Lengthening time between feeds...

[Melanie3103]

During the night my LO (4wks old) seems to have 'cracked it' - he goes at least 2hrs between feeds, often its 3-4 hours in fact - we've even had a couple of 6hrs breaks (!)...

But during the day hes a grazer... He eats little n often. Which in the short term is ok but some days i'm keen to get other stuff done. He gives me feeding queues (licking/smacking lips and sucking fingers etc) so we feed and he has 1-2oz then either plays with teat like hes had enough or he falls asleep. I try burp then encourage more feed but more often than not he has no more, and wont give me feeding queues again for another 30-60mins. Fortunately the feed i made up is often still ok (going by the 1-2 hour rule) otherwise we'd waste such a lot.

We have a feeding record app and he is having 10-14 feeds a day as the breaks between feeds is often an hour or so. Over the day hes consuming 21-25oz which for a 10lb 5 weeks old is about right so im not worried hes eating enough over the day.

Thoughts ? Lots of my friends feed their LO of similar age just 6-8 feeds per day.

 

[MrsPod]

My LO is younger than yours, but does exactly the same, so will be watching this

 

[Balthazar1275]

Have you tried giving him a dummie to help distract and sooth him in between feeds during the day?

I started giving my little one a dummy to comfort him when I have tried everything else and it certainly does help to comfort him and help him fall asleep and allow me to get other things done. Once he falls asleep I remove the dummy so he doesn't get too attached to it.

Michelle x

 

[Melanie3103]

Funnily enough - thats exactly what we've just started doing... He starts asking for feed after 2 - 2 1/2 hrs and aftwr distracting him with toys etc we then give him a dummy and hes happy to wait a bit longer for a feed (sometimes 3.5 hours!)... So its working.

He then seems to finish the feed and enjoy it, rather thab mess around taking a 4oz feed in 3parts over a 90min period (with rests/naps!!)...

Thanks x

 

[Balthazar1275]

I know some people don't agree with give babies dummies but whatever helps calm and relax baby and helps mummy out at the same time is more than ok in my book.
Dummies have really helped my little one too, in the first few days all he wanted to do was feed so they helped distract him between feeds, they were a god send

Michelle x