Swaddling and night feeding and sleeping or not!

[melaniespeaking]

DD is now 8 weeks old and is on the GF routine. However, she cannot stay awake for 2 hours, so normally goes back to sleep after 1 3/4 hours. We do not get out the routine as she is a very quick (?) feeder (I'm hoping this is the case, or she just is not getting enough), and is quite happy to chill out between feeds. She goes to bed around 7pm, but finds it very hard to stay awake until then, so normally has a tiny feed, and goes to sleep feeding. I then wake her at 10.30pm, breastfeed her (she stopped taking the bottle), and my husband puts her back to bed about 11.30pm (wide awak, but she is happy to put herself to sleep) Then she wakes arounf (3 to 4.30 - fine), but always wakes again about an hour and a half later, normally 6ish. Do you think one of these feeds is a comfort feed, and if so which one? It just seems weird that in the day she can go for 3 - 4 hours between feeds, but this always happens in the night. If I feed her at both these times, she is never really hungry at 7.30, so the whole cycle(?) seems to happen again. Also she seems to really like being swaddled, but GF recommends taking her out - does anyone have any experience of this? I'm sorry there is so many parts to this, but extra time in the night, gives you extra time to worry about things!!

Hi Melaniespeaking
First of all sounds like you and your dd are doing brilliantly for 8 weeks and she is obviously happy with the routines. 8 weeks is still very early days. I've lent by CLBB to a friend with a new born so can't refer to it, but seem to remember that GF recommends a half feed if you dd wakes late in the night (eg 6am...) I really don't think she is comfort feeding - think she probably needs it. Would try a couple of things. Make sure the room is dark as poss (to stop her being woken up by daylight earlier than necessary), don't go immediately in case she is just turning over. (I used to always get up when she cried and would go to the loo before I went into her, so I would be OK for the feed, change etc) but sometimes used to find she had dropped off again for another couple of hours before I go there! And maybe try the half feed followed by a feed between 7 and 8. (Check the book, can't remember GF's advice but it worked for us.)
But as I said at the start, for 8 weeks your dd is a great sleeper!
Good luck and let us know how you go

Before you read on, let me point out that I'm not a GF fan. I looked at a couple of these "routine" books and created a flexible routine from the principles that fitted my individual baby best. You do need to "listen" to your own baby as they will have growth spurts where they need to feed more often to build up your milk supply, throwing your routine out the window.

I'd advise taking the GF routine with a bit of salt as all babies are different. If your DD needs to go back to sleep after 1 3/4 hours, let her - it's nearly 2 hours after all! Babies don't work by the clock (unfortunately ).

How well does she feed at the 4:30 ish feed? Make sure she feeds for a long time off 1st breast to ensure she gets to the high calorie hind milk (imagine an old fashioned milk bottle where the cream's floated to the top - you need to make sure she's got through the thinner milk and got to the cream!) and offer the second. I used to wake my son up if he fell asleep on the 1st breast and always made sure he got to the second and would let him fall asleep there. I successfully bf my 2 for 12 months & 16 months and both slept from 9pm - 7am from 3-4 months.

I think the idea with unswaddling the baby is to make sure they're awake enough to feed properly. You'd then re-swaddle you DD to put her back to bed. Not sure how this would work in reality without waking her up though??

I would say that, at 8 weeks, your DD is still too little fo follow a strict routine, especially if she's fully breastfed. NCT breastfeeding counsellors seem to be wary of following GFs routines too stingently too early on as it can interfere with supply. Or so I've read in our NCT newsletter recently!

Hope this helps. A GF mum may have different advice.

My word! An 8 week old who gets herself off to sleep! Wish I'd had one of those!

I agree with SoupDragon's advice. If you find that your dd wants to modify the GF thing then let her. Our dd wouldn't go into a routine at all, and now that she is 6mo follows a modified GF that starts and finishes later in the day. Also she never goes for 2 hrs after waking in the morning, she's always asleep by 1 and a half hour's later.

Your dd sound like she's doing great.

melaniespeaking - lucky you to have a 8 week old sleeping so well! You have probably read my threads on having a dd who wakes between 4-6 times a night! anyway I have put her on a GF routine which is great in the day but she still doesn't sleep through the night, far from it though we are working on it. She recently had a growth spurt (put on 12oz in a week!) the routine went out the window as she was hungry all the time, so what let the little one feed, she then has since settled back into it. She doesn't sleep the recommended 2 1/2 hours at lunchtime but if she sleeps 1 then a little longer later in the day thats fine. I agree with what everyone has said, adapt the routine to fit in with your life and your baby. I know mine will sleep in the car so if I need to go out I try to time it around a routine sleep etc... some babies feed quickly others slowly. The routines should be there to help you and your baby and not to be a military operation although GF would probably state otherwise. I have found them invaluable as I was getting desperate and having little sleep needed some structure to both of our days. Good luck you sound like you are doing brilliantly.

I agree with all of you - I am the sort of person who likes routine and am finding GF suits dd and me - however on the days it goes wrong it is easy to get panicky!! I think we all need to trust our instincts more, and just having you guys saying I am doing well is a massive boost - thank you!

I felt if I deviated then everything would come crashing down, but having read quite a few different threads i see I can adapt it without appalling consequences!!!!

Yours trying to go with the flow a bit more!!!

I did gf and swaddled mine for ages - he liked it, it kept him still. I took him out at around 3 months, and put him in a grobag - he didn't even blink! I think the 6 waking is her light sleep waking. Mine did this. You'll find gf goes on about this a lot. Try settling her without a feed if you want her to take a really big one at 7am. You could feed her a little earlier if she wont settle, but then start the day, so it's not a night feed for her. Or do a split feed, as sjs suggests. As she seems to be able to settle herself it's probably not going to be much of a problem for her to chill out in her cot for a little while. I wouldn't even worry about it for another month or two - 8 weeks is young. I think she sounds like a real clb! Well done.

melaniespeaking - sounds as though you have got a great baby and I have to agree with soupdragon.

I am not a gf fan but if it works for some then that is great. What I have picked up though is that there a number of mums on this site who are tying themselves in knots trying to achieve the 'perfect routine' for their babies, all associated with sleeping through the night.

At 8 weeks it is not unreasonable for babies to be waking during the night - in fact it is advantageous. It is especially important for ensuring good milk production when breastfeeding. There is a thought that babies who wake are less likely to succumb to SIDS because of the stimulation they receive ( obviuosly only one thoery of many).
Please don't lose sight of enjoying your baby by trying to make them conform - they are all individuals just as we are

RE the swaddling question. The midwives suggested we swaddle our dd in the hospital and she loved it. In fact, she loved it so much that we continued doing it for ages - far longer than GF suggested (we too have 'adapted' GF to suit ourselves and find it works for us).

We eventually had to stop swaddling as the weather got warmer and we were worried about overheating. I seem to remember we agonised about moving to a half swaddle (the things you obsess about!!!), did it, and then wondered what we'd worried about!

We then moved to a sleeping bag, as she was an active baby who kept kicking off the blankets. I think these are invaluable - especially as a 'comforter' in strange cots / places.

The best piece of advice anyone ever gave me was to remember that whatever 'phase' you're in with your child, it is just that - a phase. It will pass, and a bit of experimentation is not going to throw your whole routine out the window.