13 week old suddenly wants more feeds at night

[lupinjess]

DD2 is 13 weeks and has been sleeping from 7pm til about 4am for several weeks. For the last 3 nights she has gone back to wanting 3 feeds again. Fussing through her daytime feeds - constantly pulling away and then latching back on throughout whole feed.
We've been trying to get her to take a bottle so that I can take DD1 swimming at weekend but she refuses. Is this just a growth spurt or am I confusing her by trying bottle everyday???

i'm not sure as i exclusively breastfed but i'd imagine it's just a growth spurt... hope it gets better soon!!

Could well be a growth spurt.

Don't know about bottle causing confusion but it's an extra thing for you to worry about and doesn't do bf any favours. Might be worth consulting a breastfeeding counsellor through one of the bf organisations - nct, breastfeeding network etc. You are right to assume that sleep probs are nearly always to do with feeding at this age.

Why not send dh/p swimming with dd1 while you concentrate on feeding the baby? The milk only phase is very short in the big scheme of things.

Thanks.
DH does take dd1 swimming but she really wants me to go. Only want to give her one bottle of ebm a week but she just won't have it! i don't mind night feeds because she only takes 15 mins and goes back to sleep without fuss. Just a shock as has been sleeping for 12 hours with only one feed (and that after about 9 hours). Didn't have this with dd1 as she slept through from 8 weeks and would take breast or bottle with no worry at all. Think dd2 is a little bit more strong willed.

I think they just do this around this time, on our postnatal thread we had a rash of babies bobbing on and off, generally fussing etc. in daytime feeds. The solution one of our mums came up with was just to swap to the other side - it worked for lots of us. It was like our babies suddenly developed a preference for 'the other side' but it was never the same side twice in row.
Maybe it's something to do with flow? Maybe they get impatient around that time, who knows.
Anyway, from 12 to about 17 weeks were difficult for everyone, there are two growth spurts around that time, and also the teething prep seems to kick in, lots of drooling, cramming hands in mouth, so most of us who had babies who slept suddenly found that we didn't anymore and they wanted feeding in the night etc.
Personally, I doubt the bottle is confusing her at this stage, but it might not help with the fussiness if it is down to impatience because of course she'll get milk immediately from a bottle, but will have to wait a few sucks before getting a good let down from you. But try the swapping sides thing - it might help and won't hurt Good Luck getting through this bit..it can be a bit hellish but like all things, does pass.

Have just read more, and see she won't take a bottle - are you only trying a bottle now and is she refusing it, or did she used to take one and now doesn't?

I have a friend with a bottle refusenik, there are lots of things you can try but you might have resign yourself to having a baby that just won't take a bottle (but might take from a cup or spoon or syringe even?)
things to try

• check your milk for taste/smell (some women seem to have milk that goes 'soapy' very quickly once it's expressed - it's from having excess lipase enzyme. You can treat the milk by scalding it before storing which seems to help, search the LaLeche League forum website on this topic, there's a lot of info there)
• check milk for temperature. Some babies like it very toasty warm, it comes out of you pretty warm and when I test mine on my wrist I almost always make it too cool for my DS at first
• positioning, sometimes holding the bottle and baby exactly as though you were breastfeeding helps, othertime holding baby facing away from you and upright. Experiment.
• Bottles - NUK, Breastflow, Tommy Tippee closer to nature, all get people saying they've had success, try to borrow as many as you can
• Try to let her play with a bottle with milk in - at this stage she might work out how to put the nipple in her mouth and start sucking herself just as normal play.
• Timing - try when she's not hungry, so it's not a big deal. or...try when she's really hungry so she's got some motivation
• You could try swapping to a bottle part-way through a feed.

As I said, my friend tried most of these things and still the baby won't take a bottle but they're all things that worked for other people so worth a shot?