Tips for getting a ff newborn to stretch out their feeds

[Thurlow]

DS is nearly 4 weeks old and is a snacker rather than a feeder. I don't care during the day but the 2 hourly feeds at night are slowly killing me - by the time I've fed him and settled him I'm only getting sleep in 90 min bursts. He has occasionally gone 3 hours between feeds (but during the day!!) so I think he can be encouraged to go longer. He just likes to fall asleep on the bottles!

Any tips? If this is the way he is then so be it, but I wouldn't mind trying something to encourage him to go a little longer at night if possible.

Have you tried a dummy? If it's just the comfort sucking they're after sometimes they work for a bit. However if they are really hungry the dummy will be spit out anyway and you can just feed on demand....!

Does he fall asleep before he's finished feeding? If so a faster flow teat might help.

Yes to the faster flow teat. A smaller hole is harder work to get the milk out.

He has a dummy and uses that sometimes but most of the time he genuinely is hungry as he's taken 3oz at a feed when he wants more.

Is it ok to use faster flow teats at this age? That could be a goer!

He's just a lazy feeder, has 2-3oz then wants topping up an hour later, then a full feed 2 hours later.

As you are ff, could your partner/husband do some of the nightfeeds?

He can do one night a week, which I'm very grateful for (I know bf mums might not get this, not because I'm grateful for "help"!) but unfortunately his hours at the moment don't really allow much sharing at night. We're in separate rooms at the moment to get decent sleep.

Faster flowing are fine now.

Give it a go and see if it makes a difference

How much are you putting in one bottle? Have you tried upping the amount?

Would he take more than 3oz?

Ds is 4 weeks and takes between 4-6oz every 3 hours in the day, at night he goes a little longer

We have a Perfect Prep which makes bottles to about 4.5oz, so he is offered plenty of milk, he just rarely takes a bigger feed. He's quite a big boy so I'm fairly confident if he would take 4oz at some point during the night we might get the odd 3 hour stretch!

I've ordered some faster teats to collect on Monday, maybe they'll relieve his boredom feeding!

are you sure 4.5oz is all the Perfect Prep makes, my daughter has one and it makes 8oz. I had to lower the bottle rest to fit the taller bottles in.

Sorry, that's the smallest amount it makes. But it's not what's in the bottle that is the issue, it's what he'll actually drink before he falls asleep!

Ah, Got it now. I wish Perfect Prep had been available when mine were babies. Our little girl took two ounces then fell asleep for four hours....sounds ideal but it caused her blood sugar levels to drop, she wasn't getting enough milk so we had to wake her every two hours until her milk intake increased. She was in intensive care for breathing problems and silent reflux.