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Infant feeding

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

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Original poster

3 hourly fed at almost 5 months am I going wrong somewhere?

27 replies

ilikedrivinginmycar · 27/08/2012 13:21

I really need some help baby is almost 5 months this is my second child, however I dont seem to have a clue what I am doing anymore?

She has 6oz bottles every 3 hours in the day and can go 12 hours at night without a feed has been like this for some time. so she starts at 7am and finishes at 7pm. The 3 hourly feeds are killing me I just dont stop have an almost 4 yo and all I ever seem to be doing is feeding the baby. We can never seem to get anywhere or do anything as I am car less and live rurally and it seems once we are set to go its feeding time again and buses only run once per hour so we have done absolutly nothing all summer hols apart from move house and feed the baby. I am at my wits end. I know this isn't forever but I am not really sure how to make her go onto 4 hours.

I dont remember it being this hard with DS he was 4 hours and went through the night at 3 months (dc 2 went through earlier at 8 weeks but isnt a great sleeper) and was really easy to wean.

Ive had a go at solids today and she went an extra half an hour this morning after a small amount of baby porridge.

She wont take anymore milk as she just pukes it up.

OP posts:

DairyNips · 27/08/2012 13:25

I honestly don't think 3 hourly feeds are bad tbh I mean, if you think about it, when is the last time you went without food or drink for 3 hours? Even as an adult you'd be at least wanting a drink after that amount of time and their tummies are smaller than ours so therefore need filling more regularly. It's not long until weaning can start properly so I would say just hang in there a little longer.

Original poster

ilikedrivinginmycar · 27/08/2012 13:33

I just dont remember it being this exhausting with number 1. He used to feed and sleep for 4 hours straight afterwards, never heard a peep out of him so I guess I could get on with stuff. Number 2 prefers to know what is going on so cat naps 10 mins at a time and she cries alot more and is very sensitive to noise so if she is asleep and you make any kind of noise she is up! I guess DC1 was alot easier than this when he was a baby.

OP posts:

Iggly · 27/08/2012 13:37

It's no surprise they feed every 3 hours as they don't eat at all at night. So only 5 feeds a day?

She'll be on solids soon and it will get easier in a few months.

DairyNips · 27/08/2012 13:53

I'm afraid it just sounds like you got lucky the first time round My 2nd was a high needs baby, always wanting held and not sleeping for long. They're all just different but I think on the feeding front it could be worse and it'll soon get better, you'll see

diddlediddledumpling · 27/08/2012 14:00

I remember something similar with ds2, the feeling that all I did was feed and clean up after feeding and prepare for feeding. I also am carless, so I'd often make plans to go out and they'd have to be abandoned because I'd think, well he'll be hungry in half an hour, not worth it, etc.
The key was getting organised to go out before a feed. Get bag packed, ds1 dressed and sorted, get myself sorted, get pram ready. Do all this between 8 and 9am, say, if I knew a feed would be due at 9 or half 9. Then as soon as ds2 was fed, nappy changed, into pram and out the door. (and then it would start raining.....) I also found that ds2 could go for longer without a feed if we were out and about and he was distracted.

I'm now on mat leave with ds3 and still feel like i winging it , by the way . Even though in theory I should know what I'm doing by now.

Whatevertheweather · 27/08/2012 14:02

Is there a reason why you can't feed her while you're out? You might feel less like your whole life revolves around feeding if you were out and about anyway.

Ciske · 27/08/2012 14:08

DS is 6 months and feeds every 2-3 hours. We don't go anywhere without taking a spare bottle (or 2) for him, but I think that's pretty normal at this age.

I don't understand why you say that 'all you do is feeding'. Does it take her a long time to finish a bottle as well? DS is normally done in 15-20 mins.

Luckystar96 · 27/08/2012 14:28

Sound like she's needing more than just milk. My dcs are older and when they were that age you started on small amounts of baby rice at 16 wks.In retrospect I could've waited til 5 months with my son but it would've been hard to keep him going on just milk for any longer! There's only so much milk a tummy can hold! All children are different so when they say wait til 6mnths before starting solids I don't think you can take it too literally IMO. I'm not an expert tho, just a sensible mum.

PotteringAlong · 27/08/2012 14:32

If you're getting 12 hours sleep at night at thus stage I think you've been really lucky with number 2 as well to be honest.

ShhhhhGoBackToSleep · 27/08/2012 14:41

Eh? Your baby sleeps 12 hours at night and only feeds 3 hourly in the day and you think there's something wrong

Why do you have to stay at home? Don't you just take a bottle with you? My DD feeds every 2 nourish in the day (admittedly EBF but cant see how this would make it that much different) and I just, you know, go out and then feed her if/when she is hungry...

Perhaps I'm missing something.

Figgygal · 27/08/2012 14:47

My DS fed every 2.5hrs until he was 14wks then 3hrly right up to he was on 3 meals a day. I was nervous about going out as I had to take at least 2 spare bottles and cartons in case of a wig out as he was so unpredictable AND he hated his pushchair (still does most days but that's another story) but we still went out wherever we needed to don't let it stop u.

GnocchiNineDoors · 27/08/2012 14:51

Dd fed three hourly til 6mo and at 8mo is having a growth spurt which is making jer have more.milk.so back to three hourly.

I have never let it tie me to the house though - take milk / cartons with you?

On the sleeping front, dd likes to neb at whats going on around her so for her naps I put her in her buggy in a dark room.

