Baby sleep schedules

[amc80]

Talk to me about baby sleep schedules. Everything I've read says you can start moving towards a schedule around 6-8 weeks. Not that I expect a baby that young to be good at being on a schedule, but I like the idea of at least introducing it. B will be 7 weeks on Wednesday. He has a lot of trouble knowing when he's tired and will stay up all day long if we don't take action (action = putting him in the swing during the day or swaddling him at night). I'm trying to save swaddling for night time only in hopes he will learn to recognize that swaddle = night time = long sleep. Not sure if that will work or not, but I figure it's worth a try.

Most nights, he's still up every 2-3 hours. I would think at this stage he should be going more like 4 hours at a time. Every once in a while he'll do a 4 hours stretch at night, but it's not the norm. He will do a 4 hour stretch in the late afternoon/early evening (like 2-6 or 3-7pm). Could that be part of the problem? Right now, he's down for the night around 9 or 10. I will feed him right before I put him down. Then he will wake up around midnight and again around 2 or 3am...and again around 5am. He'll feed on both sides for about 15 minutes. Sometimes, even after all that, I'll put him down and he'll still be hungry, so I'll feed him for an additional 15 minutes or so. Which means by the time I unswaddle, do a diaper change, feed, burp, reswaddle, get him to fall asleep, etc., it's almost an hour that I'm up. Each time.

Oh, and yesterday he wanted to eat pretty much non-stop from about 4pm-9:30pm. My poor boobs weren't thrilled.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Also- yes, he's gaining weight and growing. Lots of wet diapers (although just this week he went from pooping multiple times a day to one GIANT poop a day).

 

[lliang_chi]

AMC, for the most part a baby that's B's age will still wake in the middle of the night. It sounds like you'd rather have him do a consistent 4 hr, from the time YOU go to bed to Dark-o-clock in the AM. Few suggestions, take them however you want.

1. Try a dream feed before you go to bed. Don't wake B up, just pick him up (still swaddled) and nurse or bottle feed him. Nursing might be a *little* tricky to get him to open his mouth while sleeping, so try tickling his lips with a paci then shove the boob in there. I'm thinking that should buy you a few more hours between when you go down and when he wakes up again.

2. This is my choice, so totally up to you: I stopped changing E at night. It would wake him up and then I'd have to rock/swaddle him back to sleep. I think this was right around 10-12 wks. We'd still get him up early for day care, so he'd get changed at 6AM. So it's not like he's spending 12 hrs in a wet diaper.

3. Try limiting his day time sleeps to 2+ hours. You can wake him with a diaper change. Then feed him when he's up and engage him with activity. If you're back at work, ask the daycare not to let him sleep more than X hours. This should accomplish 2 things. A) he'll be eating more during the day so he can stay full longer at night. B) He's not getting all his sleep in the late PM, so he'll likely be drowsier at night when you put him down.

You might find you'll need to adjust his "down for the count" time from 9 or 10PM to earlier, maybe 8PM.

Good luck!

 

[amc80]

AMC, for the most part a baby that's B's age will still wake in the middle of the night. It sounds like you'd rather have him do a consistent 4 hr, from the time YOU go to bed to Dark-o-clock in the AM. Few suggestions, take them however you want.

1. Try a dream feed before you go to bed. Don't wake B up, just pick him up (still swaddled) and nurse or bottle feed him. Nursing might be a *little* tricky to get him to open his mouth while sleeping, so try tickling his lips with a paci then shove the boob in there. I'm thinking that should buy you a few more hours between when you go down and when he wakes up again.

2. This is my choice, so totally up to you: I stopped changing E at night. It would wake him up and then I'd have to rock/swaddle him back to sleep. I think this was right around 10-12 wks. We'd still get him up early for day care, so he'd get changed at 6AM. So it's not like he's spending 12 hrs in a wet diaper.

3. Try limiting his day time sleeps to 2+ hours. You can wake him with a diaper change. Then feed him when he's up and engage him with activity. If you're back at work, ask the daycare not to let him sleep more than X hours. This should accomplish 2 things. A) he'll be eating more during the day so he can stay full longer at night. B) He's not getting all his sleep in the late PM, so he'll likely be drowsier at night when you put him down.

You might find you'll need to adjust his "down for the count" time from 9 or 10PM to earlier, maybe 8PM.

