Should I make him wait?

[catherinewho]

My 9 week old ds is in a vicious cycle of drinking 1-2oz every hour to an hour and a half. This means he is too hungry to sleep and then too tired to drink any more. Therefore we have pretty much constant crying and it's driving me mad.

Please help, how do I break this habit? I want to make him wait fo a bottle so he is more hungry but I can't bear him crying, what to I do?

After a feed get someone to take him for a long long (like 2 hour) walk, hopefully he'll sleep well, then when he wakes up see how much he'll take.

are you able to feed him while he is asleep ala dream feed?

i assume at some point he does conk out. do you think you could get him to take a bottle while he is drowsy? if you gently stroke his cheek you will stimulate his suckling reflex. Most babies will take enough to fill themselves up when they feed in this state (often more than when they are awake for difficult feeders) I was thinking that if you could get a more substantial feed down him while he is like that, it would make it easier to start implementing more spaced out feeds.

If you dont think that will work, you could try pushing the feeds out for maybe 15 minutes. i.e if he crys for a bottle after 90 minutes, feed him 15 minutes later and so on. Hopefully the short wait will encourage him to take more.

Finally, have you ruled out silent reflux? snacking like that is a bit of a classic reflux symptom.

You could try using a sling to get him to sleep for a bit - overtiredness is hideous at that stage.

I'd second getting him checked for reflux if you can.

he doesnt have to cry between feeds if you are trying to space them out, just use distraction methods like SugarPlum suggests. you only need to do it for a few days before his body is 'tuned' to wanting to eat more at less frequent intervals. im sure the sling will help with sleeping too.

Thank you everyone, I will try all your suggestions! Hopefully we will both be much happier soon lol!!!