My 14week Old is feeding every 2hrs at night-HELP Post Reply

[Blue7]

My daughter is now 14 weeks old and is breastfeeding every 2 hrs at night. She goes 3 hrs between feeds during the day and goes down to bed at 6.30pm and from there she will feed every 2hrs until 6am. I have tried giving her formula and expressed milk at night but she refuses it. I have also tried her with the dummy and again she is not interested. I would say she has been doing this for the last 4 weeks and before this she would go 3-4hrs at night before waking up for a feed. Does anyone have any advice? Or can someone recommend a sleep/feeding specialist.

Yours sincerely,

Very Exhausted x

[ally30_1998]

Hi
I sympathise. My son is now 23 but this was him exactly him, if not worse in fact.
In the end my back gave out when he was three months old and I had no option but to let other people feed him.
I think this was key in my case. Has anyone else tried feeding formula to your daughter when you are not there?
If my memory serves me correctly, she is unlikely to go for an alternative if she can smell her preferred food, i.e: you!
I'm sure all the recommendations regarding feeding have changed - the advice swings back and forward every few years - but I was told to give baby rice at 3 months which I ignored and managed to get by with Hungry baby formula until he was 5 months old then I cracked and started him on the baby rice. Once I realised the key was to feed him as much as he would eat during the day to get a restful night we were all a lot happier!

[SleepingBunnies]

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Hi there,

Sorry hear you are having a rough time. Your situation does indeed sound exhausting- it can get better though!

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[pie81]

Does she fall asleep by herself at bedtime or naptime? If not, i.e. she is fed to sleep, then I suspect this pattern is not to do with hunger, more likely that she has a "feed to sleep" association so when she half wakes between sleep cycles at night, she needs to feed to get back to sleep. My daughter had the same issue except she had got used to being rocked to sleep rather than fed to sleep.

If you can teach her to fall asleep by herself you'll probably find the problem solved and the night feeds reduce right down to 1 or 2 (when she is genuinely hungry)... but that's easier said than done. There are various kinds of sleep training designed to do this, ranging from controlled crying to "the no cry sleep solution". A sleep trainer can help with this if that is an option for you, but check that you are on the same page as regards methods before you hire one. Good luck!

[BetteDavisEyes]

I'm not a fan of sleep training (except for the no-cry methods advocated by Elizabeth Pantley in the 'No-Cry Sleep Solution'), but even those who advocate it will, I believe, say that it isn't appropriate for babies under 6 months.

The increased feeding at night may be for a variety of factors - a growth spurt, an increase in awareness during the day (so it's more interesting to look around than feed) or other factors related to development. You might want to try encouraging cluster feeding during the evening by sitting in a quieter, darkish room (not guaranteed to work, but worth a try). But otherwise, my best advice is that it is absolutely normal, and it will pass. If you don't have other children, do everything you can to catch up during the day. Co-sleeping (with the safety measures in place) saved my sanity.

I read a great article recently that I wish I'd read before I had my baby.
https://blogs.unicef.org.uk/2016/08/01/ ... -interval/

I preferred not to give formula unless I had to, but a friend did for the 10/11pm feed and that helped her a lot as she got a 5-6 hour stretch, so it may be worth persevering with that (she might take it from dad?) if you need to. I wouldn't advocate early weaning as it is thought to be related to obesity (and the most calorie dense and easily digestible food for an infant is breast milk, followed by formula). Best of luck.

[Blue7]

Thank you all. I think my daughters has got into bad habits and is now feeding to sleep and does so for some of her day feeds.
Last night, rather than feed her every 2hrs, we encouraged her to go every 3hrs and would rock her in between waking. I know not ideal as I'm swapping one back habit for another but feel like she's too young to cry it out. Think I need to encourage her to self soothe. But how do you teach a 3 month old to self soothe if they are not interested in a dummy, their thumb or anyother kind of prop. The joys of motherhood.
Thank you again everyone.

[Goldhawk]

I've heard good things about these people http://www.babyintuition.co.uk/home/4590757108

[pie81]

Although it may feel like you are swapping one bad habit for another, it is an improvement because it means she's getting used to feeding less at night (and probably taking more in the day to compensate) and that means when it's time to teach her to self settle, it will be easier. Also your husband can do rocking so you can take turns. As she gets older, gradually you could try to move from rocking to just cuddling to sleep, then cuddle followed by laying her in cot and stroking to sleep, then just stroking, etc - a very gradual and gentle way to move towards self settling. But realise you may not have the energy or patience for that (I didn't!) so just go with whatever works.

[MrsOctober]

Had exactly the same issues with both of my two. I think that they were both just plain hungry in the evenings! The quality and quantity of your milk decreases dramatically when you're tired and by each evening, I was utterly exhausted. We would get into a cluster feeding cycle where they would have to work hard to feed, feed for a bit, seemingly empty both boobs, give up trying, nod off, wake up due to hunger and repeat.

My very pro-breast feeding private midwife said to top them up with a bit of hungry baby formula, which would knock them out and break the cycle, allowing me to then eat good food and rest, then have plenty of milk for the dream feed.

This worked a treat for me, my life was transformed and my son became an excellent sleeper, instantly. Some people will frown upon it and say it's a slippery slope to introduce formula but for me it meant I carried on B'feeding for 9months both times. Good luck. x

[sarahsarah]

this is tough going for sure, i hope you get it sorted, please let us know how you managed it in the end!

[Blue7]

Thank you everyone. I really appreciate the advice. I think my daughter is hungry, she has reverted back to every 2hrs and waking up fully at 5am for a chat & a boob. We havent had much luck with her taking the bottle. Although my husband, managed to get her to take it with breast milk but it took forever and she was so upset. We are going to persist with the bottle and maybe try mixing it with formula. One friend suggested trying her with the bottle when she's content & distracted.
If you have any more tips, I would be really grateful. I will keep you posted on our progress.

[thepea]

I recently had success with methods in Tracey Hoggs baby whisperer book. My problems were slightly different though, I couldn't get my 12 week old to sleep unless he was being cuddled and the minute I put him down he woke. We spent 2 days doing 'pick up/put down' combined with 'shush pat' and he now goes down awake and gets himself to sleep without crying at all (I really hoped I haven't just jinxed us, its only been a few days!!). I found her book really helpful. Among other things she explains how to go about getting them on a four hourly schedule, that might be helpful for you. worth a read if you haven't already. best of luck, its so hard, especially the sleep deprivation. let us know how you get on

[Dr&DaughterPreg]

Hi. Poor you, thats so tough.
We run Sleep Workshops for babies aged 0-12 months and we have the most amazing feedback after the classes! They are life changing and not expensive either!
Do let us know if you would like to come along!
http://antenatalclassesinlondon.co.uk/sleep-workshops/

[sparkletiger]

I know it seems relentless, and it is, but it will not be like this forever. I promise. Are you cosleeping? It makes it a lot easier if you are. She is still very very little and it's totally normal to feed frequently. As someone else said, could be growth spurt. It's not bad habits, seriously, she is tiny and wants to be beside her mummy.

I understand you wanting and needing more sleep. It's hard work. But it will pass.