If your infant DC does not eat much while you are at work, does DC wake more at night to eat?

[Anonymous]

DC, who is 5mo and who is EBF, started daycare a couple weeks ago and doesn't eat much during the day. We're talking 5-10 ounces. He's never been a great sleeper at night and while I will NOT do CIO (please no flames), I do wish he would sleep longer stretches, especially now that I am back to work. He was starting to that before daycare but is now back to waking up every 2 or 3 hours. Here's the dilemma: because he is eating so little during the day, I worry he is not getting enough, so I have started feeding him most of the times he wakes up. But do I need to? Can I trust him that if he really is hungry he will let me know and not go back to sleep if I try other soothing methods?

[Anonymous]

I have read that this will happen -- it's called reverse-cycling when your baby decides to eat at night instead of during the day. No tips or advice, just sympathy.

[Anonymous]

i think 5months is really young not to feed thru the night. my dd at that time would wake up at 11, 3, 6.....it was hard...but then she would eat during the day too....so i let her b/c i figured she needed it. once she really got on solids around 6months i think they will go for longer stretches...you know ur child best and if you let them CIO a coupel of nights and they still aren't eating during the day, then i think you can assume at this stage they might really be hungry....at least for 1 night feeding.....use your judgement....there's no golden rule (I think)....but if weight wise etc he's good, then maybe u have nothing to worry about, my dd was always on the lower weight percentile so i was very accomodating....

[Anonymous]

I think your baby will let you know if he is really hungry and I think he will adjust to regain day feeds once he is not eating so much at night. If you use a paci, I would try giving it to him at least one time a night and see if he goes back to sleep. At that age, he should spit it out or wake up again a bit later if he really needs to eat. Eventually you need to get him back to a pattern of eating during the day. The big question is when you have given him enough time to adjust to the daycare. I don't know how long that takes.

[Anonymous]

On the bright side, reverse-cycling is supposed to be good for your supply. I swear that's part of the reason I had so much milk.

[Anonymous]

I could have written your post myself. DS is just over 3 months and just started daycare last week. I'd say he's drinking between 14-15 ounces for those 9.5 hours, but eats like a champ once I get him home. On average he wakes 2-3 times a night (sleeping 2-4 hours at a time), and is clearly hungry. I'd like for him to sleep longer as well, as I'm back to work, however this early in the game; I don't soothe, I feed.

Your little one is a little farther along so I'm sure soothing is more acceptable.

I feel your pain sister! Good luck!!!

[Anonymous]

Can you do more cluster feeding when you get home from work then before bed?

I'd try other ways to soothe before just feeding, esp if you have fed once that night already. I do think kids this age are capable of going longer with only 1 maybe 2 feedings a night.

[novabrooke]

I won't be back to work for a few more months, so no personal experience with this. However, I did read about this in a family member's LLL magazine. Apparently it's common -- the baby is getting more mommy time by nursing more when you're around. The article also said babies will sleep more at daycare so they need less nighttime sleep at home. I guess it's some kind of coping mechanism that kicks in when baby is newly separated from mom. Good luck; hope things improve for you!