Extending naps / time between feeds in a 9 wk old

[Laurab1910]

My 9 wk old DS is exclusively breastfed, and I am struggling to get him to feed less frequently than every 1.5 - 2 hours during the day. I have loosely been trying to follow the Baby Whisperer approach of Eating, Activity then Sleep but am finding that he will only feed for 10 mins, stays awake for an hour and a quarter from when he woke up and then sleeps for 20-45 minutes before waking up. Sometimes he wakes happily and will lie in his moses basket for a little while chewing in his hand, at other times he wakes crying for food, I have tried leaving him for a couple of mins and giving him a dummy to see if he goes back to sleep but neither work and so then I feed him, even though he is often not that interested. When he is feeding he will sometimes fall asleep and I will then wake him to take more, but he usually is awake and just won't feed for any longer than 10 mins (sometimes spread out across a 45 min period). He is then tired, yawning, rubbing his eyes and crying and getting him to sleep is a real challenge and intervals between feeds become shorter.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can extend his feed times as on the occasions where he has gone longer he eats better, sleeps better and doesn't end up cranky! Many thanks

I think at this stage you can't really impose a timetable on feeding. 9 weeks is very small and he will still want a lot of comfort that comes from bf. I think ebf seems to work best if you feed on demand. My 5 1/2 mth dd is ebf and most days she still doesn't go longer than 2hrs between feeds. However if I tried to change this she'd be crankier than she already is. Don't worry about him falling asleep and having his nap on you. Mine sleeps better and longer that way, (if I'm able to stay like it!) Go with what your baby wants and enjoy the opportunity to sit and do nothing/read/watch tv. If you feel you need to be away from him longer then think about expressing some milk and see if he'll take it in a bottle.
You sound like you're doing the best you can, which is ultimately going to be the right thing for you and your baby. Good luck and get yourself some good books!

I think there's a possible problem that if all the feeds are quite brief they don't get much of the thicker hind milk that helps fill them up and keep them going for longer. (At least most books seem to say that though some disagree.) But also it seems to be true that some babies are a lot more efficient feeders than others/some mothers have milk that flows a lot faster so I think it's hard to be prescriptive about how long a feed should take. Do you try offering the other breast when he's lost interest in the first one? This often works with my baby, who's been quite good about "proper" length feeds since fairly early on (around the 6-8 week mark). He's 14 weeks now and most feeds are 3+ hours apart, though the last two of the day are usually only two hours apart, and sometimes the first two as well. He sleeps well at night though so I reckon it's fair enough if he wants to feed a lot during the day.

I'd ditch the BW approach for now and do what babies like to do, feed and sleep. The BW is on the kellymom list of books to avoid and its not based on any research, its all just one woman's opinion.

If you fancy a book that is a bit more bfing friendly and is evidence based, have a look at Babycalming by Caroline Deacon.

Once you've dropped the BW, try feeding from at least both sides at each feed and do breast compressions. That may help with the frequent feeding

Thanks for the suggestions. I was initially recommended to just feed from one breast each feed as I had too much milk and was getting engorged, but now supply and demand is a little more in sync I could offer both sides. JiltedJohnsJulie, thanks for the book recommendation, and can I ask what breast compressions are?

Does anyone have any advice around naps? He still isn't sleeping longer than 45 mins regardless of where he sleeps (we try all options, pram, on us, sling, moses basket) and he is just getting so overtired :(

There's some info here on breast compressions and if you google youtube dr jack Newman breast compressions, some useful videos should pop up.

Just a thought, if you have been told you have oversupply and Lo isn't going long between feeds, I'd have him checked for tongue tie. It can so easily be missed.

Thanks. You know your stuff... LO was diagnosed with tongue tie which we had cut when he was 8 days old. The first few weeks of feeding were really tough but have improved since. Have just reserved the baby calming book at the library :)

If that's te case then Laura I'd get the tt checked again, I've heard that sometimes it can occur again. Is there a lll group or another bfing support group near to you?

Oh and glad you've overcome a tough start

Laurab My DS (9mo) has pretty much never slept longer than 45 minutes, unless it was on or next to me. What I discovered too late was that it was the length of time between waking from a nap and starting the next one that was more important than the length of the nap itself that stopped DS getting cranky. At the age yours is, start looking for sleepy signs about 1.25 hours after waking then, as JJJ says, ignore the Baby Whisperer, stick him on the boob and get him asleep. Trying to keep a baby awake and active after a feed is biologically counterintuitive.

My DS also didn't stop feeding every 1.5-2 hours until he was on three large meals a day around 8 months. He still feeds every 1.5 to 2 hours through the night but that's my own personal hell

Did he have a lip tie too? This can make feeding inefficient too. Lift his top lip and look for a band of skin between lip and gum.

Also are you winding after each feed? If you have oversupply (may not have been though - could have been the TT), he could be taking down excess air which means he won't sleep well and will be hungry sooner.

Agree with iggly on looking for lip tie too, very good suggestion

Sadly my dd has one - cant get it snipped without going private an it still causes dd problems when feeding at 15 months. And she's intolerant to dairy and soya so no formula!

Hadn't heard of a lip tie - there are good breastfeeding clinics where I live so I will pop to one this week and get that and his tongue checked out. Thanks for the suggestion.

Wind has been a problem due to my oversupply but seems to have improved in the last couple of weeks as my milk has regulated. LO has just fallen asleep exhausted (lots of tears :( ) so I'm off to bed. Thanks for all the advice :)