6wk old feeding every 2hrs day and night for over a week

[AliceTheBlueArsedFly]

My ds is 6 and half weeks, is on the 75th centile for height and weight. He is exclusively breastfed.

He has been feeding every 2hrs (almost to the minute) for over a week now. This is fine during the day, although sometimes he will feed twice in an hour (or more) when awake, but every two hours through the night is killing me! Is there any reason for this? Is there anything i can do.

Advice please? (pretty please?)

It's often, but not off the scale for a baby of any age....is there any way you can make the night feeds easier for yourself, by (safe) co-sleeping so he can learn to help himself with minimal disturbance to you?

There is a growth spurt at around 6 weeks so you might find it settles down after a few days.

He's still quite little and needs to feed a lot.

Do you co-sleep?

I am really not comfortable with co-sleeping, feel my sleep would suffer more for sharing a bed tbh.

Also, he is not very good at feeding in the dark, i have to get him latched on, he can't manage himself.

He is very good in that he will wake up, feed then go straight back down again and will even self settle if still awake.

My concern is that perhaps i am over feeding him. This morning he was sick after his feed and it looked (and felt!) like most of what he had taken and he wasn't distressed at all.

The other possibilty is thhat he is finding his crib too narrow?

My DS's 6 week growth spurt lasted a week and a half. It was pretty miserable but did pass.

My understanding was that it's not possible to over-feed a bf baby, unless possibly if there are problems with reflux (but don't quote me on that bit as I'm not 100% sure).

I'd try lying down during the night feeds even if you put him back in his cot afterwards.

Perhaps pop along to see a bfc or to a local bfing group to check latch/milk transference.

But it's not abnormal.

My dd was born on the 50th centile but was soon just off the top of the charts for weight and length. To sustain this she fed at least every 2hrs day and night until she was 7 months. In that time, she gained nearly 20lbs.

I'd do whatever you can to make your life easier. I had to co-sleep to survive.

Chances are it will settle down. You're doing brilliantly.

Alice, big sympathy - I found/find feeding at night really tough, and every 2 hours is really really tough.

I express with a manual pump enough for DP to bottle feed DS once or twice during the night, and find it is just enough to give me a couple of extra hours' sleep somewhere along the way. Doesn't sound like much, but it makes a world of difference.

Is that an option for you at all?

In theory yes, but the reality is that he is not going long enough between feeds for me to build up enough to express.

I want to carry on BF as i worked so hard at making it work in the beginning, but it is in these sleep deprived moments when you can see why fomula is so popular

SOH - i go to a BF group every week and the latch has been checked.

I am going to try giving him a cuddle when he wakes up the first time tonight then putting him back down again to see if he really is hungry or just wanting comfort. I don't mind feeding if he is hungry but not just because (iyswim?)

at this stage you should still be feeding "on demand" and if he wakes and cries, I would see that as "demanding". It's hard work but totally normal.....

Much better night!

It may be the end of the growth spurt. He woke 3hrs after i put him down and as he woke me too i needed the loo, came back and he was fast sleep again (hadn't been crying) and went another hour before he properly woke and had a feed. Then started stirring about an hour and a half after that but i waited, and again it was another hour before he was awake properly.

Maybe i have been too quick to pick him up when he stirred? Or it is just coincidence that the same night i tried leaving him til he woke was the same time as the end of the growth spurt? With BF it is too easy to pick them up and stick them on isn't it, where as if you had to go and make up a bottle, you would only do it if they were hungry.

Thank you for all your reassurance, at times you feel you will never get half a night's sleep again!

"With BF it is too easy to pick them up and stick them on isn't it, where as if you had to go and make up a bottle, you would only do it if they were hungry."

Ha! this really makes me think of a mini argument with Beloved last night, when I was feeding baby and sent him to prep her formula top-up and it seemed to take him aaages as he was sleepy. It really is so easy just to BF versus heading to the kitchen. I should be nicer about it...!

If it's at all helpful - I've been trying to leave her until she's properly awake recently and she does often go back to sleep with just a hand gently placed on her to settle her. That helped me get more sleep and meant that when she really wanted feeding, she stayed awake for a proper feed.

"Maybe i have been too quick to pick him up when he stirred?" - no, not at all. Even quick feeds at this age are so beneficial for them, and for your supply, and you shouldn't doubt yourself.

Co-sleeping doesn't have to mean bedsharing btw - although this is my preferred method, many mums co-sleep by using a cot/crib attached to the side of the bed. You can still roll over and pull them close for easy, quick feeding, but get to keep your own space.