Feeding every 1.5 hours

[hoorayforharoldlloyd]

My baby is nearly 11 weeks (but nearly 4 corrected due to premature birth) and feeds every 1.5 hours. I was ok with this, thinking he will get to the point where hr can go 2-3 hours and i currently don't mind about waking at night as he is an easy baby at night.

However, i asked a breastfeeding forum about ideas on when he might move into longer gaps between feeds and some women were still feeding at this rate at 1 year! I thought it was a small stomach thing and would change.

Anyone have experience of this? My aim was to get to 6 months but might have to rethink this and introduce more mixed feeding. Or am i just over reacting because i was a bit shocked?

I think it just varies from baby to baby. My 7 month old is combi fed and still now feeds every 1.5 - 2.5 hours. Obviously at night time it’s always at the lower end 🙄 I had hoped the fact that he taken well to solids might stretch them a little bit but not so far!

Ah. Oh dear, looks like i might need to embrace my fate! He has the same feed pattern after his one bottle of formula so it looks like it's just him.

Did you have a routine with yours in the evening or is it just a question of putting him down to nap between feeds and accepting that's how he is?

Can you try to feed as frequently as possible in the day? Until recently DS (6 mo) fed every 20-40 minutes during the day but had only one night feed. Now he is on solids he feeds every 3 hrs in the day and not at all at night!

And check his daytime sleep isn't too excessive -3 hours or so at that age.

My first son slept great from being a newborn, my second son woke every hr for the first 18 months! 😫

Check he is actually swallowing, so suck suck pause (while he swallows). If he is just suck suck suck then he is comfort sucking after he is full, you might be happy with that or you might want to consider introducing a dummy or encouraging him to use fingers/thumb to self settle. Some babies comfort suck more than others and you might just have a very sucky one.

Sorry not read all the comments but I bottle fed from birth. My lo was two weeks late and a big healthy weight however he would sometimes feed every hour to two hours. It took a long time to go longer. Saying that though he was born April last year and then the heatwave struck so it could have been cos he was so warm. Now 1 he likes to eat little and often too. I guess some are more grazers

Thanks everyone - think i have a grazer! Will check he is feeding and not just sucking but seems like I'm looking at acceptance.

DD2 was formula fed but had a similar feeding schedule, every 2 hours but took approximately 1.5hrs to get through a feed. It was torture, but luckily her dad was able to help at night - you must be a superwoman to be breast feeding so often. By the time I’d fed her, changed her nappy and chugged a coffee it was time to start again.

To be honest with you, it didn’t get any better - she’s 18 now and still eats every 2 hours during the day but she’s healthy, a bit on the slim side but healthy.

Like your DS she was early (only 5 weeks with a discharge weight of 4lbs 2oz) and I don’t know if her eating schedule was related to that but we never managed to break her of it.

I cried a lot during those first few months but once she started smiling and giggling it got easier to cope with.

Sorry that this isn’t more encouraging

@hoorayforharoldlloyd I feed him on demand but we do a bath, story, feed routine before bed. Unfortunately he’s often not then very hungry so has a tiny feed and then wakes up quite quickly. I enjoy the ‘big feed’ nights where DH and I get a good 2-2.5 hours to ourselves before he’s hungry again! I think he is just a grazer. I often wonder if it’s because I was told to do pumped breast milk, then formula top ups in his first 6 weeks due to weight loss and low supply issues. So he became very used to eating little and often.

One thing I also tried with some success is stretching the feeds out very gradually. So making him wait 10 minutes longer for each feed every day or so (or every 3 days). I used to feed at the first hunger cue so this wasn't a case of ignoring a very upset baby. Even with that he is now on 4/5 milk feeds a day at 6 months + solids...which is amazing for me, just two weeks ago he was having 12+ feeds a day!

Try feeding in the laid back position. This can help baby feed more efficiently as they need to work against gravity. If you make sure they are getting the hindmilk, which is the fatty milk, it should keep them fuller for longer.

@maitlandgirl - yours sounds far harder - he usually only feeds for 10 min at a time so is either super efficient or was taught to guzzle from being in hospital where you basically feed your baby like you are fattening a goose!

@alyosha - saw consultant for check up yesterday who made the same suggestion - was going to start it today except he miraculously did it for himself yesterday! Two gaps of 2.5 hours and one 3 hours overnight - had to stretch one this morning and he has also had two with only an hour gap but maybe this is a shift? (tries not to get too excited. Is blatantly over excited)

I have had two grazers. If we are at home DS will generally feed every hour, although can go longer if out on a walk etc. DD was the same. Both went longer overnight. DS is currently 9 weeks (full term and high birth weight) and sleeps really well at night (until the 4 month regression no doubt!) It's hard to know whether to stretch it out or feed more in the day.

The stretching 10 min thing is a really good idea and very effective. Another trick is to go for a quick walk around the block in the stroller if they start rooting, often the change of scene will distract them. If they are truely hungry, nothing will distract them.