Too much evening feeding or Colic? BF experts please help....

[missytabitha]

I've not posted in this section before but really need some help and as not getting much (if any!) time to self to even phone someone in evening wanted to ask you ladies. I have an 8 week old DS. He is my second. My first was very easy and a good sleeper. This one is very hard to get to sleep at night and as such early evening I think I over feed him as he cries and cries and wants my boob (I think!). He also appears to have a lot of wind. He ends up getting about three half hour feeds in early evening (6-10pm) in between he cries and we wonder if it is colic or overfeeding. I try and put him to bed in moses basket after first and second feed but he won't have it and already has formed the habit it seems of only wanting to go to sleep on my boob (which I admit I did with DS1 but only cos I didn't have much experience with babies. Does anyone have any advice whether he is suffering from colic or overfeeding or how to get him to sleep without these extended feeds. Eventually we both fall asleep exhausted anytime between 9 and 10pm. AFter that he sleeps well and will wake once or twice for a feed and the nigths okay. I really want to reclaim some early evening back and would so appreciate some other views....thanks.

missytabitha - it's a fair enough desire to have some evening for yourself, and it will happen

A couple of points:

• this is totally age-appropriate behaviour for an 8 week old. He does not want to be separated from you when he is awake - some of the time he will be ok with it, but a lot of the time he won't be. Yet. Thinking of being on the breast as separate 'feeds' is to shoe-horn his needs into a paradigm which just doesn't fit the baby of this age and these needs. This is not a 'habit' he is in, but an expression of his needs at this time. And needs, as you know, change

it can be a whole lot easier to go with what he seems to want - and that sounds like having free access to the breast in the evenings with little doses in between not* in the moses basket

In addition, constant crying and fussing is sometimes described as 'wind' in the absence of any other medical/anatomical/physical explanation. It's at least possible he is crying because he wants to be with you, doing this 'cluster feeding' and yet you are liable to see any eye-closing and nodding off as a sign he 'needs' to sleep in a basket. At the moment, he doesn't agree with this, so he cries - not to manipulate you (he can't figure things out yet) but as an expression of distress.

Other people may come on here and disagree with this, and without knowing much more about you, there's no way I can be sure I have it right....but hope this helps you think a bit! If nothing else, think which is harder work - battling and struggling and upping and downing with the basket and sleep, or just keeping him in your arms (taking turns with someone else when he tolerates it) while he goes through this normal, temporary stage

Hi to TikTok. Only just had a chance to get back on internet and wanted to thank you a a lot for your reply. So I guess what you are saying is what is happening is totally normal and I am probably resisting his needs a bit too much? I guess I am going on what happened with my other DS1 and he used to be a lot more relaxed at being put to bed at 7-8. A couple more questions if you don't mind. Am I storing up massive bad habits by feeding him to sleep? I seem to get that impression from a lot of what I have read and other people I talk to. I know there are different schools of thought on this. Though as I say I did it with DS1 and he goes to sleep on his own fine now. Also, is it possible to overfeed a BF baby or not? I have been told not so when I put him on my boob second third time of an evening I think I am doing 'wrong' when maybe I am not? One last question? When does this stage end!Thanks for your help!