3 month old feeding every 2-3 hrs.....

[CrazyAlien06]

Hi

As title says my DD is feeding every 2-3 hrs during the day and sometimes at night.a month ago she went through a phase of sleeping 5 -6 hrs at night now it's 2-3.5 :( I know there is a 3 month growth spurt but how long does this last?
She is ebf and all her little buddies sleep through the night now from 10-7 . I swear if i hear of what a good nights sleep another mother has had I'll want to sit there and cry lol.

I know I'm doing the best for my princess but really want her to stretch longer at night. She doesn't just wake up at 2-3 hour intervals she grunts/writhes around for anything up to an hr before! I can usually quieten her with her dummy as she is not hungry at that point. She then wakes a little while later and I feed her.

She is currently asleep on my chest. :D I do this for cheeky half hour if she feeds just before I have to get up. I love being a mummy it's the best !!

First of all, IGNORE all friends telling you how wondefully their LOs sleep. It's not going to help you. Some babies do sleep wonderfully long stretches at a time, some don't. Some mums lie about how wonderfully long their baby sleeps for, some don't

Feeding every 3 hrs or so during the day is perfectly normal for a 3m old, and even during the night every 3 hrs or so isn't an issue (for her I mean, not your lack of sleep!). At some point soon she'll naturally drop one of her feeds at night. Sleep regressions last a couple of weeks or so IME (I've ebf three children - one a baby still), and just as you get into one pattern of sleep and feeds, they'll up and change it to another, or they'll get teeth, or they'll get a cold, or they'll learn to sit up and not be able to sit back down on their own, or, or, or...

You are doing fine, your baby is happy and you love being a mummy. It's tiring though, is all.

:)

What Flubba said!

And ignore your friends, they're probably exaggerating not many 3 month olds will sleep between 10-7. They also go through various growth spurts; you think you've got sleeping sorted and then another one comes along or the teething begins etc...

Honestly, the one thing to remind yourself of regularly is that it's easier to change what you're doing than tamper with the needs of a small baby. All babies are different and if they need to feed often, then they need to feed often. Your little girl is changing from a vulnerable newborn to a rolling, crawling, sitting, standing, walking, talking person and in a very short space of time. This takes an awful lot of practice and calories. This means they feed a lot and wake up a lot. They need to do this. The easiest thing to do is look at what you can do to manage it better. So how can you fit in more sleep, who's around to help, is cosleeping an option, is a pristine house a priority etc.

DD never did more than 2hrs between feeds, day or night until 7 months when occasionally she did 3hrs. She is a 4yo now and sleeps 12hrs at night without a peep. I missed her terribly when the night feeds and cuddles passed.

16wo ds changes his mind nightly. Sometimes he sleeps through, sometimes he wakes 2 hourly for a feed, sometimes he wakes half hourly with a cold and cries his heart out. I just adjust what I'm doing in order to cope. It passes. And too quickly.

my baby is 3 months 3 weeks

3 weeks ago i could have written your exact post.... and was dispairing too (yes all our NCT friends sleep through too)

Now she is a different baby, and while she feeds 2 hourly in the afternoon we have 12 hours sleep (6.30 / 6.30) with (normally) only 1 feed.

Thanks peeps :) i feel better reading your posts:-) I am going to start focusing on her needing all the food to help her get moving and rolling etc. today she has not stopped smiling . I love this job :0). :0).

My DD was one of those 3mo that slept 10-7. She even managed that on when we were on holiday sleeping in the carrycot of our pram. Sadly it didn't last. Since 6mo her sleep has gone worse. She is regularly waking every 3hrs. And she practises her crawling at night. She would also no longer sleep in her cot, when she used to go down awake and content to play with her toy to fall asleep herself.

Basically what others have said already is true. Just as you think they have settled into a pattern they change on you. Those you envy to have a great sleeper might turn into little nightmares in a few months.

Oh that is so true. They're often harder post 6 months because the developmental spurts are bigger. They do practise crawling and standing and talking etc at night and it wakes them up. You find them standing up or crawling round a cot or squashed into a corner where they've rolled while still asleep and then they're fully awake and aware of possibilities like playing and climbing and books and music and they can actively want to do an awful lot of things which aren't sleeping.

And it's much less of a shock to the system if you're used to nightime parenting. So enjoy the feeding to sleep and finding them where you left them while it lasts.