9 weeks old constantly feeding and doesn't sleep.

[bell77]

Hi

My son is now 9 weeks old. He weighed 5lb 13oz when he was born. I exclusively breastfed him for 3 weeks. He put on 1 ib 3oz on in a week. My health visitor recommended that he went on to formula as he was feeding every hour. (very hungry)

bless him, but he still struggles to go every 3 hours between feeds. He is histerical if he wants his bottle (5-6oz each feed) We have tried hungrier baby formula but it makes no difference.

On top of this he doesn't sleep at all day or night he really is wide awake(I'm talking 5-6 hours in 24 hours, that really isn't exagerated) he literally cat naps for about 20/30mins at a time. He is very happy though, not crying. But this obviously isn't good for him or me. My health visitor & doctor say that I just have an alert baby (not helpful at all)! We have tried everything, swaddling, gro bag, blankets, his own cot. dark room, a little bit of light, Bath before bed routine, controlled crying, warmer room, cooler room, crainial osteopathy.

Does anyone have any ideas, i'd be so grateful?

[Tee2072]

Sling?

[MinicronPerseiEgg]

Neither of my two went 3 hours between feeds at 9 weeks - maybe feed him more often? And lots of babies do feed hourly at the beginning too. I'm afraid he just sounds like a baby to me. I do feel for you though, sleep deprivation is no fun.

[bell77]

thank you.

I have tried a sling too. I think I am just worrying myself, that he is having such little sleep. Maybe he will suprise me one day!

My health vistor keeps saying that he shouldn't have food any less than 3 hours between feeds anymore?! talk about pressure. I'm not so worried about feeding him frequently as I had planned to feed on demand. More worried about it giving him a bad tummy. It's nice that someone else's children didn't do 3 hours at that age. I feel like everyone else I meet say that their babies are going 4 hours+! It makes you think that you are doing something wrong!

x

[smackapacka]

Neither of my children could cope with longer than 3 hours between feeds. Not sure why. It gets better though.

I think people will suggest sling/ co-sleeping just to make life easier for you. Try and work out what keeps you sane (pushchair walk and then coffee whilst he sleeps?) and comfort yourself that you won't be doing this in 6 months.

[hobnob57]

Does he have silent reflux? Just a thought because my refluxers were poor sleepers, always seeming hyper alert and constantly comfort feeding (bf)/needing to suck.

[MinicronPerseiEgg]

I hope you find something that helps, but to be honest the only thing I found was that once I accepted I wasn't going to get much sleep (and that my baby wasn't going to sleep through or have long naps) it got easier to deal with, somehow. And it does get better, eventually.

One more to add: dummy?

[bell77]

It's great to have some good advice, instead of a'just deal with it' attitude.

I will have to look into that reflux suggestion. A dummy doesn't seem to work, he spits it out, which does make me laugh .

Now I know other people have experienced it, it reassures me that I am normal!

[smackapacka]

Oh also the hungry baby formula could be giving him more of a tummy ache. I had an interesting coversation with lady at cow and gate regarding a box of formula my DH had bought in error when it was snowing. She explained that it is really to delay early weaning and would give a younger baby tummy ache. Could be worth a phonecall to discuss? (I know they have an agenda but I honestly found it really helpful).

[MrIC]

our little DD (9 weeks) rarely goes more than 2.5 hours without a feed. In fact it's only the last couple of nights that she's slept more than 3 hours at a stretch - 1.5 is more normal.

we did find (or rather, DW found - I can't really take credit) that persistence paid off. Putting her down at first yawn, patting her, shhing her, pick-up-put-down and so on has gradually paid off as the sleeps have steadily got longer and longer.

are you still breastfeeding at all? DW often feeds DD until she's drowsy - another tactic that has worked. DW also expresses in order to have supplement bottles to hand - DD was one month premature so we were on a feeding regime to start with.

[tillymama]

Our DD was an ok sleeper, but would struggle to get to 2hrs between feeds at that age and was having TONNES of milk, way over what it said on the tin (She is formula fed)

One HV told me that we needed to try and limit her intake and maybe water down her feeds

We decided to go with the flow. At 9 weeks, I don't believe babies are capable of being greedy. If they are feeding, they are hungry. We've stuck with that ethos since she was a few weeks old and life has been a lot more relaxed.

Another sling user here, life saver. Again, if a 9 week old wants to be held close...hold them, they grow up so quickly

[skidoodly]

Your hv sounds bonkers. I can't believe she told you to give formula to a baby who gained more than a lb in a week!

Are you still breastfeeding at all?

