Should I be worried about my EBF 10 week old or is this his Christmas present to me?

[auntymel]

DS2 for the past 10 weeks has fed 1-2 hourly and fed pretty much constantly from 7pm until 1am every night! I am on my knees with exhaustion. In the past week I have also been expressing like crazy too as I thought I would start to give him a top up of a couple of ounces in the evening to see if I could get him to sleep for longer. However, he's really not keen on a bottle and it's a stuggle to get him to take more than an ounce. I feel like crying when I have to discard my precious milk as I've defrosted too much each time.

Since yesterday ( writing this at 5am because I'm so puzzled/worried ) he has fed 4 hourly and for much shorter periods. He seems well and is still producing lots of wet and dirty nappies, although the later seem possibly a bit more runny if that is possible.
I am concerned at such a dramatic change in routine but also delighted if he has just turned the corner. What do you think should I be worried or is it normal for babies to slow down their feeding at this stage. DS1 is 20 months and I think tiredness has made me amnesic seem to have no recolection of his routine, all I remember is he cried constantly until he was 5 months!
Would appreciate any comments or anyone elses experiences of similar. I'm having family for dinner today so might not have time to write back but will check to see if you think I should relax and enjoy or worry.

Sorry just saw how long and rambling and the lack of punctuation is shocking! Must go and get some sleep.

Oh Auntymel, you poor thing! My babies are big now but I remember that awful stage of sleep deprivation. I hope your little lad is giving you an early Christmas present, but he may go back to more frequent feeds some of the time. If he is having plenty of wet and dirty nappies, has been steadily gaining weight and generally seems to be well, I wouldn't worry. I'd not let him go longer than 4 hours between feeds during the day if you could help it though, he's still quite little.

What about ditching the expressing, at least for the next few days? Or, if you don't want to stop completely, only express once a day. Also, freeze milk in 1 oz quantities so you aren't wasting any.

Enjoy having your family over, and let people help as much as possible with food and especially clear-up/wash-up. Don't forget to feed the baby, sounds daft but if he's being good and you're manically busy it can happen. Listen to the voice of experience

Sorry I haven't got enough experience of this to advise you. Do you think that talking through your concerns with a Breastfeeding Counsellor would help?

I would have thought this is fine as long as baby is alert & is having wet/dirty nappies.

Bump!

He seems fine smiling and content which really isn't him! I should add he's on the 91st centile so his weight isn't a problem. It's strange having so much free time.

Should have thought to freeze one ounce at a time - talk about thick!

I never expressed as I found wearing breast shells collected enough milk.
hv recommended them. Bought them in Boots or Mothercare.
Would collect most from the boob not being fed from then would empty into a milk bag in the fridge as they day went on. Would collect 3-4 oz per day then freeze the bag at the end of the day. You could just freeze an ounce at a time as has been said.
Didn't really find wearing the shells a faff as they weren't that visible underneath clothes and I would take them out if we were going out. Would wash and sterilise them at the end of each day.
HTH

Hi,

My son is 13 weeks old and went through a similar transformation at about the same time. He started going a bit longer, especially at night and I woke up in a panic once because I saw the clock and 5 hours had passed since he was last awake!

He kept this up for about 2 weeks then either his second set of jabs and/or a bit of a growth spurt unsettled things and made it all go a bit wonky again,so he was up loads of times at night.

He has become more efficient though, and most feeds are shorter, again especially at night. I think he is starting to settle down a wee bit again, fingers crossed because I was getting used to 3 or 4 hours sleep at a time!