Please give me a typical 'routine' for a 16 week old bf baby (not you know who!)

[hotmama]

Dd2 is 16 weeks on Friday and has started waking more in the night! Basically, I think my routine has gone a bit to pot. I was O.K. in the early days as there is so much guidance on how often to feed etc.

What is a typical for a 16 week old? In terms of how many feeds (approx) a day. DD2 is a happy little soul - I know there aren't any problems in terms of weight/wet nappies/poohs etc.

I just want to sort out the increased night feedings - dd1 was ff by now but was sleeping through - so I've got no experience of a 16 week old bf baby.

I'm intending to hold off solids until nearer 26 weeks.

Any advice or guidance on typical days (if there is such a thing) would be gratefully recieved TIA {smile]

hello
i have a 14 weeks dd.i started a tiugh routine last week.its extremely hard but im hanging on!!
i had to use controlled crying though,the vrying is decreasing day by day and i understand her now more.
she feeds every 2 hours in the day and wakes now only once.

even if she cried every now and then at night i don`t pick her at all and she goes back to sleep now more quickly.

ok, since you asked...

at this age I don't think there are necessarily "typical" days. its all still a bit chaotic. And they normally have a growth spurt around that age, so night waking is common (I think it might be why lots of people start solids at 16 wks).

I also found ds, my first child, was into a routine (of his own making) far quicker than dd.

If she's happy and you're happy-don't worry.

Hi Hotmama,

I'll be really interested in any experienced response you get to your question. I can't offer any advice, I'm afraid cos my son is just 15 wks. However, if it's any consolation, I too am wondering what's going on in the last couple of weeks cos just when everyone said it should get easier, he's got more confusing: longer to settle for naps in the day and in the evening, even when it's crystal clear that he's tired; grumbly or just really fidgety in the night, etc. I think it's just that old enemy, wind, making him uncomfortable but perhaps it's that now he's so much more aware of everything, it's just too damn interesting to go to sleep.

Just for comparison purposes, mine feeds 7ish times in 24 hours - usually 3 or 4, 7 and 10 am, 1, 4, 7 and 11pm (all times approx). No idea how 'normal' that is...

Looking forward to a more experienced mum's response!

Advice on minimum feeds really needed.

DD2 is still sleeping in a drop-sided crib next to me - and I don't intend to move her into her room until she is sleeping through or at least not waking for nightime feeds - probably spoilt with dd1 who slept through at an early age.

Nice to know it might just be a growth spurt - so hopefully things will be better soon?

Not sure I can help but was similar - first daughter slept through at 3 months and was on formula then. This one (now 12 months) did sleep through at 10 weeks ish and then started waking at 20 weeks ish. And (and here's the bit you don't want to hear) she's never slept through since. Still breastfed. Would love to know the answer as well.

bump

My DS is 13 weeks and he's been sleeping 8.30ish - 5ish, which he established for himself. The last few days hes started to waken and Ive wondered if hes having a growth spurt.

with himself and my DD I tended to go with the flow and suffer (or not) the consequences. Was thinking about waking him at 11 anf feeding then.

sorry not much help - just another wanderer through the mists of childrearing

Hiya, HM

DS2 is 19 weeks old today and has just started to sleep a bit better again having started waking in the night for long feeds.

It's the magic "four-month-growth-spurt" coupled with a more aware of surroundings baby thing.

I would say don't bother with a routine atm for feeding or sleeping for a couple of weeks - try to keep bedtime the same time or thereabouts and if you don't already then try to introduce some sort of pattern to bedtime. DS2 has a bath with me and his brother, then DH dries and dresses him and I feed him. Except today he's had his third lot of jabs, so he's asleep already and I think we'll skip the bath tonight!

Today he fed at 7.15 when he woke up, again at 9ish, then at 11 while he had his jabs and a bit afterwards. He slept between about 7.30 and 9, then again from 12 till about 1.30, then another feed, then he slept again from about 3 till about 4.30, then fed again.

7.15 - feed
7.30-9 - sleep
9 - feed
11 - feed
12-2.30 - sleep
2.30 - feed
3-4.15 sleep
4.15 - feed
5.30 feed

and he's asleep again now, but will no doubt wake up soon for another feed - if he doesn't then I'll lift him before I go to bed for a feed.

But the last couple of weeks he's fed A LOT and not slept that much. On Tuesday he slept for the grand total of an hour between 8 and 8 and just wanted feeding all the time. So I just fed him - it seems easiest, somehow!

Good luck with it. DS2 is definitely not having anything food-like until he's at least 26 weeks because I can't be arsed fannying about with it and I know he doesn't need it

He's probably having about eight feeds a day, I think - more than his brother at the same age iirc.