My 8 week old (10lbs at birth) doesn't go 3 hours between feeds when awake. I think you're right not to be trying space out feeds but concentrate on the sleeping thing. Agree with MrIC that perseverance can really help. Trying everything in such a short space of time is unlikely to work. Better to stick to a few things that the baby seems to like and try to establish patterns to the day ime.

[Ezma]

I have to say that it all sounds very similar to my DS. Definitely check out the silent reflux point. Although DS didn't have that we did find out that he was prone to very bad wind we went through gallons of Infacol in the first three months or so! Because there was lots of wind, I also invested in a tummy tub bath for DS. It's basically a glorified plastic bucket but DS found it really soothing and the way that they are placed in the tub helped to soothe any tummy ache and/ or easing up trapped wind (although the results could sometimes be quite startling!) . We also started baby massage classes at around this time as well which again seemed to help soothe DS when incorporated into his bedtime routine. Starting to settle into a routine definitely helped for DS too and once I got a routine in place, we found that he gradually went longer between feeds and became more settled in the evening then overnight. DS was a very hungry baby too in those first few weeks so it seemed as if he spent more time feeding than anything else and seemed to sleep very little which worried me. I was lucky to go for more than 1.5 hours between feeds esp. in the first six weeks or so. Looking back on it I think DS was a bit of a monkey as he would have a catnap whilst I was bf him so even though I was sleep deprived, he was doing ok on the sleep quota! At the end of the day, you need to try and do what suits you and your gut instinct is probably one of your best tools here. I found that a combo of bf and formula feeds worked best for us and once I was able to relax and started to ignore the "advice" from the hv, it all fell into place a little bit more and week by week things changed.

I know it all seems as if it will never end when you're in the middle of all this and that you will never get to a point where you get to catch up your sleep but, somehow, things do gradually change and all of a sudden you realise that you have had your first decent night's sleep in god knows how long! Keep in there, it sounds as if you're doing a brilliant job. x

[oranges]

sounds silly, but maybe he's hungry? could you just feed him more often in the day? I don't know any baby that can go for three hours regularly at that stage. Did the h really tell you to go onto formula for that reason?

[bell77]

I will keep up what i'm doing! I feel so much better now! thank you. I am going to continue feeding him when he wants

Sorry my mistake 1 lb 3oz once onto formula! He was feeding constantly when breastfeeding. (he would latch on for 5 hours)! so when it came roung to feeding again I hadn't regenerated enough milk so he would scream & scream bless him I tried expressing but only managed to express 1oz in an hour! I was so disappointed that I couldn't provide for him. Thats when hv recommended to change to formula. I think a lot of them just have guidelines to follow, as it seems ok to demand feed when breast feeding but as soon as I was on formula it was routine, routine, routine. It's all conflicting information x

[smackapacka]

There's some great Mners who frequent the breast/bottle feeding boards who could also offer advice.

I know the feeling about BF, same happened to me.

[whensmydayoff]

Oh yes, I second the reflux suggestion.

Was he early?

Sleep -

Shoot me down but during the day, try putting him on his tummy to sleep while watching him.

If you notice he sleeps well - as long as neither of you smoke - get a moniter with a sensor pad such as Tomee Tipee or Angelcare (light flashes with every breath and alarm sounds loudly if they don't breath for 20 seconds) and sleep him on his tummy at night too. Huge difference. They don't get startle reflex either.

Another big sleep tip. ALL babies are tired after 2 hours of being awake.

If he gets up at say, 6am, watch the clock, watch him. By 745am he will start to get grouchy. Settle him then. Dont miss that window as an over tired baby is beyond settling to sleep.

This stands all day so say he sleep from 8am to 9am, by 11am, he needs to be settled again for maybe an hour or two. Even 15 mins will help him.

In the early days with my two, Id put the hairdryer on for white noise to soothe them and with DS I could just put down, with DD (still only 15 weeks) I walk swaying side to side with her hanging over my arm. Whatever he likes then put him down sleepy.
He may fuss a bit but will settle easier this way. Eventually he will settle quicker and quicker.

Try it anyway and if not, come back to MN for more tips from other mums, someone will have something that works for your DS to go down less fussy.

Good luck. x

[smackapacka]

Oh yes - white noise. Lots of hoovering got done in our house in the early days (with child in sling)!

[bell77]

Yes he was a week early.

I will try the lying on tummy thing, as I have a breathing monitor (for my own peace of mind)!

He really does fight the sleep, it can take an hour just to settle him. He really does enjoy the 'cat' napping.

Thanks again! x

[MillyMollyMoo]

None of mine feed every 4 hours until nearly 6 months old, I'm sure you're doing everything right it's just what he needs, isn't 9 weeks the time they begin a growth spurt ?