u/ElectronicWestern52

My baby is 4mo and EBF.

His sleep has always been quite good. Fron birth, his first sleep stretch was about 4hrs and went to about 6hrs at 12 weeks.

From 12 weeks until now, the first sleep stretch has got shorter and night wakings on avg have increased. We had a long time of 2no. Wakings total but now we are at about 4.

Baby is not very interested in eating much during the day and seems to load up before bed and during the night.

Is there any way to encourage baby to eat more during the day to help him sleep in longer stretches? Any advice would be brilliant as I need better sleep asap 😂

I’m planning to leave my EBF 4mo old baby with my husband for 4 days to go on a hen do/bachelorette party 4hrs flight away. So far ive not left him more than 3hrs but he is not particularly clingy to me.

I have been expressing milk for 3mo on prep and have a big freezer stash. I have been giving baby a small bottle of freshly expressed milk every morning to keep in practice with bottles.

We did a test run of 24hrs expressed fresh milk in bottles fed to him by husband and it went well.

At the weekend we tried 24hrs of frozen thawed in bottles and had to abandon 12hrs in. Baby was rejecting the milk. He took it reluctantly and it took a long time. 6hrs to take 4oz of the thawed milk then he guzzled 6oz freshly expressed in a few mins. The milk was 3mo in the freezer.

We have since tried newer milk (frozen last week) and he only took about 1oz last night before refusing (though he had been recently fed). I managed to get him to take another 2oz this morning but he was refusing and getting distressed then I finally gave up and offered boob and he fed for 20 mins (though he fell asleep so could have been tiredness as he was overdue a nap)

Im getting increasingly worried about the trip. He is taking the frozen milk but he’s not happy about. I don’t think he will go hungry but I’m worried he will be distressed for 4 days.

Any experience of similar situations ?? Any ideas or advice?