Good luck!

Good suggestions!

1. If he's asleep, I will try a dream feed. He really doesn't like eating when he's swaddled though, even if he is awake...so it's even harder when he's asleep. I have tried this with varying success. I've even tried giving him a pumped bottle instead of the boob (so I know exactly what he's getting) and it doesn't seem to make much of a difference.

2. I read this tip and started following it. Usually I won't change him during the first wake up (either midnight or 2) but will if he gets up again. Last night I changed him because he was so fussy that I figured it was worth a try...it didn't help though.

3. I think this is key. He is at home with DH for another 5 weeks (yes, I got 6 weeks off but DH got 12). Plus, during the day he's getting bottle fed (except I'll go home at lunch to feed) so we can see exactly how much he's getting.

Thanks again for these suggestions!

 

[PilsnPinkysMom]

I'll be watching this thread closely. AMC, we're in the same boat... E wakes up at nearly the same time and it usually takes a good 1-1.5 hours before I can get back in bed.

Last night she slept from 10:30-2:30 (no good for me, because I'm not in bed 'til midnight, many nights), then from 3:30-6:00, then she slept 'til 9, more or less.

For the most part I view this as only one middle of the night waking, which I can deal with, but I need to consolidate her nighttime feeding routine somehow... B/C of low supply, I weigh her, nurse her, weigh her (a good 30 minutes, if not longer), then have to bottle feed her what she didn't take from the boob, THEN pump (though I usually put her back to bed and have DH calm her back to sleep during my pump time)

 

[mayerling]

Ladies, N is 11.5 weeks and the longest he's ever gone is 6 hours. Back home he would consistently do around 5, but since we got back to the UK 10 days ago 4 hours seems to be about average. And even though he's so old, it takes 1+ hour to feed and change him during the night.

 

[amc80]

I'll be watching this thread closely. AMC, we're in the same boat... E wakes up at nearly the same time and it usually takes a good 1-1.5 hours before I can get back in bed.

Last night she slept from 10:30-2:30 (no good for me, because I'm not in bed 'til midnight, many nights), then from 3:30-6:00, then she slept 'til 9, more or less.

For the most part I view this as only one middle of the night waking, which I can deal with, but I need to consolidate her nighttime feeding routine somehow... B/C of low supply, I weigh her, nurse her, weigh her (a good 30 minutes, if not longer), then have to bottle feed her what she didn't take from the boob, THEN pump (though I usually put her back to bed and have DH calm her back to sleep during my pump time)

If B would just eat for 15 minute and go back to sleep it would be amazing...and I wouldn't mind having to do it 2-3x a night. But the hour long wake up sessions are killer. There's a breast feeding support group tomorrow evening, and I'm thinking about going so I can do the before/after weighing. Im sure it's all normal, but of course I have the concern that either I'm not making enough milk or it's not fatty enough or something. I'm pumping between 3-4oz at a time (2-4 hours after last feeding). I know pumping isn't an indication of what he's eating, though.

 

[PilsnPinkysMom]

I'll be watching this thread closely. AMC, we're in the same boat... E wakes up at nearly the same time and it usually takes a good 1-1.5 hours before I can get back in bed.

Last night she slept from 10:30-2:30 (no good for me, because I'm not in bed 'til midnight, many nights), then from 3:30-6:00, then she slept 'til 9, more or less.

For the most part I view this as only one middle of the night waking, which I can deal with, but I need to consolidate her nighttime feeding routine somehow... B/C of low supply, I weigh her, nurse her, weigh her (a good 30 minutes, if not longer), then have to bottle feed her what she didn't take from the boob, THEN pump (though I usually put her back to bed and have DH calm her back to sleep during my pump time)

If B would just eat for 15 minute and go back to sleep it would be amazing...and I wouldn't mind having to do it 2-3x a night. But the hour long wake up sessions are killer. There's a breast feeding support group tomorrow evening, and I'm thinking about going so I can do the before/after weighing. Im sure it's all normal, but of course I have the concern that either I'm not making enough milk or it's not fatty enough or something. I'm pumping between 3-4oz at a time (2-4 hours after last feeding). I know pumping isn't an indication of what he's eating, though.

Weigh ins will give you the peace of mind you need! That was how we learned E was less efficient than my pump at removing milk, though that is definitely not the case for most people. What type of pump are you using??

