Evening sleep routine and cluster feeders

[jasperc163]

Following on from my other post re 4 month growth spurt. I would really like to know how others with DC who cluster feed / appear hungry in the evening (past the initial few weeks and not just during a growth spurt) develop an evening routine/bedtime?

thanks :-)

[jimbobsmummy]

We don't! I would love to get a routine but it just proving impossible at the moment.

He feeds mostly continuously from about 6 till 11 or so when we give him a bottle. He will doze on my lap, but won't go down. We are just living with it at the moment int he hope it might get better once he is a bit bigger or at least beginning weaning.

[jasperc163]

ah so you have to give a bottle too :-( . What age is your LO? Is it ebm or formula?

If only i had a good stock in the freezer i might be able to get away with not being able to express at night while she feeds every 2 hrs but i'm done for if it carries on past the weekend!

sorry to hear no magic solution re bedtimes :-). With DD1 who was on hypoallergenic formula from 6 weeks (milk dried up with expressing as she wouldnt feed) , I had a bedtime routine at 7 weeks! Not so easy with bf i fear.

[jimbobsmummy]

Sorry, yes I should have said. He is 12 weeks.

I give him a bottle of formula, he feeds so ofen that expressing is really difficult. I did top him up and express after every feed initially because we had big problems with feeding to begin with and he was below the 0.4th centile. I have actually deliberately chosen to keep the bottle going so that DH can feed him to give me a break and boy am I glad I did!

I have been giving him the bottle (as a dreamfeed if we can get him before he wakes up) at 11-12.

I also sometimes give him another one earlier on as a top up at about 8 or so, not every day but if he has been feeding literally continuously eg for 2 hrs - there are limits to my endurance I'm afraid. DH works away sometimes and I am here on my own. If I didn't do this I would not be able to eat in the evenings when he is away.

[ElieRM]

My DD is 7 weeks, cluster feeds in morning and evening, often up to 12 oz of milk in 3 hours at either time. We bathe her every evening but other than that we have little routine. She does tend to go down about 11 after a final feed between 9-10.
If you're exhausted from constant bf I wouldn't feel too guilty about giving 2 ffs rather than 1, Lily breastfed constantly for the first ten days but due to poor milk supply and feeding problems I had to give up all together.
2 ffs will do no harm and you may find its easier to establish a (vague) routine. Also, have you tried repeating one settling activity every evening at approx same time, eg bath, story,brief stroll?
Might not work but maybe worth a try.

[bambipie]

My dd cluster fed in the evenings for a long time, we had a routine - but it didn't involve her going upstairs until we did! We had a big debate about the benefits of 'going with the flow' (feeding her when she wanted and letting her snooze downstairs) or trying to get her to bed earlier. we went the flow as we were basically too lazy to do otherwise and just got used to having her around in the evening. As she (eventually) started to eat more solids and move around more in the day the cluster feeding got less and she started to go to sleep earlier. We had lots of comments from grandparents re 'making a rod for our own backs' about our relaxed approach but since about 13 months she has gone to bed at 7.30 and slept through till 7.
I guess that doesn't really answer the question of how to get a routine - but if you can stick not having one for a while it might just evolve!