EBF 4mo sleeping through

[Scho23]

Hi all.
wondering if it’s normal if my 4mo is sleeping 12 hours at night without waking for feeding ? She is on 3 naps a day and we manage 4 full feedings (EBF). I try to keep offering more as the day progresses but she only suckles for a min or so and then pops off. I can’t force her.

she seems very well in herself, developmentally but her weight gain has slightly slowed. She hasn’t lost any weight but it’s just not as rapidly growing as it once was. HV doesn’t seem concerned and said I shouldn’t wake her for a feed and she’ll let me know if she’s hungry. Is that true? Thanks for sharing any of your stories.

Yes don’t wake them! Ours slept through from 10 weeks. Enjoy the break!!

Forgot to add im FTM so sorry, only info I can find online is that babies should have 6-12 feedings a day?? I am scared!

@Wictc wowee, 10 weeks! I was so depressed and sleep deprived then haha! Still the former 🙃

thank you!

4 feeds seems low but if she's happy then she must be getting enough. I seem to remember both mine settling at 7 feeds a day from maybe 3m to starting weaning at 6m. Although now looking at that number I'm thinking how on earth did I fit 7 feeds into a day? Both were speedy feeders so maybe we're little and often vs your daughter.

@biggreenboat it does seem low doesn’t it? I am an obsessive logger lol and looking back, it went from newborn feeds of about 12, to 8, to 6, to 5 to now 4 a day! I watch her all night waiting for a hungry cry. I don’t get it…

I was also a serial logger. Finally deleted the app and all the data recently, youngest is nearly 3 😂

I'm a peer supporter and we sometimes see this when the baby's latch isn't optimal, but mum had an abundant supply and no pain ... when milk supply is fully established their weight gain slows. I would get her latch checked but not expect great changes as 4 month olds are stubborn! Only 4 feeds seems v low.

Don't wake her - you may find she's about to go through that 4 month sleep regression!

@CocoPlum wow thank you! That’s interesting. In the early days I had issues with oversupply and she put on 400g in a week lol so your theory is likely right! I had a lot of support from BF peer supporters (you do amazing work, thank you)

Say we were to try to improve latch, would that mean she’d want to feed more? or put more weight on? Sorry I don’t know too much!
what would you recommend about 4 feeds being quite low?

My BF supporter sent me this a while ago which I thought was interesting - https://www.drjaygordon.com/blog-detail/look-at-the-baby-not-the-scale

@biggreenboat omg!! I keep telling myself, one day I’ll stop…. I truly can’t see myself doing it 🤣

I had low birth weight babies and even so was told I didn't need to wake them to feed once they'd regained birth weight. If baby seems well and the HV isn't concerned, I'd say enjoy your night's rest!

Improving latch would mean she would feed more efficiently and get more in a feed. It can be difficult the older they get as they know how they want to feed.

Also, sometimes we see a "slow" weight gain in a baby that is suddenly a bit longer - so all their growing has been in length, not fat!

I would offer the boob as much as possible. It can be difficult at this age as they get so distracted and don't want to feed in places where they can see things going on! So maybe make everything as boring during a feed as possible - ie if you're watching tv, mute it and use subtitles!

Thank you! @CocoPlum makes sense!
I do offer very very often and she seems to just latch for the sake of it and pulls off very quickly and then spits up…. Which makes me feel like she’s full? What do you think? I would say I probably do 4 “full” feedings, that take about 15-20 mins and I keep alternating to see if she’ll want any more. And then there are very bitty feeds that take 2-5 mins and she does as I mention above lol.

she also does look very tall so I’ll try to measure her up haha! You’re right about the distracted phase ! Shes always trying to travel to places with boob in mouth! When does this calm down? … ha maybe never.

Hahah I did it til I went back to work at 9m for both of them. Look back and think what on earth was I doing. Took me 2 years to feel willing to say goodbye to all that data. Hormones make us do funny things!

Update … I keep trying to offer more feeds but she isn’t taking them. Still only 4 a day.