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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

help- 9 week old and night feeding...

7 replies

Newmom2b · 14/12/2011 03:32

Hello ladies, I'm hoping for some words of advice. My ds is 9 weeks old and until last week I thought the nights were gradually starting to get better. From feeding every 3 hours the spacing in-between feeds were starting to stretch out a little longer, one night he even managed 6 hours.
Last week be has started to wake again every 1.5/2 hours.. thought it might be a growth spurt but a week later we're still here!
Ds is ebf. I have expressed a few times previously and was managing to get about 4oz each time but in the past week I can barely manage 2oz. So I wonder is my milk supply is going down hence the shorter feed times? I was thinking of trying a formula feed before bed to see if this makes a difference, any advice in this?
One other thing to coincide with these regular waking is that it takes me ages, sometimes up to 2 hours to settle him after a feed in the night, again wasn't a problem up to a week ago...... please help, dh is away to top it off! X

OP posts:
KiwiPanda · 14/12/2011 07:39

Could he maybe have a bug, be feeling a bit poorly. Or maybe going through a developmental leap.. Either way it sounds to me like your expressing going down is simply because he's feeding more, not necessarily anything to do with supply. Certainly if you give him formula it wont help supply - quite the opposite - so maybe hang on in there for a few days and see of it gets better? You are doing really brilliantly and he obviously just loves you so much he wants to see you more often in the night Wink

KiwiPanda · 14/12/2011 07:41

Ps should have added my 9 week old doing exactly the same and it started after her first immunisations which gave her a temp and made her feel poorly...

organiccarrotcake · 14/12/2011 07:43

Oh those night feed changes - just when you think you know where you are it all becomes different :(

Expressing is no indicator of supply at all and changes to the amount that you can express is not only normal, but good, because it is an indication that your body (as it should be at 8-9 weeks) is settling into making just the right amount of milk for your baby and not too much (oversupply is a real problem in itself so this is good).

How often are you feeding during the day? Has anything changes to your daytime routine? What happens during the night feeds? Does he feed until he's sleepy or asleep and drops off himself? Can you offer the other breast? Where does he then go to sleep afterwards?

Formula feeding to get them to sleep longer assumes a) that you don't have enough milk (almost certainly not the case as you've got this far unless you are limiting feeds elsewhere, in which case introducing formula will further undermine your supply) and b) that he's JUST hungry as opposed to maybe hungry and possibly also cold/hot, wanting a nappy change, or just (most likely) wanting to be close and cuddled to you which is what I'm wondering as you're struggling to get him to sleep.

The evidence shows that giving a bottle of formula doesn't make them sleep longer (although it might). The upside to doing it is that it might. The downsides are:

  • One bottle of formula a day will remove the protection that breastmilk gives to the lining of the gut, making him more prone to allergies and gastroenteritis
  • It will impact your milk supply because your body will make that one bottle of formula less each day
  • Exclusively breastfed babies are at a significantly reduced risk of SIDS and we are not sure how mixed feeding affects this. One part of reducing the risk, though, is that babies are not designed to sleep long periods of time between birth and around 6 months because their systems are sometimes too immature to kick-start themselves if they go into too deep a sleep and their breathing is affected. This is partly why SAFE bedsharing or room sharing has a protective effect because the mother's breathing an heartbeat next to the baby (the latter when bedsharing) seems to be a "trigger" for the baby to breath if affected like this.

I must very strongly stress that the latter reason sounds terrifying, and SIDS IS terrifying - but it must be put into the context of how exceptionally rare SIDS is, and balanced with the fact that if you are completely sleep deprived you are not necessarily in the safest position to, say, drive the next day. I'm just trying to put across info so you can try to work out what is best for you.

So. I would consider trying to work out why he's waking first of all. He's probably hungry - can you fit any more day feeds in at all? Is he getting everything he needs when he wakes (ie boob until he falls off - next one if he wants it - offer the first again if required). Can you snooze while feeding by setting up a safe bedsharing space and feeding lying down? Would bedsharing be an option for you if he slept better with you?

lilham · 14/12/2011 09:00

Like organiccarrotcake says, expressing is no indicator of milk supply. Your supply settles after the newborn phase, and you produce only as much as your baby needs. I couldn't express at all after the first two weeks (DD was in SCBU and I expressed all her milk at the time). But she was EBF until 6mo when I introduced solids.

