When will my 7 week old go longer between feeds?

[jennimoo]

My DD is currently going up to 3.5h between feeds, often feeding more than hourly at some times of day (not just evening).

She only feeds for between 5 and 10 minutes at a time. She is quite sicky, and at night especially this wakes her if she eats too much. She is gaining weight very well, started on 9th percentile and now on nearly 40th I think.

I'm happy feeding her often, especially in the day, as can see she's thriving, but am worried that if this carries on much longer the sleep deprivation is going to be a problem! She usually goes one 3h at night, then a couple of 2h and some 1hs.

So, do you think I should:
A) just carry on as we are, and let her lengthen the gaps when she's ready
B) encourage her to eat more during the day may be
C) encourage longer feeds at night so she lasts longer (how do I handle the sickiness...)
D) something else entirely!

As I say I'm happy to keep getting up, but am worried as I'm getting so tired and know this is a risk factor for PND (as is the fact I've had depression before...)

Any way, any thoughts?

What a fantastic job you're doing jennimoo Your DD sounds like she is absolutely thriving.

Haven't got much advice for you though sorry apart from the obvious of sleep when the baby sleeps and don't try to do too much.

Perhaps someone will be along soon with some advice on the sickliness.

Oh, and you could have a read of sickliness on Kellymom.

As regards to your lack of sleep, is there anyone who you could get some help from in the day?

Thanks INeedSomeSleep the kellymom site is very useful, now I'm wondering if I should cut out the dairy and caffeine to reduce sickiness (while drinking a cup of tea...)

Most babies are ok with both but if your baby is having a problem it could be worth a try.

Have you spoken to one of the bfing helplines?

the frequency of feeds sound pretty normal and will probably stretch out a bit as she gets older. You might find that if you can get her to eat more in the day she might need less at night. My 10 week old tends to feed 1-2 hourly in the day but we usually get one 4-6 hour stretch at night now, followed by a 2ish hour stretch

And Lidl have got cheap Ty-Phoo decaff tea at the mo

My almost 9 week old was doing exactly this at 7 weeks, never more than 3 hours at night, and often less - and then a week ago she had a few nights of a 6 hour stretch out of nowhere, and suddenly since Wed has been going between 9 and 11 hours each night!!! We haven't changed anything, it just happened - so there is hope for you - hope the same thing happens :)

cat811 fingers crossed! I'm so knackered at the moment, really need that 4h chunk of sleep!

Thanks for all the reassurance it's normal,must stop listening to the people who say she should be feeding 4hourly already and try to enjoy the cuddles!

How old is your DD again Jennimoo?

Hi Jennimoo

All sounds normal for such a young baby. Would you consider co-sleeping? If it's done safely, it can make things alot asier in the night as you can lie down and feed/doze.

I think you're right about not listening to what other people think she should be doing...and sometimes it's about managing your own expectations of how much your baby should be sleeping at night.

Even when they start to go for a longer stretch, sleep can often be disrupted at one of the sleep regression times (next one is 4 months) Hope I'm not being too negative, but I suppose what I'm saying is that babies change all the time and sometimes it's easier just to find ways to manage the sleeplessnes than change their needs which are normal.

DD is 7 weeks.

I dont co sleep, but used to feed her lying down, but it was hard to then sit us both up and burp her comfortably, so now I sit in the chair to feed.

She has just started taking a bottle of EBM so I think we're going to tag DH in early on Saturday morning while I have a 4h sleep for the first time since DD arrived!

Didn't even go two hours between feeds last night! 6 feeds between 1030 and 700 :(

I keep reading I should feed her lots in the day to fill her up, but my mum today tells me I'm being too nice feeding on demand and should make her wait for feeds in the day time! I feel like 7 weeks is a bit young for this, but she definitely snacks rather than properly feeding.

I've contacted some of the BF support services so hopefully will get some more ideas from them.

My DD fed 3 times a night up to 19weeks old, now at 21weeks its once or none :-)

Shes had weird sickyness for last 3weeks, a lot the first week. HV said as long as poo and wee normal and shes ok other than that not to worry its just one of those things, but see doc if want to! Tried cutting down dairy sometimes helps which is prob fluke but worth a try!

You could try taking feeds in day down to 2.5/3 hrs but I expect might not change a lot. Def dont space them out, this seems to be an old fashioned idea that babies should wait til you decide they are hungry enough! Bf babies should feed on demand, ff babies hace schedules (but even then if they are hungry then they are hungry!).

My 10.5 m.o. DS doesn't go 4 hours between feeds in the daytime. Ignore your mother - babies should be fed "frequently and on-demand" until the age of 2 according to the World Health Organisation.

I don't know anything about it, but the sickiness suggests possible reflux to me. I could be wrong on that, but Kellymom and the BF helplines are a good place to start to look for info.