 14lbs and showing all the weaning signs in the CLBBW, most notably waking at 4.30am/5am for food when he slept through 11-7 at 6 weeks and dropped his 10pm feed quite happily at 12 1/2 weeks after a growth spurt - he was only taking about 3oz of EBM and hated being woken.

We are on day 2 of the weaning plan and he's loving the baby rice and grabbing the spoon to put it in his mouth, but now his lunchtime nap is going wrong, having never been a problem before. Today he woke after 1hr and 15 minute’s and wouldn't resettle. He woke just less than 2 hrs after going down yesterday and again was in a real strop.

Sometimes he has hot pink cheeks and dribbles but other times 's fine - he cries so rarely that this is really stressing me out as I don't know if he's hungry or teething or what!

In the CLBB it suggests dropping the 10pm feed at 3-4 months p.116 if the baby shows no interest (which he wasn't) but elsewhere on this site people are saying don't drop it until weaning is well established. I don't really want to regress as I haven't been expressing for a month now and am not sure if I will have enough milk to express to feed him at 10pm. I'm really confused as everything was going so well until now.

My son is fully breast fed at 7am, 10.45am, 2.00pm and 5.50pm. He takes both sides and the feeds take around 15 minutes although at 5.50pm he can feed for nearer to 30 minutes. He is having 1 teaspoon of rice at 11am.

My son weighs 14lbs.

He naps at 9-9.30am, 12-2pm and 4.15-4.45pm. He settles at 6.45pm.
Team Response

I think I may have been making my baby’s puréed food too thick. My poor baby had a sleepless lunch-time nap followed by only 1oz of milk after I gave her a purée of sweet potato. What consistency is your purée? Is it like mashed potato, yogurt or thinner? Sorry if this seems a daft question.
Fiona Hinton Response

My son is now 5 months old and has been a good sleeper up until now since he has started solids. He was sleeping through the night at 2 months thanks to you. I am confused as to whether he is waking in the night out of habit or because he is genuinely hungry. I am still breastfeeding my son so it is difficult to know how much milk he is getting but he has cut back so much on the time that he feeds especially with the 7am feed. He is not taking a lot. I have also tried letting him play for 30 minutes before feeding him. He is a very large baby but seems to be only interested in his solids - I have been weaning him for a month now. He wakes at 2.30, 3 or 4am but just the once in the night and I offer him cool boiled water which he usually takes. But then he wants to feed after, sometimes a lot and other times just for five minutes. I either nurse him to sleep or else he is awake when I put him down and he settles himself back to sleep. I do not know if I should do controlled crying - at the moment I wait between 10 and 20 minutes until going in. He still feeds at 11pm but only for about 15 or 20 minutes. Should I introduce a bottle of formula either at 11am or at 11pm? Would this help? I know that he only wakes once in the night but it does get very frustrating when it happens for 10 days in a row. He also has a dry cough and is teething - I give him teething powder and sometimes infant paracetamol.
You will also notice that he is hungry at 5pm rather than at 5.40pm.
Most breast feeds are around 10-20mins in length. He takes feeds at 7.30am, 11am, 5mins at 11.55am before his nap, 2.30pm, 5pm, 6.30pm and 11pm.

At 7.30am he takes 2tsp oatmeal cereal with 2ozs formula, 11.30am 4 cubes of vegetable puree, 5.45pm 2 cubes apple or pear mixed with 4-5 tsp baby rice and 3-4ozs formula. He weighs 9.5kl.
He naps at 9-9.45am, 12-2pm and 4.45-5pm.
Team Response

On several occasions, when feeding my baby (both on the bottle and the breast) he has begun to shake his head up and down, like he is having a fit or a convulsion. He does not blank out, or even stop feeding, and the convulsion only lasts several seconds. On one occasion, he had just finished feeding and his jaw started to shake up and down in the same way his head had on previous occasions. I mentioned the behaviour to my health visitor, who told me to see my doctor. The doctor was, however, dismissive and clearly thought I was neurotic, but had no suggestions as to what it might be. My baby is well and, at the time of the convulsions, he did not have a temperature. The only consistent feature is that, on all occasions, my baby was feeding or had just fed and was tired. I am at a loss as to what to do and wondered if anyone else had come across this problem before.
Team Response

My main problem is that I haven't been following the Contented Baby routine so far. I breast fed my baby exclusively (on demand) for the first 7 weeks, when I started to give him a bottle at 7pm to go to bed with; then I breast fed him on waking through the night. He no longer seemed to be satisfied by breast milk alone, so I gradually moved over to bottles from about 3 months old. I still breast feed him if he wakes in the night or at the first feed of the day (7 am), depending on whether he woke in the night. I am now weaning him, and am waiting to receive your book, which I am sure will be very helpful. My problem is that I have never got into a rigid routine, and I would like to purchase the Contented Little Baby Book, but wonder if it is too late to start now. Rory is now 18 weeks old. Can a routine be established at this stage?
Team Response

During my pregnancy I developed an allergy to peaches and apples (I'm not sure whether this is normal or not!!). My doctor told me that the allergy should disappear when I gave birth - but it hasn't.
When I eat apple, my mouth feels all tingly and my lips swell a bit. I am extremely worried that I might have passed this allergy on to my daughter, who is now 18 weeks old and I'm thinking of weaning her soon. Am I likely to I have passed the allergy on? Should I avoid apple altogether for a while? Are there any other things that I should avoid as well? I've never heard of anyone else with an apple allergy, so I am really stumped as what to do.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. In all respects, sleeping and eating, Abigail is a perfect contented little baby.
Team Response