 

[amc80]

Weigh ins will give you the peace of mind you need! That was how we learned E was less efficient than my pump at removing milk, though that is definitely not the case for most people. What type of pump are you using??

That's what I'm thinking. Right now I spend way too much time googling my concerns, when most of them can be addressed by going to the support group.

I have an Ameda Purely Yours. It was one of the two pumps recommended by an LC at a pumping class I went to.

Another thing I just thought of...B is 6 weeks, so I've been feeding him accordingly (meaning offering around 3oz in a bottle when fed that way). And he ends up being hungry pretty soon after he eats. But his body is closer to the size of a 3 months old. So I'm thinking we should probably offer him closer to 4oz-5oz or so, which is stomach should be able to handle given his size. Does that make sense?

 

[NewEnglandLady]

At 6 - 8 weeks we did not have a schedule, but did have a sleep/eat/play routine during the day and sleep/eat routine at night. I agree that a MOTN feeding (or two) at this age is completely normal, but I also understand that it's frustrating when they're up and won't settle back down after the feed. Any little thing would wake K up--the biggest difference for us was doing the diaper change before the feed, but it looks like you're already doing that.

I'm assuming it's dark when you're doing the MOTN feeds? I wonder if it makes a difference that you're swaddling at night, but not during the day. I definitely understand the reasoning--trying to condition her for a long sleep at night using the swaddle. But maybe it's just confusing? I would look this up in one of my sleep books, but I'm at work and don't have any here. Are you using the same white noise for night and day? Does she nap and sleep in the same place?

you mentioned upping the amount you feed--that's a good idea. Are you in a nursing group and do the pre/post nursing session weigh-in so you know how much B is taking in at a feeding? When you give him a 3 oz. bottle, does he suck it dry?

I'm sorry I'm asking a million questions. It's probably just that B isn't quite ready to do more than one 4+ hour sleep session per day. I know with K it was a plateu. She'd fall into a pattern and I'd try to push her to sleep for longer periods, then one day she'd just do it on her own and that was that. We're still going through this!

 

[amc80]

At 6 - 8 weeks we did not have a schedule, but did have a sleep/eat/play routine during the day and sleep/eat routine at night. I agree that a MOTN feeding (or two) at this age is completely normal, but I also understand that it's frustrating when they're up and won't settle back down after the feed. Any little thing would wake K up--the biggest difference for us was doing the diaper change before the feed, but it looks like you're already doing that.

I'm assuming it's dark when you're doing the MOTN feeds? I wonder if it makes a difference that you're swaddling at night, but not during the day. I definitely understand the reasoning--trying to condition her for a long sleep at night using the swaddle. But maybe it's just confusing? I would look this up in one of my sleep books, but I'm at work and don't have any here. Are you using the same white noise for night and day? Does she nap and sleep in the same place?

you mentioned upping the amount you feed--that's a good idea. Are you in a nursing group and do the pre/post nursing session weigh-in so you know how much B is taking in at a feeding? When you give him a 3 oz. bottle, does he suck it dry?

I'm sorry I'm asking a million questions. It's probably just that B isn't quite ready to do more than one 4+ hour sleep session per day. I know with K it was a plateu. She'd fall into a pattern and I'd try to push her to sleep for longer periods, then one day she'd just do it on her own and that was that. We're still going through this!

I'm on mobile so please excuse any errors! Motn feeds are done in the dark, as are diaper changes. He sleeps in a nap nanny between us in bed. It's not dark dark but dark enough (but I can still see enough to change his diaper). I'd love to hear what your books say about swaddling. His naps either happen in the living room in his nap nanny, or his swing...or carseat if that's where he was when he fell asleep. I don't really think it is an environmental issue just because he has no trouble staying asleep with the tv on or lights on or whatever. If I could shift his afternoon/evening nap to start at 9 or 10, it would theoretically give us just about two chunks of 3-4 hours.

I just signed up for a BFing group tomorrow, so I will know what he's taking in. And yes he will usually suck down 3oz. Tomorrow we will try 4 and see if that gets sucked down as well. I fear he had his dad's metabolism which means he will pretty much be constantly eating the rest of his life (dh is 6'7" and 200lbs...he can't even do cardio because he loses too much weight...so annoying!!).

