7wks old and gone from waking 2-3 times to 4-5-help

[scottygirl5]

I need help/advice/support! My LO is 7 wks old and from wk 4-6 she had started sleeping for 2&1/2-3&1/2 hrs at a time before waking for feeding. Unfortunately she wanted to feed hourly during the day when awake which i?d got used to but when i saw my hv she said to stop feeding her as often. I?ve tried to stretch the feeds to every two hours since then,success has been variable depending on her mood. Unfortunately she has started waking much more frequently in the night since. I suppose this could be chancebut it seems a big coincidence.

Has anyone had a similar experience or have any advice? Should i go back to properly feeding on demand or do what HV says and stretch out feeds? I?m exhausted as she has also been crying more than usual when not feeding or sleeping and I?m worried that she?s hungry and I?m being mean by making her wait another hour.

They go through a developmental phase around this age: see here

It is still so early! It will pass really quickly and get much better - I started to stretch out feeds a bit more by this stage (DD now 20wks) and it helped her nap longer through the day which in turn helped her sleep better at night. She just wasn't napping in the day. Make sure your LO has a good feed before bed and soothe her to sleep if she wakes if you think she may fall asleep that way - if not, just feed her. Thru the day if she is cranky it does just sound like a phase - which is good as it will pass!

Don't worry! Sounds like you are doing a great job!

Thanks for the advice and reassurance Aloha31. I get so confused about whether to just feed completely on demand or to presume that sometimes she roots etc out of habit/for comfort rather than because she's really hungry. Her naps have actually shortened since I started feeding less often, she used to have about 2 hours in the morning and 2 in the afternoon but is awake more since feeding less which is weird. I think she's still sorting out her waking/sleeping/eating patterns.