need some help with feeding schedule

[sl]

Hi,

I have a 3 week old who was born at 9 pounds 1 oz.  He has already gained 1 pound since birth.  The problem I'm having is that he is waking every 1.5hrs to eat. I feed him 3ozs of formula. When I try to get him down for a nap we have a really hard time. By the time I get him down for a nap (which can take about 30mins) he is waking hungry again.  At night I have the same problem.  I am trying to implement EASY and am having a really hard time.  Last night I did a dreamfeed at 10pm (he took the full 3ozs) and he was awake by 12:15 for another feeding.
Am I doing something wrong? Does anyone have any suggestions??

Thanks
Lori

[shimzy]

Congratulations first off 

Is he draining the bottles? Or is there some left in the bottom of the bottle?

If he is draining the bottles, he needs more. Despite what the books say, babies will eat what they will eat. Some eat more, some eat less.

[sl]

My lo usually finishes each bottle but sometimes he leaves about 1/2 oz.  I have tried to give him 4ozs but he seems to spit up more.

[shimzy]

Are you not giving him 4 oz because he spits up? Or does he want to eat the 4 oz?

Babies spit up.. its just kinda what they do 

There is a big difference between spitting up and vomiting too.

[Meggie]

Could you post your routine?  Include things like how many oz he takes at each feed, what you do for activity, wind-down?

I agree with PP.  If your LO is taking the 4oz, then he needs it even if he is spitting up a bit.  They actually spit up less than it looks cause the formula is mixed with saliva etc when it comes out of the tummy.  I always offer my LO about 1oz more than I expect her to eat so that I know that she is getting enough.

I also want to add that many babies start with a 2 hour EASY and there is a growth spurt at 3 weeks aswell.  If he is going through a growth spurt he will want to eat every 1.5 hours and that is totally normal.  For the first 3 months of your LOs life, your EASY will be very go-with-the-flow and that is totally normal.

[sl]

This is what our EASY looked like yesterday. 
6:30-7am feeding 3oz
Diaper change
7:25-8:30 Nap
8:30-8:50 feeding 3oz
No Nap-lo would not go down on his own. He got a few minutes of sleep in my arms but every time I put him down he
would start crying
10-10:20 feeding 2oz only
No nap-same problem as above
12:30-1pm feeding 3 oz
1:30-2:50 Nap
2:50-3:05 feeding 3oz
3:10-5pm Nap
5-5:20 feeding 3ozs
5:30-7pm Nap
7:20-7:40 feeding 4 ozs
7:40-8:00pm bath and wind down
8:45-10pm sleep
10pm dreamfeed 3oz
12-12:15am feeding 3oz
12:30-2:15am sleep
2:15-2:30 feeding 3oz
3-4:30am sleep
4:30-4:40am feeding 3 ozs
5-6:20am sleep

I tried to give my lo 4 ozs and he would take it sometimes and leave about 1/2 oz in the bottle other times.  It looks like 3 1/2 ozs might be the right amount for him. What do you think? 
I don't do any activities with him...should I be???
The major problem I'm having is getting him down to sleep on his own, not in my arms.  I have tried a pacifier and it seems to work for a few minutes.

I would really appreciate any help I can get.

Thanks
Lori

[Meggie]

Just feed him what he will take.  Is this a typical day for you since birth, or has things changed in the last couple days.  If this is a change from what is normal, then you probably are having a growth spurt, and continue what you are doing, he needs to eat that much.  I would personally wait it out a couple days to see if things calm down a bit.

I have noticed that you are sometimes putting him down for a nap 20-30 minutes after he has woken up.  Is he showing sleepy cues?  You might want to try to extend his awake times to about a hour, 45 mins if he cant go 1 hour.  You may also want to introduce some very low-key activities.  At this age I brought my LO out of her room and sang to her on the couch, started a bit of tummy time and just talked to her.  That is all the activity they need.  When she started to show sleepy signs(10-15 mins later), I brought her into her room and did a diaper change and bedtime routine.  Her total awake time was 50 mins- 1 hour.

Some BWs (myself included) did not focus on independent sleep until our LOs were a little older (I started at 7 weeks), many start from day one... either way is perfectly fine.  If you start early, you will probably see results earlier, but I found that DD was NOT napping if I tried shh/pat, so I deciede to let it go for the time.  She took to independent sleep almost immediately at 7 weeks.  If you are committed to independent sleep from early on, I would ask the wonderful mods in the sleep forum.

Let us know how things go the next couple days!