CountBapula · 27/08/2012 15:02

DS fed (bf) every two and a half hours on average, day and night, until he was well established on solids (around 8 months). That nearly killed me. He is nearly 2 and has never slept 12 hours in a row. Not once. I don't want to do competitive tiredness here but am a bit ... she'll start dropping feeds when she's on solids. Every baby's different.

sabbby82 · 27/08/2012 15:11

12 hours at night... You're so lucky, I'd love a feed free 3 hours during the night with ds 5months. During the day he also feeds 2-3 hourly.

MiniPopsMum2012 · 27/08/2012 15:34

I second the advice about getting everything ready to go out before you start feeding the then once feed is done you're ready to leave house.

If it's any help it took me ages to pluck up the courage to try feeding outside the house, but I did it and me and little one are both still here and smiling :)

also, if there's anyone tgatca

MiniPopsMum2012 · 27/08/2012 15:40

Opps! Sorry posted too soon

also, if there's anyone that can help - ie burp baby while you get pram ready to go.

It's really easy to get into thinking you can't go out IMHO (I did not then cried for days feeling trapped, not helped by living in a basement flat that's a bugger to get out of with pushchair - hideous stairs etc...), but believe that you can :)

Original poster

ilikedrivinginmycar · 27/08/2012 15:53

We have moved house so i am not in a flow. When i was in flat i could have both dressed, bag packed pram ready and be out by 9am. I have stairs to deal with now. Im trying to remember not to forget stuff when i go down and up them. I've felt really miserable since we moved. Im a real creature of habit and hate it when im disrupted. I know im lucky she goes all night without a feed and guess that's why she feeds as much as she does. I just don't remember feeling this anxious about it and went with the flow. I suppose having 2 kids is harder than one. Throw moving house over school holidays and its even harder.

OP posts:

lottiegarbanzo · 27/08/2012 15:55

dd is 5mo and has 5oz about every two hours during the day, then sleeps from 7 to 5 with food at 10.30, usually managing not to wake at 2 or 3am now. She naps a bit in the day, still irregularly. I think we're doing well.

She's fed exclusively on expressed milk, so I express every 3 to 4 hours (go longer at night now she's not up in the middle), which is a bit constraining - can't do it in public like bf and it's sometimes hard to manage her, hands off, for 15 mins, or I have to delay until she's amenable.

We go out, to shops, pub, coffee, cinema, exercise class. dd just needs me to take a bottle. Why can't you do that?

It can take me an hour to prepare to go out, if I need to express, feed her, change nappy, get our things together and occasionally I miss a fixed-time activity because our feeding / sleeping timing is out but usually it works out well. With a bit of a run up at it, I'm sure you could catch the bus and go somewhere.

I don't have another child, that must be much harder but that's not what you're saying is the constraint.

lottiegarbanzo · 27/08/2012 15:58

I do find it's almost easier to go out and do things than to sit at home wondering about it. You have to the feeding and nappies anyway but feeling that's all you're doing is more draining than doing them as incidental activities while doing something else.

DairyNips · 27/08/2012 16:28

I don't think your baby feeds a lot, it's a normal amount and a normal frequency. Things are forever changing with lo's, it will soon get easier. Maybe as you feel miserable because of the move you are focusing your anxieties on this one thing? Are you part of a post natal group on here? If not it might be a good idea to join one, you'll get support and you'll see your baby is in the normal range re feeds

Iggly · 27/08/2012 18:36

Can you have a bag packed always? I have one for my two - nappies, snacks, spare clothes etc etc.

I have to negotiate stairs with a toddler and baby and it's a PITA! I used to stick dd in a sling them could get ds and bags down in one go. If you've an older child, take baby first with stuff and have older kid follow behind slowly. Once you've done that bit it's the worse bit over.

Plan small outings - park/shops/library etc to practice getting out and about.

I don't think the baby's feeds are the issue here - more the wider logistics of getting used to a new place. Did you want to move?

mamaonion · 27/08/2012 19:48

OP I just wondered if uou're a but down or stressed with 2 LOs to care for and a you've moved- I remover fretting a lot about feeding when my ds2 was 5 months but when I look back that wasn't the problem. I was tired and lonely, and had a tricky toddler to care for. I switched to formula and weaned a couple of weeks early and it made no difference to babies behaviour on the long run.

WantAnOrange · 27/08/2012 21:59

Your baby not only sounds perfectly normal but actually very good.

It sounds like the move is what's really stressed you out so please don't try and change your (very healthy) baby's feeding patterns.

For a bit of perspective: would you go 3 hours without a drink?

12 hours sleep at 5 months would have been bliss! Are you actually sleeping when your baby does though? How much sleep are you getting?

Alibabaandthe40nappies · 27/08/2012 22:01

She doesn't 'feed so much', 3 hours is a long time to go without anything for anyone!

Original poster

ilikedrivinginmycar · 27/08/2012 23:00

Thanks for all your replies. I think some of you are right in the fact that I am stressed and fretting over this cos of the move. I just feel as though I have loads to sort out and never any time to do it. DP works long hours and 6 days per week, so I get left with all the donkey work.

I have literally moved down the road so not far we did want to move after living in flats for the last 7 years so pleased to be in a house...however its a bit of a dump and cant see the wood for the trees at the moment.

I used to be able to just get on with stuff and now I feel trapped and isolated. Not having a car has been a right pita.

I am probably a little depressed at the moment not sure if its postnatal or I am just fed up. to be honest I feel as though the constant feeding thing is holding me back from being able to get on with jobs round the house. I think it will be easier when DC1 goes back to pre-school as the baby isnt really a hassle at all just is pretty much the same every day and I know what she wants when she cries. I just feel really drained I guess.

OP posts:

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