Night-time feeding going backwards at 12 weeks... will it get better again?

[legallyblond]

DD (now 12 weeks) is ebf and has fed rather brilliantly on demand since day one.. we have been v lucky and had no issues or problems. She is gaining like a trooper - she was born on 75th centile at 2 weeks late and is now on the 98th.

She has pretty much always got the hang of day vs night so that from about a week old, she has only ever cried in her sleep for a feed, fed pretty much still asleep and then settled straight back in her bed (which is right up against our bed) all in the space of about 15 minutes...

She has always gone to bed at about 10pm ish... I do wonder if that is too late but she doesn't fall into a deep sleep until then and she sleeps deeply with night-time style feeds until about 9.30am.

She had got to the stage where a really good night would involve a feed at 10pm, another at about 3am and another at about 7am, before she woke up properly at 9.30ish. A slightly worse night would be 10pm, 2am and 5.30am...

However, over the last week or two she has been feeding every 2-2.5 hours through the night...!!! A real backwards step. Some people have suggested a growth spurt, but if she "spurts" she'll be off the centile charts. And I would have thought that my milk supply would have caught up by now...

The plus side is that she does still feel in her sleep and be back in her bed withing about 20 mins... but it seems like these frequent feeds are more "snack" like than usual night feeds.

Is there anything I can do and will it pass? I just don't want to get her into a habit of "snacking" through the night.... That said, I don't particularly want to "baby train" - despite this recent behaviour, can I still cling to the hope that she'll get into a good sleeping pattern of her own accord?

As a mother we always try to get kids in routine and as soon they settle into it smth happen that gets them out ( colds, virus,too hot, too cold) Just be patient carry on with the good work. You seem to be doing a great job already most kids would be up every 2 hours from birth till 12 weeks, so feel blesed that it has been this good.

You have nothing to worry about lovely! Very normal... let her feed as much as she wants, she's only little and you should just enjoy those hours of cuddles. Mine can breastfeed for hours on end!

Oh well! I thought the more experienced mums on here might be able to say, "oh, 12 week ebf baby on 98th centile, why that's...xyz... of course, she'll stop in 72 hours exactly and be back to normal". !!!

Even worse last night - every 2 hours. Once when she woke after only an hour, I just comforted her back to sleep as I figured she couldn't be hungry. I do know i've been lucky so far....

All my friends have said growth spurt, but like I said, she'll be off the charts soon! Don't know what can be in my milk to make her so huge...?!

It goes in phases like this, just when you get used to something it all changes! DD went through phases where she would only wake up once or twice (which is good for her) and then other nights she would wake up every hour if she was teething or ill. Don't worry about habits, you can't get a 12 week old baby into bad habits.

Thanks. Are you sure re the bad habits EauRouge?

It feels like dd went through a growth spurt feding every 2 hours and has now got into a habit of needing my boob to get back to sleep. Although, to be honest, she doesn't wake at all really when she has her night feeds... she hasn't done since she was about a week old. She just sucks for 5 or 10 mins in her sleep and goes back into her bed (crib next to me).

I have read the no cry sleep solution and have tried sushing in case its night noises, but its not! She just cries! And because she's asleep throughout, its no good takig her off the boob just before she falls asleep (to break the association)!

I guess she will get better again, its just frusrating to have such a regression! And the fact she's only doing 2 hours between nightfeeds isn't preventing her from continuing to cluster feed all evening!

She's fast asleep now though!!!!!

Could you try giving her a dummy to see if she just needs to suck back to sleep rather than feed?

Can you try offering more in the day?

There is a very well known regression to newborn hell that starts at around 16 weeks. Perhaps your baby is very advanced

What happens around this time is that they suddenly realise they are seperate from everyone else and that their arms are their own and that they can move them, and that other people can move theirs and that other people DO things and the television is wierd, and actually this carpet is a different colour to the carpet in a different room I was just in etc etc. so they find feeding a pita and just grab a quick snack.

This means they are starving during the night when it is quiet with no tv/carpet/people to look at so they top themselves up.

I could try that MoonUnit.. thanks. My only concern is that she doesn't have a dummy at the moment... she spits dummies and bottle teats (even when lovely ebm is in the bottles) out immediatley and has never tolerated them in her mouth...!

I think I'll carry on for a few more days and then get a bit stricter about cuddles only and no boob if I don't think she's hungry... the we'll move to soothing in the crib and no cuddles maybe?

That said... maybe she is just hungry! This is where feeding on demand gets tricky. I assume i should still be feeding on demand at 3 months and no by a routine...? I am the only person i know still bf, so i have no-one to ask! and i LOVE bf and plan to bf alongside weaning unil dd is 18 months or so (i go back to work when she is 1 year but i assume bf csan just be a bedtime feed by then as she'll be eating solids and drinking water) so i don't want to screw up my supply!

grateful for all advice!

(bf now hence typos!)

I did give ds a dummy quite early on, and found if he just wanted to suck he would, but if he was hungry the dummy would be spat straight out! We've got rid of the dummy now and in the night if DP goes to him and he doesn't settle with some rocking/cuddling within a few minutes then I always assume hunger and feed him.

Could you have her in bed with you? I found that great for just dozing while the baby fed so you don't really feel like you were up in the night.

Our bed isn't big enough really (standard double) nor is it easy to make safe... our room is v small so we can't get a bigger one.

If I am totally honest with myself, the 2 hourly night waking isn't any trouble as such.. i reach out, pop her on the breast (after trying a couple of "shhs") and pop her back in her crib and I'm asleep within 15 mins.. its just that I don't want her to be doing this in a few months time!!! If she needs it now, thats fine, but I don't want to reinforce a habit thsat will get her less sleep than she needs... sorry, not making much sense!!!

I might try a latex dummy then....

Also, does anyone know if i def should still be feeding on demand? i am just sort of doing what i fancy with her (like i said, everyone i know is now ff) and trying to follow my instincts, but that seems to just mean doing exactly what she wants,... which i enjoy but which is a far cry from what my ff friends are doing (their babies are on 4 hour schedules and basically sleeping through). i assume its different because i'm bf?! As i said in my post above, i am really loving bf (have done since day 1!) and on no account to i want to jepordise my supply as i plan to do this until dd is over 1 year.

thanks!

startingafresh - this sounds like dd at the moment! All her daytime feeds are totally distracted now! its as if she has just reallised that while feeding there is a world beyond my boob!! every 2 minutes its "ooh, curtains, ooh, voices, ooh mummy's hair., ooh, mummy's earings" and lots of grabbing and looking (attempted while still attached... ouch!)

incidentally, she was 2 weeks late and has so far done everything 2 weeks or so early, as if she had been brn on her due date, if that makes sense!!!

Yes, still feed on demand - within the next couple of months more of a pattern/routine will probably emerge anyway. Though it won't be 4 hourly feeds! I wouldn't worry about bad habits either, just do what works for you now and when it stops working you can change it. My 5 month old still feeds about 8 times a day - 2-3 hourly in the day and twice at night.

Dd3 has fed constantly for last 24 hours. She is ebf on demand & v def hungry! I'm assuming a growth spurt (13 weeks)