My little boy is 4 months tomorrow and has been a super BFeeder since day one. He's always been a very calm little thing, so we very quickly got onto a routine of feeding 4 hourly during the day, and he's been sleeping 12 hours at night since 10 weeks.
Now all of a sudden, he seems to be getting hungry before feeds are due. He's doing a lot of sucking his fist or arm, or any bit of me he can get his mouth on, and he's even been a bit tearful before some feeds, which is so rare for him. At bedtime he guzzles both boobs and seems to want more even after they are both empty.
My Mum and friends have said I should start thinking about weaning, but I am soooooo keen to leave it till the 6 months, and just BFeed him up to then.
Do I need to feed him more regularly during the day? It seems like a backwards step to come off our routine, but will it help? Is there anything I can do to increase my supply at the feeds he has, especially the evening one? It is possibly just a growth spurt?
Any advice welcome.

I have always fed on demand and not bothered watching the clock, so I am not sure how often my son was nursing at 6 months. But I can tell you I pretty much exclusively BFed him till he was about 12 months. We dabbled in solids for a long time before he began to eat regularly. I made more than enough milk for him through that time. In fact he went from the 25% in height and weight to the 95% in height and 50% in weight between his 6 and 9 month check ups. I was very proud!

But it does sounds like a growth spurt. Just let him nurse as often as he wants, and your milk will catch up.

Also, my son still doesn't sleep through the night, so you are VERY lucky and I am VERY jealous!

Hiya!
I would suggest to feed him as often as he wants, too. Sometimes baby wants more than you give him. Darren is 5 months but I feed him very often, about 1 time in 2-3hours. At night about 1 time in 3-4hrs. You need to feed at night too, if you want to have enough of milk.
I have plenty of milk and Darren is about 20lbs
Goodluck!

It sounds like the 4 month growth spurt to me hon, ours went on for a week or so. Even now it'd be a struggle to get Aisling to wait 4 hours between feeds! As the others say, just feed on demand and your supply will catch up

I don't really believe in feeding schedules, to be honest, but also think the decision is highly personal. I believe with a baby, that the important thing is to feed them when they're hungry, and that trumps schedules.

I fed on demand and exclusively breastfeed for the first six months, and was breastfeeding pretty much most the time still over the next few months. All in all, I breastfed mostly up to a year, and then was a natural weaning process that ended when he was around 2.

You can definitely keep breastfeeding exclusively but I would recommend feeding on demand to help make this possible, and of course, making sure you are eating healthy too so the milk production is there. Best of luck!

i cant ever imagine being able to go 4 whole hours before every feed! i wonder if that wil ever happen! fingers crossed! x

Thanks for your replies. I did always intend to feed on demand, but he's such a calm and content little thing that he has actually never demanded food until now. I used to have to wake him for feeds in the first month or so, in order that he didn't go too long without them, but his weight gain has always been superb, so he was obviously getting enough. This week is the first time he really seems to have wanted food more regularly than I give it to him. He would always have been quite content just to wait for me to offer in the past. I'll try feeding more regularly during the day if he wants it. He still seems to be OK to go the 12 hours at night, even though he sucks on an empty boob for ages before going to bed the last few days, so I won't reintroduce night feeds unless he starts waking and crying at night.
Any more advice would be great too.

The only thing I can suggest is to stay strong and know you are doing the right thing!

Breastfeeding exclusively for 6 months is great, and achievable, just feed when LO wants!

I breastfed exclusively for 6 months, and my LO got to over 21lbs on just breastmilk. He was a hungry baby and wanted feeding often. I just fed him when he started showing hunger signs.

Babies often change how hungry they are, and there are some mega growth spurts.

Beware though, well meaning people will often try and persuade you to give baby rice, so don't doubt yourself - you are doing the best thing for your baby.

In my experience, babies keep on changing! Just when you think there's a routine, it changes again!!!! So if you had a routine and it worked for you, it may not continue to meet your or your baby's needs. 4mo is a fairly standard time for things to change. Sleeping through the night is also something that can change, even if baby was sleeping through they may suddenly start waking, and want milk.

It sounds like you're listening to your baby's signals. If you think baby is communicating that they want more milk, it's OK to give them more and then more again; you can't overfeed a breastfed baby.

A final thought: do you make a big thing out of feedings? I know that at the beginning it can feel so intimading: cushions just so, TV remote control and phone to hand, being sure the doorbell won't ring etc.... but at 4mo you might find that in fact, now, feeding is something that actually doesn't need all these preparations. In fact, you could probably feed in a sling while cooking supper..... so life needn't stop just because baby suddenly needs hourly feeds while your supply catches up.

Good luck!

Mel

You're right, Mel. Feeding to start with was a BIG deal, but much more relaxed now. If I'm at home, I do tend to feed him in the nursery as I then change him afterwards, but he has been fed all over the place too: other people's houses, at work and in the park and it doesn't seem to bother him too much. If I add an extra feed or two into the day, I can just feed him on the sofa.
Typically the little imp didn't actually want anything extra today just when I was all ready for it, and seems to be shoving his little fists in his mouth even straight after a feed when he is full to the brim, so that probably isn't a hunger sign after all. Will just play each day by ear from now on though.