does my ebf dd need more- waking every 90 mins!

[feekerry]

my dd is 12 weeks and up until about 9 weeks she used to go to bed about 10.30 pm ish with us and sleep until about 4am or 5am. after that she'd cluster feed. we co sleep and she is ebf. however since about 9 weeks she has started waking more and more often to feed. she now goes to bed on her own at about 8pm as this is when she seems tired and we join her in bed about 10pm. she then started waking at 2am, then about 3.30am and so on until about 7 am but the last few nights its getting even worse and she's now waking every 90 mins from about 10pm.
last night on a couple of occasions she woke 50 mins after last feed!. she never cries as i always get boob in her mouth as she stirs and she always falls back asleep easily so good on that point but why is she so hungry at night? if i try ignore her when she stirs then she gradually gets more noisy and squirmy. i know they have a 12 week growth spurt but this has been for the last 4 weeks. and she always used to sleep a good 5 or 6 hours previous to this.
i've also notied she feeds more often in the day, she used to go 3 or 4 hours in the day now its more like 1 or 2 hours in the day! she never seems to feed for more than 5 mins tho, has always been like this.
she is a rather large baby and was born on the 91st centile and remained there but in the last 4 weeks she has dropped to the 75th (no big deal i dont think but wonder if she is really hungry?)

thanks, any ideas or advice?

Hi Feekerry... I have a very similar problem. My 12 week old isn't feeding very well though, she's started refusing other side!! That's what I was putting it down to... But interesting that our problems are almost exactly the same... My baby was 50th but dropped to 25th.
Hope someone has some insight for us!!

As you say babies sleep patterns often change (for the worse sometimes) as they develop. Have you tried upping the frequency of her feeding in the day? Particularly cluster feeding toward bedtime.

It could be that she is feeding more often to up your supply as she grows, feeding more often in the day would help with this too.

DD is 12 months and still feeds 2-3 times in the night!

that makes me feel more normal bedhopper

i think i need to make more of an effort to make sure she takes as much as possible. for example she's just fed for 5 mins then fallen asleep on the boob. going to try encourage her to stay awake and take more. its so hard at night as i feed her lying down we both fall asleep after 5 mins. maybe i should try feed sitting up at night to keep us both awake!
franma hope you weren't as smug as me with my 6 hour sleeping baby who now only sleeps for couple of hours!! lol.x

They do like to lull us into a false sense of security don't they! Basic rule is, don't presume for a second they've "settled" into a routine - they will change on a sixpence for growth spurts, sleep regressions, illness, teething, being too hot, too cold, too lonely, too bored. Try to ride it out as it will change again soon, most likely.

Cosleeping can be a sanity-saver, so I'm glad to see you're giving it a go. Does she have access to your boobs or do you have to 'get 'em out' each time? Do you think she could latch herself on if she had free access - maybe not even waking you up in the process?

Her feed intervals during the day are pretty normal. Breastmilk is quickly digested, and a 12wo stomach is still pretty tiny, so frequent, short feeds are common. Some babies are very efficient feeders and get what they need very quickly.

Has it also been hot where you are? She may be feeling a bit parched - think of how often you have a sip of water or a cup of tea - it's probably a lot more frequent than every 3 or 4 hours!

You sound like you're doing exactly the right thing. Don't get swayed into thinking that you can't satisfy her, or your milk isn't 'filling her up' - you're doing exactly what needs to be done.

With DD, I don't think it's hunger - just when she stirs awake, she likes to latch on and feed to get herself back to sleep. At some point I'll wean her off it...

ye the co sleeping is a god send and very lovely too! i do have to get my boobs out tho as i still leak a bit so need to wear a bra and pads to bed. ye it has been really muggy at night too. might forget the bra tonight and see if i'm still leaking as much, if not then wont bother with bra and dd can latch on whenever she likes.
do you think they get as much milk feeding lying down tho? i find it a bit awkward and dd never latches on that deep when lying down so i thought she'd get better access if we sit up? also, does feeding lying down not make wind and gas worse????

no problems with lying down feeding here, after the first couple of weeks or so. couldn't cope with sitting up - i can stay 90% asleep lying down!

ah you've made my day bedhopper back to lying down feeding for me!!! yipee!

My DD is the same pattern, have had a rough few weeks feeling paranoid that I don't have enough milk or am doing something wrong (why do HV's make you feel that!) Starting to feel better about it DD is clearly happy and healthy so sod the graphs and what other babies do, it's all swings and roundabouts and at the end of the day sleeping through the night is nice but all too soon she'll have grown up so have decided just to try to enjoy the night feeds!!!

good, feekerry - lying down, eyes shut, trying to ignore the little leech attached to you is the way to go, I find :o

yep- just little update-didnt wear bra to bed last night and kept dd at boob level and i only woke once!!! whoop whoop! i vaugely remember her latching on but think i almost got full nights sleep, and didnt leak too badly either!! thanks everyone!

brilliant feekerry! well done :)