My 6.5 month son vomits his bedtime milk and has begun to wake in the night hungry
My 6.5-month-old son has been projectile vomiting at his 6.45pm feed, bringing up some of his tea and all of his milk. He does this prior to finishing the bottle of milk (210-240ml) normally after about 180ml. He doesn’t seem distressed by it and has never cried after being sick and after changing him etc he will normally finish the bottle and go to sleep. However, it means that by midnight he wakes up crying with hunger and we are now back to feeding in the night or if I can get him to go back to sleep with water he wakes again at 5am. I am really concerned about the vomiting as it has happened 4 nights in the past 7, although he seems very well in himself and when I asked our Doctor about it she could shed no light on it. I have tried eliminating all sorts of food from his diet by keeping a diary but can’t seem to pin point it as he sometimes will have the same thing for his lunch and is never sick then; it is always at night. I have also tried to return to giving him some milk at 5.00pm before his solids, then his tea with the remainder of milk at 6.45 but he is still sick. His tea consists of cauliflower cheese or pasta with cheesy veg sauce or fish in cheese sauce with a green veg. He then will have a small amount of yoghurt or rusk in milk or fresh fruit puree.
Below is his daily progress if he hasn’t woken in the night as he normally doesn’t wake till 7.30-7.45am:
8am: 240mls formula, 7-8 spoons Ready Brek mixed with formula, 5-6 spoonfuls of yoghurt. 11.30am: 1 cube chicken and carrot casserole or fish in cheese sauce. 3-4 cubes of veg. 2 cubes fruit puree with or without yoghurt. 2.30pm: 180 ml formula, 5pm: 3-4 cubes cauliflower cheese with 2 cubes of vegetables or 3-4 cubes cheesy pats with veg. 5-6 spoons yoghurt with fruit or rusk with formula milk.
May son naps from 9.30-10.15am, 12.15-2pm and 4-4.20pm. He settles at 7.15pm.
It may be the combination of food that your son is eating at teatime which is affecting him, as well as the quantity. He appears to be having quite a lot of dairy products i.e. cheese sauce and yoghurt and then drinking his bedtime milk not too long afterwards. When he has eaten these things at lunchtime he will have had his long nap before receiving more milk and so begun to digest his lunch. Another reason for his vomiting may also be the amounts he is taking. A baby who is having quite a big tea will cut back on his bedtime milk, or just vomit from the sheer amount that is inside him.
Try giving your son more carbohydrate-based teas such as jacket potato, pasta with a vegetable based sauce or some of the thick vegetable soups which appear in Gina’s weaning book. If he still seems hungry after this you could offer him some fruit puree without the yoghurt. Be aware of how much he does eat. If he has increased the amount in the last week or so he may only need 180-200ml of milk at his bedtime feed. His overall intake is good for a baby of his age, especially if he continues to eat cheese sauce and yoghurts earlier in the day.
See if having less dairy products together makes him less likely to vomit, but also watch him closely after he has taken his first 160ml as some babies are prone to drinking rather fast. He may need a break mid-feed and a quiet time sitting on your lap so he is able to take nearer to 200mls at this time. If you can prevent the vomiting and subsequent hunger from occurring, you will be able to manage to resettle him at night again without having to feed him.