As for the night wakings. Well, they go through phases. They don't always wake up just because fo hunger. Assuming you offered both sides as many times as he wants, and he just no longer was interested in feeding, maybe he just wants to wake up for a roll or a cuddle. (Though I think at 9wk my DD would always suck as they are too little to want to play)! When you say it took 2 hours to resettle him, what was he doing? Wanting to feed for 2 hours? I've learned my DD now, if she wakes up at night, and if she's hungry, she'll feed enthusiastically, and then fall straight back to sleepland. Otherwise, she may suck a few times, then will just stay up. We are lucky in that DD was always happy left in her cot. We just left her with toys. (She kept us up though with grunting and cooing. And now her cot is in the nursery, she's not happy unless being brought into the big bed). Other mums in my group have much trickier wakers who wants constant rocking while they were up at night. A colleague even took his out for night walks in the sling! He said he used to always bump into the same dads doing the night walks.

What I'm saying is that night waking is very common. It's a cultural thing where we are undermined (by advertisment maybe) to think we don't produce enough milk. If you have a baby that looks thriving, have plenty of wet nappies, then he's getting enough milk. Sometimes they wake because of a dirty nappy (this one is common when we started weaning), sometimes it's bedding being too hot/cold. Sometimes they just want to wake up and not go back to sleep.

worldgonecrazy · 14/12/2011 09:17

Great advice above. The HV who ran the breastfeeding clinic I went to used to refer to the evening feeds as 'the witching hour', and it can feel a bit like that. If you are also getting stressed and worried your baby will pick up on that, so try and stay calm. I know I joke a lot about chocolate cake and a glass of wine but it really can help get you through those difficult feeds.

What your baby needs right now, and what your baby is designed to need, is lots of cuddles and feeding on demand. I found it help to not think in terms of 'X feeds per day' or 'morning feed' and 'night feed'. Just booby when needed. We also found that not putting baby to bed helped, she would just have a feed whilst we had music/TV on low and were chatting, and she'd fall asleep when she was ready, usually around 8.00 p.m. I'd keep her downstairs with me until we went to bed. We coslept with the cot side-car attached to the bed so she could have her own space but be within arms reach for easy night feeds. I also quickly mastered feeding lying down so I didn't have to wake up properly for feeds. That helped massively too.

When your baby seems restless at night and suckling a lot, it's really just them putting their order in for the next day, telling your body how much milk to make. It is nothing to do with a proble with your supply - you are doing great.

Remember each day is a step closer to that magic moment when breastfeeding becomes second-nature and the worries disappear.

awopbopaloobop · 14/12/2011 10:32

So pleased I found this thread this morning! Newmom I completely sympathise, my 11week DS has followed a v similar pattern to yours. The weeks blur but roughly speaking he was starting to sleep for longer when first put down, say 5-6 hours, after that it was a bit hit and miss whether he'd sleep for another stretch but that first block was starting to make me feel human again! Now, I get the odd better night where he sleeps for maybe 4 hours then off and on and bad nights like last night when I can hear him tossing and turning most of the night and am feeding every couple of hours. I did wonder whether maybe he wasn't getting enough daytime feeds - we're starting to be out and about in the day and he seems to love it but isn't looking to be fed, too distracted by new people, sights etc. Problemis, I don't keep records of feeds but thought I'd try offering more in daytime.
Really helpful advice and encouragement thank you, the mums I see from nct group etc are following more rigid routines than me and think I am crazy/old hippy!

organiccarrotcake · 14/12/2011 10:50

Ahh the old rigid routines :(

Humans have been raised without routines since the year dot. Suddenly a few self-professed experts decided to try to interfere with the natural processes that we have (which make breastfeeding work most effectively) and they all state in their books that if we don't follow their routine then the world will fall apart and the universe will explode.

Only it won't. It's fine. Your baby, your rules :)

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