My 5-week baby is feeding every 2 hour!!!

[missionmumlondon]

Hello my fellow mums, I am a first time mother living in London.

My baby is 5 weeks old. He doesn't sleep through the night. He is feeding about every 2 hours, e.g. 12am, 2am, 4am and 6am etc. My first question is, is it normal? He's gained so much weight and he's pooing and weeding a lot. I'm so knackered from the broken sleep. I thought he was going through a growth spurt, but it's has over two weeks.

My second question is how do you make your baby feed longer on your breast (for the breastfeeding mums)? I want my bubba to feed longer so that I don't have to wake up every two hours.

Thank you! Also this is my first time posting and using mumsnet so please pardon if I've done anything wrong!

[Yolandafarthing]

You seriously need to adjust your explanations. Of course he's not sleeping through the night - he's only 5 weeks old. My one year old still doesn't sleep through more often than not!!

Feeding every 2 hours is TOTALLY normal and necessary at this age. Mine fed every 2 hours night and day til he was 6 months.

[Loopholio]

Every two hours sounds normal, sorry!

IME (and sorry again!) at this age just keep doing what you're doing. I tried all sorts of techniques to get mine to sleep longer. In the end and by number three we just went with the flow and didn't stress over it. I was also co-sleeping by number three with a bedside cot which meant I didn't have to fully wake, but we did make sure the bed was safe and I didn't drink or smoke or anything.

[SleepWhatSleep1]

My 7 Month old still feeds every 2 hours night and day. And he's taken really well to solids!
Personally I'm taking every 2 hours as good - dc1 woke every 45 minutes to feed until she was nearly 1 year old....

[skincarejunkie]

Oh bless you. It's so hard but this too shall pass.
5 weeks isn't long enough to cement a routine, don't worry. It WILL get better but not yet. You're doing a great job. Hang in there and it will get nicer. Congratulations on your son x

[Ebbenmeowgi]

It's completely normal. Mine will feed every hour when having a growth spurt! She now occasionally goes 3 hours during the night without feeding and is nearly 3 months old. You have really unreasonable sleep expectations for a newborn baby unfortunately!

[FacelikeaBagofHammers]

Absolutely normal. Doesn't make it any less annoying though!

You'll probably find that he will start to stretch out feeds at night gradually, so you might get 4 a hour stretch between 10 and 2am, and that will stretch further as he gets bigger.

Keep doing what you're doing, just be patient and try catch up on sleep as much as you can during the day. It won't be like this forever - he's still so tiny.

You can't really make him feed more btw, that will come in time as his tummy grows, it's not much bigger than the size of an egg at 5 weeks!!

Best of luck and hang in there.

[emsyj37]

Co-sleeping and feeding lying down will help you feel less exhausted. Feeding every 2 hours is normal tho, sorry! Sleep deprivation is the big downside to having a baby. I'd have ten if they slept at night!!

[skincarejunkie]

DearmrD she couldn't know what to expect. Did anyone first time around?

[BumWad]

That's what newborns do.

[TittyGolightly]

His tummy is about the size of a walnut. Hence frequent feeding. (He ate almost constantly inside you.) Plus he's gearing up for the 6 week growth spurt.

[elephantoverthehill]

Sounds very normal. Anyone who says their child is sleeping through the night at that age is not being truthful. If you think about it they are tiny, have tiny tummies and put quite a bit of energy into just actually feeding.

[TittyGolightly]

This is precisely why you're supposed to sleep when they do during the day too. ;)

[AuntiePenguin]

That's normal, unfortunately. The sleep deprivation is tough.

You can encourage him to feed longer by waking him up more when he starts to doze off on the boob. Try tickling his throat or ear, or removing his sleepsuit so he's skin to skin with you. I usually feed with one boob then do the nappy change and that wakes baby up enough to feed on the other boob.

[fruityb]

It's normal. But it does get better

Stick with it - one night you'll go to sleep and then wake with a shock fat later than you did before!

[fruityb]

Far later lol

[SleepWhatSleep1]

At least with your first you can take them to bed and nap with them during the day. :)
With dc2, 3 etc they either may not coincide naps, or have given up napping entirely by the time the next one comes!

The exhaustion is tough. But in my experience, you hit a wall, wonder if you will die from tiredness, then just crack on and adjust. Being perpetually tired becomes the new normal, and then you can't sleep even if the baby does as you're so used to waking up!

[Popskipiekin]

You asked how you get a baby to breastfeed for longer OP, so how long is your baby currently feeding for?

[JeffreySadsacIsUnwell]

Count yourself lucky!!! I just found my 'feeding diary' from DC1 - I was so sure there was something hugely wrong. Every 35 minutes during the day, every hour at night . Both mine got down to feeding every 2 hours at night when they were 7 months, so you're doing pretty well.

...and that's why everyone starts off with Moses baskets and ends up co-sleeping...!

[missionmumlondon]

Thank you all for your replies - it's very reassuring. I didn't know what to expect. My fellow NCT mums do not have the same sleeping pattern so I wasn't sure whether there is something wrong with my bubba. Thanks again x

[TheresABluebirdOnMyShoulder]

Par for the course I'm afraid and completely normal. There's really nothing you can do. It will pass. Newborns are not capable of going for hours on end between feeds because their tummies are so tiny that they need frequent small feeds. They can't drink enough in one go to keep them full for very long.

It's exhausting but just keep telling yourself it won't last forever

[TittyGolightly]

I never had a Moses basket - went straight to co-sleeping 24/7 for the first however many months!

[eternalopt]

As everyone has said, it's completely normal. There's not an awful lot you can do but solider on. But if you think the baby isn't feeding fully before they fall asleep, you could try tickling their feet as they doze off to stir them a bit and feed more and if your changing the nappy too, do it after one boob, and then offer the other. They won't feed more than their stomach allows (and if they do, it comes back up!)

Ps - you're doing great.

[gamerchick]

It's normal and sounds like things are going well. It does get better I promise.

Your job is to take to the settee with snacks and drinks... and the remote.