 

[pancake]

AMC, there are some good suggestions here - particularly the dream feed (it doesn't work for everybody, but it may work well for you), not changing at night (or changing pre-feed, or changing between sides), and keeping night feeds dark and quiet. It is extremely common for the evening nap to be the longest sleep of the day at this age.

My main suggestions are:

1. If you would like to make any changes to the way that you do things, you need to do them consistently over a period of about a week before ditching them because they don't work. Babies take time to adjust to new things and you can't get an indication of the effectiveness of any intervention from doing them once or twice.

2. B is at the peak of his natural fussiness at the moment. This is very consistent between babies, whether they're "placid" or "colicky" - they tend to get fussier up to about 8 weeks or so, and then things settle considerably by 12 weeks. You might want to factor this in to any plans and keep it in mind if you're having difficulty. We worked on settling in the bassinet and resettling between sleep cycles around 7-8 weeks, and it was hard work - it went well, but obviously I'll never know whether S just got over the hump herself and became more settled, or whether what we did helped much. I suspect it's the former!

3. Do you mean routine, or schedule? I think that a routine is a good thing to introduce early - the earlier the better - and in that, I am saying eat-wake-sleep (unless you don't want this cycle and that is fine too - whatever you prefer!). However, my firm belief is that 7 weeks is too young for a schedule. Babies at this age are still crying out for their needs - they may not know what it is exactly that they need at a particular time (feed/change/sleep/burp/gas/cuddle), but it's still needs-driven. The current thinking in infant mental health circles is that if you consistently let your baby cry at this age (which is what any kind of sleep training would involve), then it "teaches" them that their parents don't come to them if they're crying. It leads to babies who cry less, but there are concerns about what impact this has on them. It's believed that this changes around 3-4 months, and that's why most professionals would recommend deferring sleep training until around 4 months or so. That is not to say that you can't do some gentle stuff with settling and resettling, etc, but just something to keep in mind.

4. At this age, I would just swaddle for all sleeps, day or night.

5. All babies are different. Some will wake 2 hourly around the clock for 6 months (this is extreme though!) and some will just start STTN from 6 weeks or even earlier. I suspect that there isn't a lot that you can do that will change B's natural developmental progress with sleep. It's still early days. Our little bub is a super-settled, super-"easy" baby and she still woke for a night feed until 4 months. He will do longer stretches when he's ready, but the suggestions of others in this thread may help nudge the process along a bit.

I highly recommend http://www.mybabysleepguide.com as a really thorough and balanced sleep resource. It is the best I've seen and I recommend it to friends and patients quite frequently.

 

[Dreamer_D]

My babies both woke every 2-3 hours around the clock for a very long time, and at 7 weeks it is totally normal for a BF baby to wake every 3 hours. It is not a real/realistic expectation to think BF babies will sleep longer. Some do, some do not. The "4 hour" rule is based more on formula fed babies I think. When my boys were older they might go 4-5 hours in one stretch, but it was always the first stretch from 6 - 11 or 12, never the stretch I wanted.

Once you have your baby in a pattern where in the DAY they eat and then are awake but at night they wake, feed, and go right back to sleep, THEN you can worry about all the other stuff.

I always swaddled my babies for every sleep, they could not sleep alone without it. The longer night time sleeping is more to do with light and activity than with something as abstract as swaddling. So that is one thing I would do every sleep.

Naps were always a crap shoot and I followed by babies needs in that area for a long time, in that I would let them sleep when they fell asleep. I loosely followed EASY in that I would feed them when they woke and try to have a little activity (wakefulness), then at 7 weeks, if an hour or so had passed since they woke I would swaddle them and nurse them to sleep. The awake time gradually got longer. But I nursed them to sleep for a long time, then transitioned to rocking them to sleep, then bum patting, then finally just put-em down and walk away.

At night my goal was for them to wake, eat, and immediately go back to sleep. I did not worry about how frequently they woke at 7 weeks, but rather just wanted them going straight back to sleep. So I would nurse them still swaddled, in a dark room, and would not change the diaper unless it was a poop. I would nurse them until they were asleep and then transfer them, or else I would co-sleep while nursing if I could not transfer them successfully (more with my second for some reason). You might also try introducing a soother, my first son used one by my second would not.

If your son can sleep on his own at night at all that is a great thing, and count that blessing My older son was like that but my second was very different. I did not manage to get him sleeping off my body until he was about 3 months old.

