New bf-ing mummy, can you help??

[inspireme]

Have a 6 day old LO and just looking for a bit of advice, LO has been great in the day going about 4 hrs between feeds then sleeping more or less straight away or just lying quietly, but last night and the night before from about 1am he was feeding about every hour and a half and being unsettled in between and won't go back down in crib, he ends up falling asleep beside me and I just let him stay otherwise I would get no sleep at all. He feeds about 20 mins at a time and will only take one breast each time.

After feeding round 5am he sleeps to 8 or 9am then goes back to feeding every 4 hours. Wish I could get him swapped round! I know it's early days yet but the change from night to day is so weird!!

Just wondering has anyone any advice as to why there is such a big change from day to night routine, and should I try waking him in the day and get him to feed more frequently?

[RitaMorgan]

4 hours is a long time between feeds for a breastfed baby. I would wake to feed at least 2 hourly in the day, more often if possible, and wake at least 4 hourly at night.

You want at least 10-12 feeds per 24 hours for a newborn.

[kellieb7]

Hi, someone much more knowledgable will be along in a while but I would say 4 hours in the day is too long, I would be offering a lot more frequently and save the longer stretches for night. The other thing I would say is my DD changed on a weekly basis in regards to feedind (also BF) and sometimes all she did was feed (i.e growth spurts etc) so if I was you I would just go with it for a while if you can.

[EauRouge]

4 hours is a long time between feeds for a 6 day old, is he a bit sleepy? Around 2 hours is normal between feeds. He may sleep more at night if you get some more milk into him during the day but 6 days is very early so interrupted nights kind of go with the territory. He'll get into the swing of the day/night thing, just hang in there! This might help you figure out what's normal and what isn't.

If you want to co-sleep (and lots of people do!) then there's some good info here.

[midori1999]

I can't offer any advice, as I am new to this too really, my DD is 2 weeks old today.

However, initially she slept for 3 hours roughly between feeds during the day and then would cluster feed in the late evening or at night bewteen about 11pm and 3-4am. She never slept for more than two hours at one go at night. I tried waking her during the day for feeds, but she just wouldn't feed any more.

The last few nights she has still fed 2-3 hourly during the day, but slept from 12 midnight or 1am until 5 or 6am in the morning, so 5 hrs in one go in the night. She then feeds and goes straight back to sleep until around 8/9, then feeds again and sleeps for another hour or two.

I have to admit, the sleep is wonderful and much needed, but I am worried about it affecting my supply, so am going to discuss with the HV today.

[EauRouge]

Argh, I meant to put when he's older he may sleep more at night if you get some more milk into him during the day. Not at 6 days. Sorry!

[tiktok]

inspireme - can you have a word with the midwife about this? Your baby's very new and still getting used to the world. 4 hourly feeds are usually nothing like enough for a new baby and he is likely to feed more often if you keep him close, skin to skin when you can, so you can respond to early cues he needs the breast.

[inspireme]

have just woken him so this will be a 3 hourly feed, midwives in hospital said let him go no more than 5 hours. waiting on community mid wife to call to the house now so will ask her advice on it. will try waking him to get him feeding more often today and see if it makes a difference tonight.

He doesn't settle between night feeds and does between day feeds and I cant work out why.

I know it's early days yet so hopefully things will get ironed out.

[tiktok]

Good that the midwife is coming :)

'let him go no more than 5 hours' means as a one off, very occasional gap. Regularly feeding four hourly is simply not enough for most babies and most mothers' milk supplies....it's not true for all mothers & babies, but it is true for most of them. Most babies' feeding cues happen a lot more often than that. It's not a question of waking him, usually, just being v. close to enable you to see when he is coming out of a deeper sleep and showing signs of getting ready to want to feed.

He is much, much too young to have a pattern (your observation that he settles in the day and not at night could change tomorrow or even this afternoon :) ).

Your aim is not to 'get' him to sleep longer at night - not at this stage of his little life. Think more in terms of responding to his needs as he shows them, not of changing those needs.

Hope this helps.

[MessyMummy768]

I have breastfed both of my children on demand and can only say it is hard work to start with, but trust me it does get easier! The nights were always the most difficult for me too to begin with, and I was advised that the reason a baby feeds more on a night is to do with building up your supply - something about the hormone needed being produced on a night (thank you mother nature!). My advice would be to hang in there. It does balance out and your baby will start to sleep longer on a night - it is only early days yet.

[inspireme]

Thanks for the advice, LO has been totally different today so I guess this will be the way of it at this early stage. after I woke him this morn to feed he has feed every 1.5/2 hours or so since.

Have realised I was comparing my LO to SIL LO's and she is bottle feeding and in a 4 hr routine so they are always gonna be totally different.

Midwife didn't really have much advice just feed when he needs it really, and by reading other threads I realise I should be lucky that he's not constantly feeding like some other babies and I am getting wee breaks. Was just detemined to get a routine going but it's far too early for that I suppose.

[EauRouge]

I'm glad things are looking better. It is only early days, I know it feels like it goes on forever when they are feeding that often but once they are 3 or 4 months old things start to settle down and they tend to get themselves into a little routine. Then you'll have a much better idea of how you can plan your day and things might not seem so chaotic.

[wolfhound]

Well done for getting this far. I am BF 2.5 week old DC3 at the moment. For the first couple of wees she was feeding far more at night and sleeping a lot in the day. I spent 3 days waking her every 2 hrs to feed in the day (she was jaundiced so hard work to wake her). She's now feeding far more in the day and sleeping lots at night - to the extent I have to unnecessarily change her nappy in the night to wake her enough to feed before my boobs explode!

[vj32]

My baby is 7 weeks. He has only been waking once at night for the last 3 or so weeks. At first he was waking every 2 hours at night, then every 3, then 4, now he has a bath, big feed about 8pm then sleep with only one big feed until about 7am. But in the day there is no pattern at all - he is sleeping more in the hot weather, having lots of little feeds when awake. The first month it was so hard because every time I thought there was a pattern, it changed!!

I agree, just go with his needs and don't try and set a schedule - you have to go with his! How is his weight - we had to wake LO every 3 hours for a few days in the first week as MW was concerned about weight loss.