Tell me about your night feeds (0-3 month olds)

[Sleepybunny]

Hi! I know all Babies are different but I just wanted to hear opinions on our nights and what happens in your experience.

My LO is 12 weeks old and weighs over 9lb (I'm sure weight is a factor in getting more sleep!) I am an EPer (exclusively pumping breast milk...good god don't ask why, mental I know) she seems to feed every 2-3hrs with the longest stretch being after she is first put into her cot at the start of the night. The time between feeds usually deteriorates to 1 hour or she just becomes restless by 5-6am so I usually give in and just get up with her at 7am.

she takes around 3oz maximum during her night feeds usually a bit less and when it's time to feed I wake and feed her before she actually cries (she makes a distinctive noise when rooting around)

I'm quite tired now as I haven't had more than 3hrs unbroken sleep since she was born, coupled with the fact I pump at least 2-3 times in the night, I'm feeling burnt out. So my questions are:

1. how often does your LO feed? What's the average 'typical' baby doing?

2. how much does your LO take per feed (or if BFing how long?)

3. do you wait until your baby cries to feed? Am I jumping in to quickly to feed DD and creating a bad habit?

Please tell me that a longer stretch of sleep is just around the corner! I'd kill for a glorious 5 hr sleep. I'm scared of the 4 month sleep regression phase, I don't think she can regress more, she's always slept this way! Or is she about to go to 1hr stretches arghhh!!

Thanks!

Hi so sorry to hear that your're having a hard time. My DD is 13 weeks and usually has a 5/6 oz feed every 3.5/4 hours during the day. She was having a feed every 2 hours a few weeks ago but I have gradually spaced them out and she is happy to go with the flow! I normally put her down for the night at 8.30 and she will go through anywhere to between 4-7am. At night i do tend to feed straight away but only because she only has the one feed. She has had this routine since around 8 weeks. Could your LO be waking for comfort or could she be cold? My DD sleeps so much better when she's in her grobag.

Probably not what you wanted to hear but like you said all babies are different and she will settle into her own routine soon. But I'm also dreading the 4 month regression!

Hope someone else has better advice for you soon.

Forgot to mention my DD IS 12lb 2 and FF.

12 weeks tomorrow, 9lb 8 oz and ebf...

Yy to the longest bit in the first part of the night. For us this is anywhere from 4 to 8 hours (usually 5, last night's 8 was a fluke for which I'm very very very grateful!) then hopefully a couple of 2-3 hour bursts. We go to bed together to make the most of it between 7 and 8, i can live without adult tv for a few months

Feeds are up to an hour long but i don't know volumes, I'm afraid. On my weekly work evening the feed before bed (7:30 ish) is 2-3oz of expressed milk.

I usually wait till I'm certain he's not going to settle himself and is whimpering regularly iyswim, but don't wait for full blown sobbing. He feeds to drowsy then cuddles to full sleep before going down.

We use cloth nappies and the best sleeps have been in a fleece sleepsuit (acts as a waterproof layer) plus 2.5 tog sleeping bag.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/postnatal_clubs/1680077-November-2012-More-group-hugs-and-moral-support-please

There's a whole gang of us with similar aged babies if you fancy some moral support and to discover the huge range of normal :o

Thanks for your replies! It's great to hear other people's experiences. I'm glad others are waking to feed before the crying starts, some of the advice my well meaning parents have given have suggested waiting until she cries, but I feel this is her last resort to getting my attention and who would want to make their baby cry intentionally!?

I haven't used grobags yet, maybe it is a temperature thing, I'll try tonight and see if that makes any difference, I currently have her in a sleep suit with 3-4 layers of blankets. The room is always between 18-20 degC, but does kick blankets off sometimes.

Thanks for the link purple, I'm in dire need of some moral support!

My lo was sleeping for 7 hrs straight up until a few weeks ago. she is now 16 wks, exclusively bf and seems to want to feed constantly through the night. i feel like she is waking every other hour. she used to be fine in her moses basket but is now in her cot. however have resorted to cosleeping due to the waking up. tbh I let her feed while i sleeep. Going mental and hoping this phase will pass soon. dd is normal weight and sleeps in grobag

sorry i dont have an answer but hey, misery loves company!! :)

My DD had what I think was her 4 month sleep regression at 3 months so I just wanted to let you know you are probably in the eye of the storm now!

My 10 week old def sleeps better in a grow bag and sleeps so much better now ive changed from moses basket to the cot. Im now staeting to get 5 hour stretch of sleep but ive just accepted the fact that wake up time is 6am and theres nothing I can do about it, this is play time! I feel rubbish at first but I feel great if I can entertain dd for a little while between bouncy chair and gym and get some household jobs done. by 10.00am I feel ive achieved quite a lot and baby has bottle a bit of a snooze and so do I. 1 thing I read the other day was that I need to make sure dd is feeding plenty during the day in order to sleep longer at night. DD often falls asleep during feeds and refuses to take the whole amount, this is def when she goes back to 2-3 hour night feeds.

I feel for you tho expressing milk through the night aswell? Im not surprised your tiring... well done though that must really take its toll. My sister in law did the same for much of the time but with 2 other children eventually opted for the formula in order to get more sleep which benefited the rest of the family.

My 2 month old ebf baby is fed at about 1030ish then sleeps til about 2ish, feeds for around 30 mins, sleeps til about 530. Wish I could drag the second one out!

My 11wo ebf wakes every 1-2 hours and feeds for about 10minutes

DS is nearly 11 weeks old and weighs 11lb 2. He is FF. I feed him when he is hungry during the day, usually takes 4-6oz every 2-4 hours. His last bottle is 6oz around 9-10pm. He then sleeps through until 5-6am. This had been the case since he was around 8 weeks old. I think because he fills up during the day and I only put him in the Moses basket at bedtime (he naps in chair during day) he has made his own routine as I'm a go with the flow type of person and haven't consciously put him in a routine.

DD2 is 12 weeks. During the day she is fed on demand. We make 5oz bottles. Sometimes she will take a whole one. Others only half. Sometimes more than one.

She usually has a feed around 7.30 then sleeps on me from around 9.30 until 23.30. She then takes a whole 5oz because thats a long stretch and goes down in her basket. Most nights she will sleep to 6am. Sometimes 5am if she leaves an oz earlier. She then goes back down and sleeps until 9 or 10 am.

She is around the 12lb mark and is ff.

I am not surprised you are tired! I have no real advice though as I dont know a great deal about expressing.

7.30 pm. Really bad switching between 12 and 24 hour there!

My dd was the same.
Actually she's now 15 weeks and has never gone more than three hours.