 

[Dreamer_D]

I'll be watching this thread closely. AMC, we're in the same boat... E wakes up at nearly the same time and it usually takes a good 1-1.5 hours before I can get back in bed.

Last night she slept from 10:30-2:30 (no good for me, because I'm not in bed 'til midnight, many nights), then from 3:30-6:00, then she slept 'til 9, more or less.

For the most part I view this as only one middle of the night waking, which I can deal with, but I need to consolidate her nighttime feeding routine somehow... B/C of low supply, I weigh her, nurse her, weigh her (a good 30 minutes, if not longer), then have to bottle feed her what she didn't take from the boob, THEN pump (though I usually put her back to bed and have DH calm her back to sleep during my pump time)

If B would just eat for 15 minute and go back to sleep it would be amazing...and I wouldn't mind having to do it 2-3x a night. But the hour long wake up sessions are killer. There's a breast feeding support group tomorrow evening, and I'm thinking about going so I can do the before/after weighing. Im sure it's all normal, but of course I have the concern that either I'm not making enough milk or it's not fatty enough or something. I'm pumping between 3-4oz at a time (2-4 hours after last feeding). I know pumping isn't an indication of what he's eating, though.

This is normal Just trying to manage expectations. It takes that long to nurse a 6 week old I am afraid, and they like comfort at night too. I got baby propped in a boppy and a really cuchy chair and would usually fall asleep nursing.

 

[Munchkin]

I agree with another post, a *routine* is great at this age! A *schedule* isn't developmentally appropriate. (And yes, my specialty is pediatrics)

Doing the same thing, every time before sleep cycles is brilliant. It's a fantastic idea to get into rhythms and patterns now. However, getting B onto a true "schedule" at this point isn't realistic, especially if you are nursing. I expect my 6-8 week nursing patients to wake every 2-4 hours for a feed, with only 1 (or maaaybe 2) 4 hour stints.

It sounds like (your) B went through/is going through the 6 week growth spurt, hence the recent, massive cluster feed. A nursing baby will need to feed more often than a formula baby over night. Period. Your milk is digested much more easily and some studies I'm involved in even suggest that the per ounce caloric density of breast milk is lighter than that of formula. Also, a nursing baby will demonstrate more dramatic changes during a spurt because YOU are its source of nutrition. While a parent may not notice having to mix an extra formula bottle, you will certainly notice if a child is constantly on you for hours!

I know that the over night duty is EXHAUSTING. It's even harder when you nurse because you can't share the work. Be consistent with sleep routines, try a before midnight dream feed and don't change diapers unless there is stool. Above all, know that (at this age) if your child is waking, they truly need you. It isn't habit, it's for nutrition.

If it makes you feel any better, I went back to full time work when (my) B was 2 months old; and at 19 months, my FTT kid has slept through the night THREE times! I keep banging my head against the wall, but I know he literally still needs the nutrition because of his poor gain. Every child/circumstance is different. I can't tell you how jealous I am of my 4 month old patients who sleep through the night!

Also, a note of caution (because I'm paranoid and lost a patient to SIDS who was co-sleeping), the nap nanny is NOT approved for use in bed. It is only approved for use in the floor. I don't mean to annoy you, I just literally wouldn't be able to sleep if I didn't mention that!

Best of luck and I truly hope your B begins sleeping through the night at 4 months without any regression, ever!

 

[mayerling]

How can you know there's stool in a diaper unless you change it?

 

[Munchkin]

I just noticed a follow up post you made. Is B "dry bottling" 3 oz? If so, offer 4. A general rule of thumb, don't let a baby dry bottle. If a baby drains what you give them, offer them 1/2 to an oz more and see what happens. Many 6-8 weekers I see are taking any where from 3-6 ounces in a sitting. You may be very happily surprised to find B stretches feeds with more in the belly!

Mayerling, the old "sniff test." The whole "breast milk poop doesn't smell" doesn't last long in my experience....

 

[amc80]

I was just finishing up a long post with individual replies to everyone...when my computer decided it needed to restart to install updates without warning.

First, I really appreciate everyone's responses. Lots of great advice. Oh, and when I say schedule, I do mean routine. I know he's way to young to care about the clock.

