I need some advice please, re 4 month old, bf and naps.

9 replies

GiraffeAHolic · 08/05/2012 15:09

I have an exclusively breastfed 18 week old ds. I demand feed, and he quite often feeds hourly during the day and a couple of times in the night.

He is a pain for daytime napping, will literally be awake all day if I let him. Last couple of days I've persevered and introduced naps in his moses basket.

Today he woke at 6:30 (had slept since 22:30) and had a bf, he fed again at about 8:00. I put him for a nap at 9 and he slept until 12:00 (wahoo!).

He fed then and played for a while, I started naptime again at 1:45 and he settled around 2:45.

It's briliant that he's napping finally.but now I'm a bit worried about the length between feeds.

He has had slow weight gain but is healthy and meeting milestones so HV not concerned at all.

Do the timings sound ok? I'm in no way trying to create a schedule, I'm very happy being baby led it just seems odd not feeding continuously.

OP posts:

fhdl34 · 08/05/2012 16:32

my DD is same age and going through a stage where she's a pita to feed because she's so distractable. On the days where she feeds considerably less, she wakes through the night to be fed. She usually sleeps 9-11hrs at night and whilst awake during the day will usually feed around 12 times. She fed a lot less than that on Saturday and needed feeding 4 times in the night! Just the last few days though she's gone from only napping for 30-45mins to 1.5-2hrs at a time so perhaps this is the age where they sleep longer? Doesn't answer your original question but I'm sure i read something on Kellymom the other day about they take in less milk at some point but baby brain prevents me from remembering when and my phone prevents me from linking to Kellymom!

olimpia · 08/05/2012 16:40

giraffe how do you manage to make him nap. Normally babies give signs of tiredness and then fall asleep either whilst sucking or by sleep association (rocking, swaddling, etc). It's very difficult to make a baby go to sleep if they don't want to.
It may be that he's settling on longer feeds fewer times a day. Do you notice the feeds are longer? How many in a day now?

Original poster

GiraffeAHolic · 08/05/2012 17:16

Thanks fhdl I'd forgotten about Kellymom, shall have a look.

olimpia I mean putting ds in his moses basket awake and rocking and shushing him to sleep rather than him falling asleep while feeding then waking when I move him.and starting all over again. I'm not making him sleep just encouraging it in a different situation.

I struggled to feed my dd so I've gratefully fed ds as and when.

Yes I'm hoping that fewer but longer feeds will be more substantial for him than frequent shorter feeds.

He's had four feeds today since 6:30am, he usually only has one side but he fed off both this afternoon.

OP posts:

olimpia · 08/05/2012 17:37

giraffe I'm with you now. I think having him go to sleep in his Moses basket is an excellent idea. It may well be that when he wakes up refreshed from a nap, not having fed for 3 hours or so, he'll feed more than if he's snacking every one and half hours. Some babies do better if fed overall every 2+ hours do it's a good idea to try if that's what baby seems to want.
That number of feeds up until 5 pm sounds fine for 4 months (he'll have a couple more before bed time I presume?). The only thing I would say is try not to go more than 3 1/2 hours between feeds I.e. offer the breast even if he's not protesting.

nickelhasababy · 08/05/2012 17:39

at napping boy!