to be a bit anxious because my 6 week old is still feeding every 2 hours through the night?

[Heathcliffscathy]

i inadvisedly got my copy of SWCNBN down yesterday and thoroughly depressed myself.

he's sleeping about 6 hours in the day, a small nap in morning and huge one in middle of day and then cat nap in late afternoon. she says 4 hours max.

also he goes down at 7pm after a feed, then I feed him at 9.30 or 10, then again at midnight, 2, 4 6 etc. he does sleep in between and is up around 6.30am.

i just can't wake him from his naps in the day i can sit him up and he stays asleep, change his nappy ditto.

i've forgotten it all since having ds1 nearly 7 years ago, and am like a first time mum again..

is it rod for own back time or am i being a total nightmare and expecting too much!

he is a big baby, was 8lb 7 at 37 weeks and has put on nearly a lb a week since!!!

thanks for all of this.

he is definitely making inroads into realising that day is day and night night. he does sleep at night, but wakes to feed every 2-3 hours.

and the poo-ing and wind...i forgot all about that, he is so noisy in his sleep, straining and groaning.

Another voice to chime in with normal! Well done you

Tell the book that unless it is going to take over the feeding and baby care for you, it can fuck the fuck off :)

You are doing really well. It is normal and it will get better. After all, your first child is no longer feeding every two hours!

I really feel for you. Am 16 weeks pg with no 2 and at the thought of going back to the living hell that is disrupted sleep :)

Bin the book! Totally normal, and it will settle down reasonably soon. Don't worry about it, and just go with the flow.

Congratulations :)

my first fed every 2 hours during the night until he was FIFTEEN MONTHS OLD!!

my second slept through the night from day one.

It taught me that there's no such thing as normal and just go with the flow.

oh no hecate please don't say that!

i have a question: do I 'dream feed' him at 10pm, or should i always wait til he asks?

have been feeding him at 10 or so and it seems to make no difference in that he feeds every 2 hours after that (bit longer last nigth to be honest, more like 2 1/2 hours).

any thoughts?

No doubt others with better advice will be along shortly but I just fed them when they were hungry, changed them when they were wet, held them when they yelled, thanked the dear Lord when they slept and the whole thing passed in a blur and I can barely remember it now.

So I'd say just do what he wants. He'll make his needs (demands!) clear enough.

oh, funny story - ds1 woke every 2 hours until 15 months like I said. He's now 11. A year or two ago I turned to dh and said "Why did we never get a microwave in the bedroom?"

We'd gone to 15 months, every 2 hours in the night, going down 2 flights of stairs (we lived in a 3 story town house!) warming a bottle, staggering back up the stairs, giving it to him - or finding him asleep again - and we never once thought to get a kettle or microwave and little fridge upstairs.

In our defence, we were knackered!

So other advice - think carefully if there's anything you can do that will make life easier!

Books telling you how babies act are useful when the baby is old enough to read them.

They're also useful to put into a pile and rest your feet on.

Or wedge the door open.

Or swat spiders with.

Or press flowers.

Baby books have very many uses indeed.

I tried the dream feed thing with DS a few times with DS and it made no difference. I'd go with feeding when he wakes. Mine both went through a phase of sleeping a longish bit during the day then gradually it changed so the long bit was at night, hang in there.

Another vote here for throwing the books away. IME babies are all so different there's no way you're going to get them all to follow the same routine.

Try to go with the flow and feed him when he wants. There's always a reason for feeding frequency (building supply, growth spurts, developmental leaps etc). Absolutely knackering I know, but just the way it is I'm afraid.

It does pass and like others have said, you'll hardly remember it!

Why oh why oh why did I read this? I am 40+2 with dc2. Am [there is no emoticon for terrified].

Ds didnt sleep through until he was 2 and not reliably until he was 3. Help me!

Seriously OP, its completely normal. I remember with ds the fact that I realised it was normal DID help a bit and I tried to remind myself that not everyone else in teh world was sleeping soundly in their beds whilst I was up for the millionth time!

:o

co-sleeping saved my life
as these pictures show

please please please ditch the book and don't read any others. If baby is not asking for a dream feed don't offer-"on demand" really works. As relentless as it might feel it WILL get better!

Congratulations on your ds Sophable!

I think you have been blessed with a gorgeous fat little trougher baby. I think this because I had one too. He ate all the time for the first three of four months, and grew at the speed of light.

1lb a week growth says you are doing a fabulous job and should be rightly proud of your excellent trougher baby-rearing skills.

Trougher-babies are the way forward!

Soph

Toss away the book darling

x x x

you're all wonderful. decided not to dreamfeed tonight...just coming up to a four hour gap between feeds :o

my ds (8 lb 6 at birth) fed on the hour every hour all night until he was about 14 months and I put him in his own room. Then he slept through. Lots of babies feed all night.