Last night was rough. He had a bath and ate, and I put him to sleep at 9:30 (I know, still a bit late). I also made sure that his naps didn't go beyond 2-3 hours. Remember how I said he goes to sleep easily and quickly once swaddled? He must have read this thread and tried to prove me wrong. He acted like he was still hungry after I put him down, so I fed him until he fell asleep. He stayed asleep for all of 10 minutes and started crying again. He ended up eating for about an hour total and falling asleep. I put him down again...and again he was fussy. Eventually he fell asleep and stayed asleep, around 10:45. He slept until about 1:30am, at which point I fed him (again, took about an hour for him to seem like he was full and content). From 2:30-6:00 he was Mr. Fussypants. He wasn't crying and there was nothing obviously wrong. I fed him again at some point in here, not sure when. He'd sleep for short amounts of time and then sort of half wake up and be very unsettled. I fed him on and off from 6 (when he did really wake up and start crying) until 7. He would fall asleep for a few minutes while I was feeding him. I'd keep him there and he'd wake up within 5 minutes. At 7 I put him back in his nap nanny and he stayed up for a while, then eventually fell asleep. He and DH were sound asleep when I left for work.

I really do think this sudden super crappy sleeping is due to a growth spurt/fussy stage combination. I am pretty sure I'm not doing anything drastically wrong. Well, except for not feeding him enough when he's bottle fed...that's definitely my fault. Oops. One of these nights, when I can pump enough of a reserve, I will try bottle feeding him 4oz or so before he falls asleep (or a dream feed) and see if that helps. I suspect it will.

Also, a note of caution (because I'm paranoid and lost a patient to SIDS who was co-sleeping), the nap nanny is NOT approved for use in bed. It is only approved for use in the floor. I don't mean to annoy you, I just literally wouldn't be able to sleep if I didn't mention that!

I'm not sure if it matters, but the nap nanny is in between us in bed, not towards an edge. Not sure what the difference would be between that and the floor? Now I'm curious.

How can you know there's stool in a diaper unless you change it?

The smell...and the sound. B's poops are SO loud.

It sounds like (your) B went through/is going through the 6 week growth spurt, hence the recent, massive cluster feed.

That's what I'm thinking as well.

This is normal Just trying to manage expectations. It takes that long to nurse a 6 week old I am afraid, and they like comfort at night too. I got baby propped in a boppy and a really cuchy chair and would usually fall asleep nursing.

I find myself dozing off, but then I wake up in a panic because my GIANT boobs will cover his face.

I always swaddled my babies for every sleep, they could not sleep alone without it. The longer night time sleeping is more to do with light and activity than with something as abstract as swaddling. So that is one thing I would do every sleep.

Did your babies fight the swaddle? I'm starting to wonder if he's outgrowing it. He used to try to free his hands for a minute or two, but now he seems to be fighting it for much longer. When I left him this morning (sound asleep), he was tucked in with a blanket from his waist down, but his hands were free...up by his face, where he likes them.

B is at the peak of his natural fussiness at the moment. This is very consistent between babies, whether they're "placid" or "colicky" - they tend to get fussier up to about 8 weeks or so, and then things settle considerably by 12 weeks. You might want to factor this in to any plans and keep it in mind if you're having difficulty.

I really hope this is the case.

 

[monarch64]

How can you know there's stool in a diaper unless you change it?

I can't trust the sniff test. Sometimes the vapor that escapes my child smells worse than the actual solid matter. I just pull her diaper away from her leg a little bit and take a peek to see if there is any solid waste inside.

 

[mayerling]

My sense of smell must be pretty bad because I really can't smell N's BF poops. Also, since he's in his own room I can't hear him passing stool.

 

[amc80]

My sense of smell must be pretty bad because I really can't smell N's BF poops. Also, since he's in his own room I can't hear him passing stool.

B isn't in his own room yet, but his monitor picks up the softest of sounds. I have no doubt it would pick up "the sound." Seriously, it's like he ate bad Indian food or something. So loud and so stinky.

 

[PilsnPinkysMom]

I just noticed a follow up post you made. Is B "dry bottling" 3 oz? If so, offer 4. A general rule of thumb, don't let a baby dry bottle. If a baby drains what you give them, offer them 1/2 to an oz more and see what happens. Many 6-8 weekers I see are taking any where from 3-6 ounces in a sitting. You may be very happily surprised to find B stretches feeds with more in the belly!

