Perspective on my six-week-old DS2's behaviour, please. So confused!

[RebeccaJames]

I am quite concerned about my six-week-old baby boy, for a few reasons:

1. He sleeps 10pm-1am (sometimes less), then after a feed (BF and a bottle afterwards) will sleep maybe half an hour more before waking up again. He then has a short nap, then BF suckle, then another short nap (10-20 mins), then another suckle - continuously all the way through to 7am when DS1 gets up. Often as soon as I get downstairs with DS1, the baby falls asleep then for a longer spell (still only maybe 1 hour, though).

Is this still within the realms of normal? I feel like it isn't, but maybe my expectations are out of whack. Please tell me how this compares to other babies the same age.

1. During the day he has bottles as well as boob but cannot even go 1 hour without crying to go back on the boob (I mention the bottle because it means I know he cannot be hungry, as opposed to the shooting-in-the-dark of BFing). This feeding 3-4 hourly that I keep reading about is so far from happening for us that it worries me.

1. Also he has very little alert/content time. He is either crying to go on the boob, is actually on the boob, or is asleep. There is sooooo little time when he's content to be awake and looking at his mobile, or watching me and DS1, or having face-time with me. I feel like now that he is six weeks old, there should be way more of this kind of time, and I am starting to worry that we're not getting it. E.g. today he did 20 minutes in his bouncy chair, alert and looking around, but that was really it for the day. Should it not be more by now?

There is an additional something I'm worried about, in that from around 3am to 7am he is very discontented. He makes a cross, discontent sound, over and over, and if left will start to cry until I give in and put him on the boob. But even there he is not happy, pulling at the nipple, squirming and making this sound. Does this ring any bells with anyone?

My mother keeps saying that 'something is not right', which is feeding my worry. She may be right, but I don't know where to go from here.

Perspective, ladies, please!? I am going round the twist!

Hiya,

I'm no expert at all as my dd is only 4 weeks but what you said about 3am-7am unsettledness sounds a bit like colic/wind/reflux/tummy ache?? My dd gets that quite a bit (used to be at night, last few days in afternoon), so perhaps his weird feeding pattern is making his tummy feel odd? Just an idea, might be completely wrong!

As for the rest of it, no idea if it's normal etc, sorry!

Sounds okay to me - my DS1 would sometimes feed / suckle every half hour or so depending on whether he was going through a growth spurt or just needed to be close to me. Might be wrong, but I think there's a growth spurt around 6 weeks that could account for more feeding / sleeping / restlessness.

Think babies also have a very short sleep cycle at that age so if he is a bit windy / reflux prone, I can see why he'd wake often. Maybe try raising the head end of his mattress ever so slightly to see if that helps any reflux?

Sounds like my dc when they were tiny. They both fed constantly! There is a big growth spurt around 6 weeks too.

If you're worried though, why not contact your health visitor for advice and reassurance?

Congratulations btw

He sleeps in a hammock so the head is raised. HV stumped! He thought it might be reflux but I think he was stabbing in the dark. Tried infant Gaviscon but that didn't make a difference. But as he doesn't cry in pain, I didn't think reflux was going on.

Could be silent reflux, they aren't actually sick but the milk comes back up part way and burns their throat. They want small feeds frequently as it soothes their throat temporarily and it's worse after a longer sleep when lying flat.

Definitely ask gp and ask for treatment that is easy to give while bfing if diagnosed !

I think it is worth seeing a breast feeding specialist to see if they have any useful tips and to get your baby checked for tongue tie. Phone la leche league and also see if your children's centre has a bf support group. Hvs don't always have lots of bf training so even if they are supportive they might not know how to help.

Also the 3-4 hourly feeding is unrealistic. Your baby didn't read that book! They have lots of growth spurts at that stage.

It sounds pretty normal to me, newborns mostly seem to feed a fair bit more than expected and it's normal to cluster feed a bit too, which might be what he's trying to do in the early hours. Is he having bottles of expressed milk or formula? I ask because formula use can have an impact on your milk supply, and that might be why he seems discontented on the boob sometimes. I would def go to a bf support group if you can, you can get advice on mixed feeding there. If they can observe a breastfeed they'll have a better idea. And they probably know more than the doctor about infant feeding.

Sadly the bf lady at the weigh-in clinic was stumped too. She said our latch is fine and no tongue tie. I am giving formula as his weight gain was poor (fine now) but I seem to have plenty of milk. After he stops feeding I can squirt some out (tmi!).

Might revisit gp and take the next step of renitidine. If it's reflux, that should help, but my instinct says that's not it.

Hmmm do you feel very full between feeds? How many times a day are you bfing and how much formula does he have? Just wondering if toy might have a forceful letdown sometimes. When he pulls off do you notice milk in his mouth? Sounds like you could probably phase out the formula if you want to. I would go back to bf group if you can. Second opinion, more ideas.

By 6 week's we were on ff and ds took an hour to take a bottle, and normally want the next one an hour after finishing. O was worried about him not getting any settled awake ttime bit at 2 month's it just settled down with faster feeds ans longer blocks of sleep.

It sounds just like my DD who turned out to have tongue tie. She was being woken up by wind from swallowing air while feeding (due to the TT) which is why she kept having short naps and also why she was really disturbed from 3-7am. Was a bit of a nightmare until finally diagnosed and cut at 16 weeks.

Can you get a second opinion about the tongue tie from a tongue tie specialist? Unfortunately many people think they are qualified to diagnose TT but are not, your BF lady may fall into this category. Posterior tongue tie in particular is hard to spot, many people only look for anterior tongue ties (nearer the front and more visible).

my ds didnt start going more than 2 hours between feeds until about 8 weeks - even then he never went as long as 3 until about 4/5 months old. The nighttime thing sounds normal to me - the only thing I would say is that if you instinctively feel something isn't right, then you should listen to your instinct.

the sleeping a lot sounds normal at 6 weeks I think? I was just with a friend this morning who has an 8 week old and she said she is asleep most of the day.