time in hospital has wrecked DS's feeding pattern! Help!

[milkmoustache]

DS (10 wks) was in hospital for 4 nights with bronchiolitis and came home fully recovered a week ago today. They all warned me I would need to feed on demand for a few days as he needed to get his strength back - fine,obviously I have no problem with that! But he has been back a week and his night feeds seem to be every 3 hours now - before his time in hosp he was going from 7pm to around 1am, then about 4am - and I am wondering when/if that'll ever come back! I was up in the middle of the night feeling at my most irrational and pessimistic, so I basically need somebody to tell me he is still needing extra milk but this WILL settle down...

It will settle down.

Go with the flow for now; feed him as and when he wants it, and he will eventually sort his rhythm out again.

I know you say he came home fully recovered, but the body takes a while to recover completely - especially a tiny body like your ten week old. He'll get there

milk - this is entirely normal for a baby who has been ill and in your baby's case, needing to build up strength after illness and to reassure himself after a stay somewhere not very nice. Even if you were with him when he was in hosp. it's a strange place where he did not feel very well. Bronchiolitis is not nice to have.

He will gain reassurance by having his needs met - and by doing this, you are building his confidence as well as his strength. It will settle down - and it will settle down more quickly if you let him feed without restrictions day and night

Oh dear tiktok - and I wasn't even in hospital with him at night as the nurses insisted I go home and rest!! But really helpful posts - thank you!

Oh my goodness...if you weren't hospital with him at night, then he is going to need you even more now.

I am surprised at the nurses insisting on this. Usual practice these days with a young baby is to welcome and acommodate a parent as much as poss.

They would have been totally OK with me staying, but after 10 really awful nights in the run-up to the bronchiolitis I was on my knees already and in no fit state to deal with broken nights in a noisy hospital! The four unbroken nights sleep I got were the only thing that got me through this whole horrible situation.

Fair enough and can understand that

Does mean ds is going to need a little bit more TLC, sadly at night...