Mayerling, the old "sniff test." The whole "breast milk poop doesn't smell" doesn't last long in my experience....

I hadn't heard this before. Our LC said that babies, esp BF ones, will eat waaay more than they need from a bottle, and that really most BF babies need a max of 4 oz per serving, though they'll often take more from a bottle if offered. There's never been a time when E doesn't finish everything from her bottle... I feel like she'd down eight ounces if given the opportunity, but she eats about 25 oz a day and is growing well. Sometimes she'll fuss when we take the bottle away, but she settles quickly with a paci and usually goes to sleep or will sit up for a bit and "play". Now I'm afraid we're under-feeding her...

 

[pancake]

Mayer, it is definitely harder to smell poop in a cloth nappy. My husband can't tell a lot of the time - even though S eats solids and has stinky poops now!

 

[Dreamer_D]

How can you know there's stool in a diaper unless you change it?

Smell and sound Or with pure BFing the poop is so liquid and mild I would sometimes not change that either. I know, evil me, but my boys never got diaper rash or anything and I only would not change it if I was desperate and he seemed content sleeping.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Honestly,. your night last night is very normal with a baby that age! I know its hard ,but they change ALL the time!! And wakefullness and fussiness comes and goes. I also have huge boobs but just accepted that the risk of him smothering while I fall asleep in the chair is lower than my risk of going insane if I got too OCD about stuff. My first fought the swaddle so we started double swaddling -- "swaddle-me" and then a large receiving blanket over top! Tight so he couldn't get out. But sometimes they just want to nurse and want closeness and there is little you can do.

This is not recommended of course, but with my second I would bring him in bed and side lie and nurse him when he would NOT go back to sleep. We also let him sleep on his tummy from about 6 weeks to about 12 weeks, it was the only way he would sleep. Then at 12 weeks he decided sleeping swaddled was the best thing As a parent you need to take in all the information and make an informed choice about things I think. This was at the time when our second slept in the room beside me in his co-sleeper, the tummy sleeping, so I was always right there. And he was a BIG baby and very strong and could turn his head without issue.

Anyways, my point is to make choices to maximize your sleep in ways that balance risk and benefit the most optimally. In your case you might want to get a really cushy chair, get a boppy and set up baby nursing, then get a neck pillow for sleeping on the plane and catch a Z That is what I did all the time, for a long time. And know this too shall pass. Roll with it, and it will change before you know it!

 

[Munchkin]

I am SO sorry you had such a rotten night! Those are the nights that you wish you could train your body to sleep standing up while rocking the babe...

What time of day do you typically pump? Generally speaking your best "bang for the buck" is after the first two AM feeds. Since your supply naturally dwindles throughout the day, pumping later tends to be more work than it's worth, plus it can set you up for worse cluster feeding that evening. With that said, there are exceptions to every rule! When I was losing my mind over growth spurt/cluster sessions and just needed a break, DH would feed B some pumped and I would pump in another room to keep up supply. Make sense?

Pilsnpinksmom (sorry if I butchered that!) It has lots to do with age and habit. I wouldn't tell a parent of a newborn to offer more than 4, but massive dietary changes occur between 2 and 8 weeks. If a baby dry bottles 4 offer another 1/2 or 1 oz. The time it takes to pour it and reset the feed will allow some satiety feelings to kick in if a baby isn't truly hungry. "Topping off the tank" with a bit more isn't likely to cause a belly ache, but offering another full bottle sure could. Most babies from 2-12 months need about 24-32 oz of breast milk or formula daily. Obviously, older infants are supplementing that with solids. If you're in that range and gaining well, you're golden. Just be aware that if 4 oz feeds keep getting closer and closer together as baby ages, they are asking you for larger bottles in a sitting.

 

[FrekeChild]

A is ten months now, and has been sleeping through the night since she was about 7 weeks, with regressions here and there. Right now I blame the regressions on teething.

She started sleeping through the night at 7 weeks because she caught a cold. Newborns sleep so much anyway, but we woke up after going to bed at midnight to find out that she hadn't woken us up in the middle of the night and we both panicked.

Since then, here and there we have had regressions where she won't sttn. I think for the most part it's because of teething - she wakes up crying when she's teething, and usually wakes up happy when she's not in pain.

