8wk dd feeding n sleeping help

[LittleMissRayofHope]

8week old DS is EBF. He wants it every 2 hours. Set your watch by him.
Of an evening he will fill up for a cluster feed and then sleep 4/5 hours but that's it after that he is every 2 hours.
Hardly naps properly at day because of this as by the time he has fed, played and gone to sleep he wants feeding again. And I'm shatteres. I have 2yr old DD aswell.
Don't want to top up with a bottle.

Just expected him to have lengthened his time between feeds by now?

Getting a 4/5 hour sleep at night is good going when exclusively breastfeeding, well done!

Are you certain it is hunger waking him up? Could it be something else, like wind, temperature, noise etc?

I cheat a bit with my DD (6 weeks, ebf). She has her daytime naps in the bouncy chair so if she starts stirring I can often bounce her back to sleep rather than picking her up.

2 hourly feeding is pretty normal. Mine didn't really lengthen until they were on solids.

How long is he napping for? Frequent 40 minute naps are also very normal.

That sounds pretty normal to me. Was your DD going longer at this age?

My 6 month old has only just started going longer as he's started solids, and his sisters were the same.

By this age my dd was doing 3hrs between feeds during the day and 3-4 hours at night. She was EBF too.

Sometimes he wakes for wind and discomfort of course. During the day he will be awake for around 2 hours and nap for 10-45 mins. Depends if I feed him before or after his nap. At night he fills up, sleeps 4/5 hours then feeds, sleeps 2 hrs, feeds sleeps 2hrs etc til 5am when he wakes for comfort only. (This is bizarre as dd did this until almost 1yr old. We never figured out why!)
He doesn't sleep well during the day as dd does all she can to wake him if she realises he's been put down asleep.

I think you got lucky with your DD having infrequent feeds!

I think your ds is more typical than your ds. Sorry.

I'm looking after a two year old as well. Do you have a sling? That's the only way DS2 gets decent naps with DS1 around. He'll do 20-40 minutes in a cot, but more like two hours at a time in the sling and I don't have to leave DS1 to his own devices to get him to sleep. Also, it sounds like he's awake for far too long between naps which could why he's having such short ones as he's overtired. At eight weeks old, they should only be awake for about an hour between naps, lengthening to around an 1:15 of awake time once they're past 12 weeks. This may improve his night sleep if you can lessen his awake time between naps, and get longer naps into him although it never bloody did for DS1 or DS2, it's what the books say

Other than that, both my DSs are/were hourly to two hourly feeders around the clock at eight weeks and well, well beyond. I agree you got lucky with your DD!

Ok, my only frame of reference was dd and would appear she was a fluke!!
Although lots of people keep saying 'he should last longer by now'.... Maybe they are thinking about formula feeds.

I don't get on with slings. DS goes off to sleep fairly easily but just doesn't often get to stay asleep. Live in s flat and dd just screams til she hears him cry!! Attention seeking little madam.

Thanks for replies and reassurance this is all normal!!

I find my dd feeds 2-3 hourly at home bit less if napping or out. SoundS risky but experiment with routine and going out perhaps?

She rarely sleeps more than an hour in the day to the extent I was worried at a 2 hour nap once!

And no - many, many bf babies I know DO go longer. I get a bit frustrated with people who say "oh that's because she's breastfed" whenever things get relentless. Ours are within the sphere of normal but as with all natural things it's a sliding scale and we're on the frequent end of that normal scale.

An hour at a time in the day. Several 1 hour naps.
Was advised by Hv not to obsess unless she appeared overtired. Some babies sleep more than others- some in blocks, others in many short naps. Unlike feeding, you can't make sleep!

Yes, whenever we go out he can go 3 hours between feeds easily and sleeps for several hours if in a carrier or his carry cot.

All babies are different I guess. He has packed on weight since birth but he's also grown considerably. Jumped from 50th centile to 99th so maybe he just needs it.

Feel like a giant boob haha

DD was similar. Born on 50th jumped to 98th by two months old and kept growing. She bfed every two hours until solids at six months when she swapped some bf with solids but still every two hours. She kept eating very frequently until about 18mo when she started dropping centiles for weight. She is now 3,5yo, 60th for weight but 97th for height and I think her never ending eating was fueling the height growth.

Co-sleeping and bf lying down saved my sanity.

Only started lengthening feeds when volume of solids upped at 7 months.

Was still feeding at least two hourly in the day until then but night feeds spaced out before then.

Thanks so much for replies and reassurance. He's gonna be a tall boy!
Funnily enough, last night he slept 6 hours, fed then slept 4 hours so fingers crossed he keeps that up!!