8 week old napping when feeding time

[hrp2020]

Our little girl only really does short naps. The problem we then have is we like to do sleep/feed/play as she needs to be kept upright for a while and we don't want to feed her to sleep but she will often not be ready for the formula feed (often sicking it up) but we obviously want to feed her before her next nap as otherwise she would be hungry in the nap time. Struggling to find the right balance as her wake window is still only about an hour. Any suggestions?

I think you need to reframe this; you're trying to feed her when she's sleeping. At 8 weeks she's a bit young for you to be imposing a schedule on her; feed her when she's hungry, let her sleep when she needs to.

Agree with pp, 8 weeks is still early for a proper full on eat/sleep/play schedule.

Let her tell you when she's hungry, that age is around 3 hours then small bottles.

If she's sicky, keep her upright for 20 minutes after the feed.

Lots of cuddles and you'll get to know her hungry cues ♥️

I agree with PP, she's not napping when it's feeding time, you're trying to feedher when she clearly needs to sleep. You need to work around her, not expect her to fit in with your schedule. She's 8 weeks old, she hasn't read whatever book/blog etc you have yet, that recommends the schedule you have in mind.

If you do the sleep, eat, play routine, which I personally think is great for newborns, then the whole point is you don’t feed them again before the next nap. And ‘play’ is used very loosely when they’re so young and basically just means a bit of awake time. So wake up, feed, hold upright for 20 minutes to avoid sicky and you’re pretty much ready to start thinking about the next nap, and the whole point is not to feed again (unless they’re showing signs of hunger of course) so as to avoid a feed to sleep reliance. Obviously follow your baby but as a rough guide you’d expect formula feeds to be about every 3 hours, some might go 4 hours but 3 is more typical at that age.

Thank you all. I do agree she is very little still and the at I should just go with the flow a bit more. @LakeShoreD the problem I have is if her naps are only 30 mins then I would be feeding her all day after each nap and she wouldn't want it. Her wake window is only really about 50-70 mins before overtired. I want to feed her when she wants it (which is approx every 3 hours) but then this often falls just when she is ready to go down for a nap or during the nap. Not sure if that makes any sense!

No it doesn't make any sense because if she's napping she can't be hungry half way through the nap. Let her sleep when she needs to, and no, shedoesnt need to be fed after every nap if she's having very short naps. I'm not sure where you are getting that from? Feed her when she's hungry, let her sleep when she's tired. If she's looking for a bottle just before a nap, give it to her, let her fall asleep amd then put her upright against your shoulder for a bit if you need to keep her upright. Does she have reflux?
8 qeek old babies don't want to play after a bottle of milk.

Feed on demand.

ie when she is hungry.

You have to go with the baby's needs.

If the routine isn’t working then forget it. Feed her when she’s hungry and let her sleep when she’s tired. These things are only useful when they make your life easier, if it’s not then there’s zero point. Short naps and a wake windows of around an hour all sound normal! But no it doesn’t make any sense that she would be hungry during a nap, if she’s sleeping then she’s fine!