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Infant feeding

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

14 week old still feeding like a newborn

13 replies

ab00 · 29/06/2013 09:14

Ds2 is 14 weeks old & still feeds every 2 - 3 hours mmaximum. I wouldn't mind loads of feeding in the day if he slept well at night but he doesn't. Last night he went from 11pm to 2.45am, had a short feed was put back down at 3.30am, woke again at 5.45am fed & put down at 6.25 only to wake again at 7.25 & had been awake ever since. He's rubbish at sleeping in the day except for the odd occasion where he will have a 3 hour sleep in the afternoon. He's been being treated for silent (or in his case not very silent at all for 6 weeks while he screamed the house down) reflux since 8 weeks, had a posterior tongue tie treated on Thursday & has at the lc's advice started a course of cranial osteopathy on Friday. He's no better than before he had the tt treated & I know they say it can take a couple of weeks but I can't help but worry that we've made a painful mistake.
We have tried to give him ebm in a bottle so dh could do a night feed to give me a break but he won't take it - just pushes it around his mouth & doesn't suck. We tried 3 different teats & each have been rejected. So even if I wanted to throw in the towel & admit defeat I can't now as he won't take a bottle.
I seem to just spend all my time feeding him, am worried he doesn't get enough which is why he feeds all the time & feel hideously guilty about all the time & things I'm missing with ds1 because of it. Everyone says bf gets easier, wait until he's 6 weeks, 8 weeks, 3 months etc but it's just not. Im so exhausted & drained (mentally & physically) by it all. I really want to carry on bf as it's what's best for him & be able to enjoy it but I'm really starting to lose all hope & will where its concerned. Please help as I don't know what to do anymore.

OP posts:
WinkyWinkola · 29/06/2013 09:15

It sounds pretty normal to me.

Nicknamefail · 29/06/2013 09:23

My dd fed 2-3 hourly until about 7 months when she was taking a good amount of solids. You are doing well, and your dc is eating normally.

ExBrightonBell · 29/06/2013 09:26

You have my sympathies, having been there myself not too long ago.

Will your ds take ebm from a cup rather than a bottle? Sometimes babies will where they won't take a bottle. Also, you may have already tried this, but latex teats might make a difference as well.

Nicknamefail · 29/06/2013 09:27

And the feeding 4 hourly thing is a myth. Breasted babies rarely rarely go this long when ebf. As for night wakings, is the first is 2.45 you are doing well, even though it doesn't feel like it. M
The bottle thing is frustrating though, mine never took one either.

StealthToddler · 29/06/2013 09:28

Unfortunately all pretty normal for ebf baby. And I am on my 4th. 3 months is still very little.

ab00 · 29/06/2013 11:05

Thanks all, feel reassured this is normal & not something I'm doing wrong.

OP posts:
LittleRedDinosaur · 29/06/2013 11:11

Totally normal! It does get better. You're doing brilliantly Smile

katiecubs · 29/06/2013 17:19

DS was exactly like this until 3.5 months when suddenly he just out of the blue dropped to mostly 1 feed a night. Took me totally by suprise!

ab00 · 30/06/2013 10:09

It would be lovely if ds does that but at this point I'm not holding out much hope! Think I was just hoping that after a shaky start now we've got everything sorted (I hope! ) that things would start to improve. The really frustrating thing with some of his night wakings is that he doesn't always seem to be hungry as doesn't feed for long before going back to sleep or like 5.30 this morning was fidgeting & making noises but had his eyes closed so tried rocking him in his crib but was getting more unsettled, still with his eyes closed, but as soon as I picked him up he snuggled into me & was fast off. Tried to put him down but wasn't having a bar of it so ended up on dh's chest for an hour or so before actually being hungry & then happily dosed & fed on & off with me lying down for another hour & a half. What's that all about?! Comfort, hunger or both?

OP posts:
delurked · 01/07/2013 18:37

Your last post made me wonder whether you would consider bringing your ds into the bed with you? The sleepy fidgeting sounds very much like my 6wo dd, she would often do this within 15 mins or so of being put down, never woke properly or cried but it could go on for over 30 mins. It was very noisy and disturbing for dh and I, and couldn't have been particularly restful for her either. I have found that if I bring her in the bed with me when she does it then she settles straight away and we all get more sleep.

ab00 · 01/07/2013 23:04

We have started bringing him because for a snuggle, usually around 5.30 / 6ish when I've hit the point of having just been back to sleep enough to be in a fairly deep sleep so feel completely hideous to be woken up. Often he wont just settle & sleep he wants to gently graze at the 24hr buffet that is my boob so I end up dozing on a slither of bed while he stretches out like he owns the place! ;-) Just wondered if this grazing type feeding while sleeping is normal & should I just let him get on with it?

OP posts:
BonaDea · 02/07/2013 03:39

Sounds very similar to my 15 week old!

prissyenglisharriviste · 02/07/2013 03:53

Sounds very normal. Ds1 was like this (feeding every two hours day and night) until he was 10mos old. He stopped when I stopped bf as I was going crazy from sleep deprivation. He was also a bottle refuser, which is why I stopped.

They are all different. Dd1 slept through at 6 weeks. Dd2 not until 2yo, but she was a nocturnal only feeder (couldn't feed in the day as her muscle tone was too high).

I'm sure Ds will get better - I always start out by expecting the first 3 or 4 mos to pass in a sleepless, noisy, messy haze, and with the reflux issues and tt, it might be a little longer than normal (whatever normal is!)

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