DD is EBF & now 9 weeks - how long should she be going between feeds at night?

[Enfyshedd]

I've been woken by DD 2-3 times a night even since she came home from hospital at 9 days (had time in SCBU due to worry over low oxygen at birth). Should she be going longer between feeds (EBF) by now? It's still a fairly regular every 3-4 hours all day everyday apart from one 7 hour stretch one evening a couple of weeks ago.

She also won't settle on her own to sleep - she tends to fall asleep suckling whether on sofa or bed, and if she's put down anywhere else, she'll cry a lot until she's picked up. Any suggestions?

It takes them a while to learn to settle themselves - still a work in progress for us at 5mths, but can see progress. By now you should be getting a regular 5-6hr stretch - maybe worth trying to settle her before offering food at night? I find it MUCH easier if DH does this than if I try to. Obviously if she really does seem hungry then feed her - they are all different. Have you tried sleeping with a dummy? We resisted this as didnt want to be woken up to put the dummy back, but then as we were being woken anyway, though hey what harm can it do lol

My only suggestions are to feed her and hold her when she asks :)

Feeding 2 or 3 times overnight (continuing the 3 to 4 hour pattern from the day) is completely normal at your DDs age - her tummy is still small and she wants cuddles too :)

At some point your DD might drop a feed during the night. With my babies this happened at about 4 months, but it was the late evening feed that got dropped, so the longest stretch if sleep was 7pm to midnight. Some lucky people get that long stretch from 11pm to 4am and they get a bit more sleep!

Personally, I don't think there is any point in trying to change sleep patterns. A pattern to the evenings might encourage a reasonable bedtime, but I think little people just need a bit of support through the night until their quite a lot older. Going with the flow like this is a lot easier if you can get your head down for a few hours during the day and/or get a lie in at the weekend. If you can let housework slide and/or delegate more jobs to help you get some sleep, don't feel guilty - the person doing night feeds needs the odd nap at other times to maintain prolonged night waking.

She is completely normal. Many, many babies will wake every couple of hours to feed for the first few months. 2-3 times a night is actually good going. It is actually if she is going 3-4 hours during the day that that is unusual.

Try not to panic. The not settling is totally normal too. My DD2 has only just worked out how to self settle and she's over one.

There is no "should" about it. Breast fed babies self- regulate and all babies are different, sounds very normal to me.

I have a nine week old who sounds just the same. 3 1/2 hours is the longest I think he's ever slept at night. He is hard to settle afterwards too. It my head I've just decided this is normal - normal for my baby anyway!
One of my baby works says (at this age) 'by now your baby will not need a night feed'. Pile of crap.

books not works.

My 11wo ds2 will do 5-7hr stretches at night now and at 9wks would do 4-6hrs, he now usually does 11pmish to between 4/5am. However he feeds every 1.5-2hrs in the day and cluster feeds all evening. Ds1 was exactly the same so I've decided that it's normal for my dc

I have a 9wo too, and her sleep patterns seem to be changing at the moment. She had a 5 hour stretch one night and then last night only did a 3.5 hour stretch. I've been ebf-ing too. She'll cluster feed at night too. I'd love it if she did "meals", but she snacks most of the time.

I've been letting her "practise" settling herself (i.e. I put her down when she's drowsy and see if she'll drift off completely by herself). Most of the time she doesn't . I know her favourite way of going to sleep is on the boob, sometimes I let her, sometimes I don't.

Our LOs are still pretty young, I wouldn't worry about routines just yet. As long as they are healthy and gaining weight, that's all that matters :)

A seven hour stretch is bloody brilliant at that stage. My baby is 13 weeks and the best he can do is 5 1/2 hours - he goes 2 1/2 to 3 hours in the day.

As for the falling asleep on the breast - wait until she seems to have sucked herself to sleep, gently remove the breast and get a dummy in nice and quick. Do a bit of cuddle and rock, stand up while you do it and dance her gently towards her crib. While you are going move her slowly from facing you to lying on her back in your arms so she doesn't have your body heat anymore. Slowly and gently, whilst still rocking and shusshing or humming, lower her into her crib, feet to touch the mattress first. Take your arm from under her back and pat her with it, then slowly remove the arm from under her head. If she opens her eyes try to shut them by stroking down her nose. If at any point she awakens properly and starts to fuss, pick her straight up and cuddle and rock and try again.