They're all different. And whatever seems difficult now will seem a breeze in a fortnight when something else will take over as your new difficult thing

At 17 weeks, DS's sleep (never brilliant) went completely to pot. Our routine involved him needing a feed a MINIMUM of every 2 hours. Night and day. It slowed down a bit after a couple of weeks but he was still feeding every 3 hours or so. It all got a lot better at 23 weeks, but from lurking on sleep threads, it seems that 7 weeks was a bit of a long time for this to continue. I didn't put him on solids until 26 weeks.

My ds1 and 2 went from 5 feeds to 4 at sometime around 16-18 weeks or so. From about 10 weeks on I woke them at 10.30 for a feed, then ignored any yelling until 7am (they only yelled the first couple of nights). At about 16 weeks both started to sleep in until 9am, so I stopped bothering to feed them at 10.30pm and they slept through. They carried on sleeping through most of the time, except for phases of nightmares/bedwetting etc, but while they were in cots I rarely bothered to get up for a bit of nighttime crying.

ds3 is 12 weeks now and still seems to want 6 feeds a day, though sometimes 5. I've stopped responding if he cries between 11 and 7 - sometimes he cries a bit at 3 or 4am, but I don't get up (too tired to manage that anyway as ds2 is having 5am nightmare problems at the moment!). Ear plugs for mum are v.helpful in establishing night sleeping :o

If you need a routine, I think it's OK to impose one - 5 feeds a day is plenty - every 3 or 4 hours in the day but not at night. If you always have the baby with you and don't mind feeding whenever, then it doesn't really matter IMO.

Mine are all breastfed btw. Will start solids at about 5 months, or whenever back from summer holidays as can't be bothered to worry about pureeing when away.

Whatever you think of GF, her routine is just as good as any other, so if you want one there's nothing wrong with following it. You can always ignore the injunctions to 'have a glass of orange juice at 8.07am etc' :o

my ds4 is 15 weeks now!
He is pretty much in a routine which is usually thus!
9.00am approx wake bf - back to bed
11.00am Wake bf play/go out
2.00-2.30 bf nap
3-3.30 Play
5.oo pm bf then nap till 7-7.30
Play till 8-8.30 bath ebm and bed!

I pump twice a day at least one to freeze to keep milk supply up) 1 for 8 .30 feed
He is a very easy boy!

otter, thats amazing. im consumed by awe and

re feeds, honestly, they are so different. With ds I would say 8 or 9 a day plus night time, with dd, nearly constant.

Ds now is an excellent sleeper, just hang in there and do what you feel is right for you and your baby. If thats a routine, good for you but don't worry if not.

Honestly, pretty much every bf baby I know feeds more at 16-20 weeks, its a growth spurt, they have different sized tummies, different metabolisms.

i am shattered though dew and not sure why - dp says its like i am feeding twins due to pumping! going for blood test tomorrow to check out iron!

Dear hotmama ds slept through at 16 weeks and fed 5-6 times daily,dd has been a horror and no way slept through,i think she was growth spurting.Has now just turned 6 months and still wakes for one night feed though has drpped to 3=4 feeds daily plus solids though feeds for much shorter periods.Could she be having a growth spurt? They are all so different I was gutted when dd didnt sleep like her bro despite same routines !!!!

just read this and somewhat relieved to hear the 4mo growth spurt.
we weaned ds1 at 17 weeks, when he went from 3 hours feeds to feeding every hour for 1/2 hour - within 6 days he was on three meals and was a happy child again (we never had any of this weaning mess - he swallowed it down and opened up for more - lol).

ds2 is 17 weeks and has never had a routine (other than the fact that he goes to bed at night!). If I get more than 2.5 hours between feeds it means we are out and he is in the pushchair/car seat and being soothed by movement - he has never gone longer than that just at home, and at the moment it seems to be more like 1.5 hours.

the bedtime 'hour' is feeding half hourly from around 5pm onwards, till around 7pm when I put him down.

and after a few weeks of sleeping through he has just stopped again - grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I'm coming to the conclusion that babies like to change all the time just to confuse us!!

Last night, dd2 went down at 8pm, I went to bed at 10.30 and decided not to wake her and see when she wakes up - which was 1.15 (that was quite painful!). We both fell asleep, when I awoke I put her back in her bed and she promptly woke up! So dd2 was given the other side and fell asleep - put back into her bed and woke up again!

Dd2 then happily cooed and smiled (loudly) for the next hour - I'm knackered!

I'm not sure if she is hungry or her sleeping pattern has just gone haywire. At least it's reassuring to know I'm not the only one going through this!

Any other advice?

Not sure about advice, but reassurance, maybe - at this age, they are able to keep themselves awake more easily, it seems, hence the early hours chattering (DS2 does this too sometimes - cooing noise which is very sweet, but rather loud!).

Any more advice?