8 week old feeds 12 times a day- how to extend times between feeds?

[Jelly67]

My 8 week old is starving every 2 hours but only takes 2 oz at a time and then is full, refuses rest of bottle (formula fed). It's no big deal during the day- I feed every 2 hours. She barely naps in between, maybe 20-30mins or max an hour if in pram/car.

At night it's 11pm, which is fine but I'm struggling to stay awake for 1am, 3am, 5am, 7am... and wondering as the weeks go on do they naturally wake up less or am I supposed to do something different?

Hi I’m breastfeeding but found the first few weeks hard. My little boy was waking every 2 hours on the dot to be fed during the night and often fed more during the day. Over time as his tummy got bigger he was able to go longer between feeds and it just happened naturally. I’ve never woken him for a feed but one night he dropped the 2am feed and slept til 4 and I felt rejuvenated!!! Now he feeds at 10pm and wakes at 6am for breakfast.
It will get better xx

My DS who's 14 weeks was the exact same at 8 weeks I thought he would never stretch out any longer! Gradually he started taking more at each feed and naturally took longer stretches between them! Ideally he should go 4 hours between feeds but manages 3 hours, sometimes he screams for food after 2 hours, we just go with the flow knowing he will get there eventually.
At around that time my DS dropped his 5am feed and then his 11pm feed and now only wakes up at 3am.
In regards the naps mine needed a little more help around that time so we used his white noise machine for naps which we were only using for bedtime before. It sounds like your DC isn't settling after coming out of a sleep cycle into another one.
Do you have the wonder weeks app? Baby's take a development leap around 8 weeks so it could explain the frequent feeding and shorter naps. If you don't have the app get it, it's stopped me from going out of my mind. My DS is currently going through a huge leap and his sleep is all over the place as a result but I know he just needs a little more help for a while and that it will pass.

Welcome to the world of newborns ! I'm afraid this is just what they do , then it gets better then worse again then better. You get the idea !!!!

Mine woke every 2 hours for BF until about 12 mo. It's perfectly normal

Can your partner do one or two since you're FF to allow you a longer stretch of sleep?

Hi everyone thanks for your replies.. It sounds like it will happen naturally (hopefully). Wow SBDB that's great he goes 10-6. It must be such a relief!

That's a good idea regarding naps smurfybubbles- she fights the sleep a lot and it can take over an hour to get het down and then 20 mins later she's awake and ready for feed. I've downloaded that app now too. The leaps make sense.

newcupcake glad to hear it's normal. A lot of my friends at this stage were only waking once or twice for feeds but maybe that's more unusual?

arbrighton thanks, yeah in last few days I've asked him to take over at 3am and do that and the 5am as my head is pounding. He's always offering but I'm not keen on the idea of him driving on motorway to work on such little sleep. He does some of the evening ones too- maybe 7pm and 9pm

Perfectly normal but nonetheless exhausting. Their tiny tummies can only take a small amount and need refilling regularly. It’s also a biological safeguard against sids. Waking regularly throughout the day and night is thought to stop babies sleeping too deeply and help keep them alive and breathing. All good, normal, newborn behaviour.

This is probably far too obvious but are you definitely burping her thoroughly to make sure she takes in as much as possible?

Solidarity - it does get better

Odog thanks, that's a very good point and it makes me feel better that it's for a good, healthy reason

60sname actually that's something I'm not really sure of. Often I'll pat and rub away but no burps will come out and I don't know whether that means she has no burps or I just haven't got them. I used to do it in middle of feed but when I take the bottle away to do it she's even less likely to take more afterwards so I wait until she's finished and do it then