As far as developing a routine, we used walks in the afternoon and exposure to as much sunlight as we could during the early days. We have been very fortunate in that we haven't had to use any daycare providers and work around their schedules. My husband or myself have been with her all hours of the day since birth except for a couple hours a week on Mondays for a while.

Now that I'm a SAHM, her schedule is almost as good as clockwork since I can read her like a book and can cater to her needs exactly. Before I was a SAHM, it was a lot less regimented.

She transitioned from 3 naps to 2 around month 8, but sometimes goes back to having three naps if one nap gets cut short or just is really tired for some reason.

My suggestions:

Follow your baby and do what works for you and the kiddo! Try anything and everything and go with what works!!

(I have more to say, but baby is crawling on me.

 

[amc80]

Well, today is as much better day. We had some parenting wins and a few parenting fails last night, but overall things were better.

I went to a breast feeding support group yesterday. B weighed 10lbs 10oz, which means he's gained 20oz since his 1 month checkup (2 weeks ago). So definitely healthy and definitely getting enough to eat. We weighed him before and after a feeding and he got just over 3oz, which the LC said was pretty perfect for his age/weight. All good.

For a variety of reasons, B's afternoon feedings happened at 12, 2, 4, 6, and 8. Didn't plan it, just sort of how it worked out. He also didn't sleep more than maybe an hour at a time all afternoon. I put him down to sleep around 8:30...ended up feeding him again around 9, but after that he was super chill and fell asleep by 9:30. As did I. He slept ALLLL the way until 1:30. Which is fascinating, because he had been going to sleep at 10 and waking up at midnight pretty consistently. Not sure if it was all the eating or the lack of a long nap or what. Win.

DH and I decided that when he woke up we would give him formula (so DH could feed) and I would just pump. This was awesome, so much nicer just pumping for 15 minutes while the baby happily sucked down his 4oz (part of the parenting fail). B went right back to sleep and slept until 4:30. He woke up a bit fussy, which has been pretty normal for this time of the day. He spit up a little...then a little more...then a lot more. Like 1-2oz or so, easily. We figured we had just fed him too much and that was what was left in his stomach. Then he acted hungry, so I let him feed a bit (parenting fail #2). I put him down and he spit up a little. I sat him up to burp him again and he proceeded to throw up EVERYTHING. The rest of the formula and the breast milk. The formula looked like it had just been sitting in his stomach for 3 hours.

Aside from the obvious (don't give him so much formula), any thoughts? I remember in the hospital we gave him a little formula and the same thing happened- he threw it up, but not for a few hours after he had eaten. Despite being covered in throw up at 4am, I'm thrilled to have gotten a 4 hour and 3 hour chunk of sleep

 

[FrekeChild]

Yay for solid sleep!

I'd be careful with how much you feed him with a bottle. It sounds like he probably had too much to eat, and that's probably one of the reasons for all of it coming back up. What kind of bottle are you using? Keep in mind that the flow from the bottle is going to be much faster than the flow from your nipple, so he may have drank so much because his brain didn't get the chance to say that he was full. At this point I'd bet that he is probably good with 3oz or so per feeding, but I'm a terrible judge of that because A has always been a light eater. Do you get lots of good burps out of him?

As for his sleep, it sounds like it went pretty well!

 

[amc80]

Yay for solid sleep!

I'd be careful with how much you feed him with a bottle. It sounds like he probably had too much to eat, and that's probably one of the reasons for all of it coming back up. What kind of bottle are you using? Keep in mind that the flow from the bottle is going to be much faster than the flow from your nipple, so he may have drank so much because his brain didn't get the chance to say that he was full. At this point I'd bet that he is probably good with 3oz or so per feeding, but I'm a terrible judge of that because A has always been a light eater. Do you get lots of good burps out of him?

As for his sleep, it sounds like it went pretty well!

I use the Avent bottles with the level 1 flow (the slowest). I stop every ounce or so to burp and he usually burps really well right away.

Yes, the sleep was so much better. It's amazing what a difference it makes. Also amazing that I think 4 hours + 3 hours = a lot of sleep.

 

[amc80]

I forgot to mention the swaddle situation. Didn't swaddle him last night, just sort of tucked him in with a blanket. It was tight enough to give him some pressure but loose enough to where he was able to wiggle his hands out, which made him happy. Win-win!