Author Topic: Frequent feeding means EASY only lasts 1 1/2-2 hours!  (Read 758 times)

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Offline mrsbennett

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Frequent feeding means EASY only lasts 1 1/2-2 hours!
« on: November 04, 2010, 11:48:05 am »
I'm a new mum to a lovely 7 week old boy who has taken to only napping for 30-45 mins in the day and then waking up crying (complete with tears). The only thing I've found that settles him is to feed him (I'm BF exclusively) but that means he's now feeding every 1 1/2-2 hours which is getting exhausting. He seemed to have a 2 1/2-3 hr routine sorted a few weeks ago but has shortened this over the last couple of weeks. He's still sleeping well at night (going to bed between 7-8 pm then DF at 10.30 pm, one feed in the night (between 2.30-4am) then next feed 7-8am so he doesn't seem bothered by shorter naps in the day. I try not to overstimulate in the A time (nappy change and maybe 10-15 mins on playmat/tummy time) before swaddling & putting to bed once he's yawned a couple of times & he's v good at sending himself off to sleep but rarely goes beyond 30-45 mins.

I can deal with the short naps if that's what he's happiest doing (although a longer block way some point in the day would be good for my sanity!) but I'm finding the frequent feeding very tiring & frustrating. 

He feeds well on most occasions but he's starting to take less & less at each feeding in the afternoon and then gets quite grumpy after about 4.30 pm for about an hour but I know he can't be hungry then. He's also started to be a bit more sick after feeds than he used to be which makes me think I might be overfeeding him a bit but I don't know how else to make him stop screaming when he wakes up after a short nap. There's no problem with his weight gain & he has plenty of wet & dirty nappies so he's definitely getting enough food but is it too much?

Any thoughts from the more experienced mums about where I'm going wrong/ how to start to fix it please?!?

Offline deb

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Re: Frequent feeding means EASY only lasts 1 1/2-2 hours!
« Reply #1 on: November 04, 2010, 11:52:20 am »
To me this raises the Red Flag of Reflux: the screaming, the frequent feeds (the milk soothes the reflux burn), the short naps, the sick.

Have you seen the Relux101 post? Lots of info in there, signs to look for, some strategies to try: http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=654.0

Offline mrsbennett

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Re: Frequent feeding means EASY only lasts 1 1/2-2 hours!
« Reply #2 on: November 05, 2010, 14:18:16 pm »
Thanks for your reply; I hadn't thought about the possibility of reflux so thanks for the link to the info.

I think I typed my first note about 2 hours too soon; since I posted it, my DS managed 2 x 1.5 hr naps yesterday and a 45 min catnap before bed in the evening. Today he's gone a full 3 hours between feeds & has also been sleeping for all he's worth (1 x 1 hr, 1 x 2 hr 20 min so far and then went down again half an hour ago). He's also eating much better and has hardly been sick so far & generally seems much happier. All I've actively done to achieve this is to shorten the A time by about 15 mins and to try to get him to bed as soon as the 1st yawn happens rather than waiting for 2nd or 3rd one as I was doing before. I don't know if this will last but I'm enjoying it while it does!

Thanks again for your advice; I'll keep it mind if things start going awry again.