Breastfeeding & Naps - nearly 4 month old.....

[looneytune]

Ds2 has been in a great routine since about 9 weeks old which was great as I started back childminding the week after and really needed this routine in place.

Until recently it's been like this:

7am - feed
9ish - nap for about 30/45 mins
10am - feed
12ish - nap for about 30/45 mins
1pm - feed
3ish - sometimes naps on school run but often fights it
4pm - feed
5/5.30ish - nap
7pm - feed and bed

This was great as he slept through the night and had feeds every 3 hours and never fed to sleep apart from at bedtime (unlike ds1 who fed to sleep all the time).

Ds2 has been poorly recently, we've all had a horrible cold/bug thing, so it's affected his sleep and feeding patterns. Most of this week he's fed every 30 mins/1 hr and although he took the usual 5 mins to feed as always, Dr thinks he's feeding more often because he's not been able to suck as hard as normal and therefore not taking as much, plus after comfort.

I'm totally fine with this whilst he's getting better but I'm worried about when he's back to normal, that he'll have a bad habit of wanting boob to get to sleep! He's just done this now and yet his feeding pattern today has been pretty much near normal again and he definitely just wanted it to get to sleep.

Any advice?

TIA

Hi Looneytune! I am having this problem with Esther... she keeps falling asleep on the boob and then waking up and then I feed her cos I think maybe she is hungry but then I think maybe she just wants the boob to fall asleep... well it is impossible to know.

So sorry not really got any advice, just wanted to say hi. What I am trying to do is put her down as often as possible without feeding her, she goes down fine mostly in the day, it is just in the evenings, which is why I think she might be hungry. Five months old now... no solids yet but the constant feeding in the evenings is wearing me out.

Just go back to whatever you did in the early days to make him such a good feeder/sleeper

Hiya Neenz, nice to hear from you Wow, 5 months already, doesn't time fly!! Sorry you are being worn out every evening but hopefully once the solids start, things will improve.

I'm doing what I always did but he just won't sleep that way atm. Maybe I should chill a bit til he's over being poorly? Just worried that he's getting in a bad habit now and draining me at the same time and I need my energy as I have up to 6 kiddies each day, all aged 5 and under, 3 of which are 19 months and under!!!

Think I'll try and express a bit again so that at least I can make dh do some of the settling when he wakes in the night and it's just too exhausting and sometimes I start at 7.30am and I was finding that hard enough when the routine was good lol

Anyway, take care and say hi to the others on the post natal thread if you still go on there

Not been on the postnatal thread for a while... too hard to keep up!

Gosh 6 kids!! That sounds like very hard work. You must be making pretty good money though? (if you don't mind me saying).

I have to say I have always fed mine to sleep although they are usually awake when they go in their cot. I have always fed them all the time, whenever they whinged in the day, whenever they woke up in the night.

Is it just feeding him to sleep in the night that you are worried about? Is he waking and crying and wanting a feed where he wasn't before? If it is just night-time waking that's a problem I think you either need to keep doing what you are doing (ie feeding him each time he wakes) and hope he just starts to sleep through again soon, or offer him some cooled boiled water instead of a feed (never done this myself but have read about it), or just leave him to cry (if you know he is def not hungry). The last one is tough and controversial and I wouldn't do it, I'd just feed mine, but I am not working every day. You could also try increasing his feeds during the day so he wakes less at night.

Looking again at the routine, he only has five feeds a day... perhaps that is not enough to sleep all night. Mine always need a top-up after their 7pm feed (at the moment lots of top-ups but that's another thread), usually at 8pm and again at 9pm to sleep through till morning.

HI
My baby is 10 weeks now and I was b/f up untill about 2 weeks ago he went from going 2-3 hours inbtween feeds to seeming like he never getting enough and just not settling through the day
The doctor recomended supplementing his feeds at night to a bottle of formula milk I felt so guilty doing this but he was draining me physically and emotionally because I was finding it hard to look after my other children I have gradually put him on bottles only and he is still feeding alot he has doubled his birthweight in 10 weeks but maybe your baby is just having a growth spurt on top of it all its quite common for them to not settle and drink alot more than usual
( one other thing I tried while i was b/f was cool boiled water during the night because he was waking for comfort and wasnt drinking much before going back to sleep your baby might just be thirsty )

I would introduce a dream feed at 11pm. That way, even if there is a growth spurt, they are more likely to be full up.

Also, keep putting him down awake. If he was in such a good routine before, it should only take a few days to get him back into his old routine.

Sorry for delay, the last week has been a blur with illness and sleepless nights!!

Neenz - yes, was very hard to keep up!! Yes, very hard work but worth it. As for money, well only 2 are paid full day (other full daytime baby is my own) and 1 after schooler paid for (other is my own and sometimes have playdates). Money is good compared to me paying for childcare and having full time 'out of home' job. But by the time you pay for all the food, drinks, groups etc. for the kids, it's not a massive income but it suits us fine I fed my 5 year old like that when he was a baby but it didn't matter that I had no routine as I wasn't working. This time round I really needed a routine to fit round kids being dropped off, toddler groups, lunch and naptimes, school runs and dinnertime etc. otherwise would be a nightmare getting dinners etc. and I'm on a time limit for parents collecting kids. Lucky for me he just fell into this routine pretty much a week before I started back at work and the timings I tweaked to suit when would be good to feed and it was perfect til he got ill. I was worried about the feeding FULL STOP as it got to him feeding every half hour or hour and he was just wanting it all the time plus of course he was so bad at night, I was really struggling with work the next day. Not helped by me being ill myself with a sick bug. I did try cooled boiled water and it didn't work, like he needed boob to sleep. Leaving him to cry for too long wasn't an option as he gets in a state and all hot and sweaty when upset plus didn't want my 5 year old waking up as he has school. I know 5 feeds doesn't sound a lot but he was getting a lot in that time and has been putting on weight just fine. I'm pretty sure it was down to being poorly.

oneinamillion25 - that's how I felt, totally drained!! I did think about doing a formula feed at bedtime but wanted to see how he was when over being poorly first. Also, I love the night feed as although he's with me all day, because of all the other babies I look after, I don't feel we actually spend much time together so this is our time for special cuddles etc

pudding25 - was also thinking about that but he was waking around that time anyway and every bloomin hour it seemed after lol.

Anyway, I'm pleased to report that we had some progress yesterday. I was back to normal with my routine for school runs, groups etc. after being ill myself and being closed, and yesterday he fed at the right times and I could feel I had more milk plus apart from waking at 8pm, an hour after bedtime, he slept through til 5.20am! Ok, it wasn't sleeping through til 7 but it's progress after last week If when his snotty nose had completely cleared, he's still not sleeping right through, I'll try a dreamfeed at 11pm as suggested and see if that helps

I reckon the problem he had was because he got in habit of feeding so often, he wasn't getting the proper milk that fills him up and therefore kept wanting more. By managing to stretch him to the 3 hourly feeds again, he was having a much better feed and I think that's what enabled him to wait the next 3 hours and so on. Fingers crossed we'll get back on track!!

Thanks again everyone and sorry for disappearing, I was all over the place with expreme tiredness after being so ill and looking after kiddies!