9 wks old- do I still try to cluster feed?

[mommy2two]

My dd is 9 weeks old today and over 12 lbs.

I am wondering if I am supposed to still try to cluster feed. I think I messed her up tonight because she ate at 4pm and then I thought to myself I would try to feed her at 6pm 8pm and DF at 10:30. Well, she took a 3oz bottle of EBM at 6pm and then went to sleep around 7ish but when I woke her up to eat at 8pm she was not pleased and drank only 2 oz of EBM and went back to sleep. Now I am going to DF her at 10:30, but wonder if I would have been better off feeding her at 4pm and then at 7pm and then DF at 10pm BUT here is my dilema...she often wants to eat after 2.5hrs, which means that a likely scenerio would be that I would feed her at 4pm and 6:30pm and then she would most likely wake to eat around 9 or 9:30 before it is time for the DF. THen this would cause her to wake around 1ish for a midle of the night feed and she would most likely wake again around 4ish. I just don't know what to do. I am trying to manipulate her eating times hoping she will sleep longer at night. Currently she wakes every 3-4 hrs at night to eat.
Can someone help guide me please!!
Thanks!

[RegMum]

Your post brings back (fuzzy) memories - It's amazing what I can forget after 3.5M of sleep deprivation.   My DD started getting really angry when I woke her for 8pm feed as well, and after two days of that I said "Let's not do that anymore".  We started moving the 6 pm feed back and the 8pm feed forward until they met in the middle.  With the 2.5hr feed time, if you work on hold her off for longer and longer times until the 3 hr mark, hopefully you can get her eating a little more at each feed and not wanting to be fed earlier.  Finally, with regards to the early waking for the DF, I found that at the same time as my DD started not wanting to wake at 8pm, her biorhythm was adapting so that she was quite sleepy between 8 and midnight - it made sense because if she wasn't sleepy at this time, she wouldn't have been so bothered about getting woken.  I have always fed the last eve feed at 7 and DF at 11 - she has only woken a couple of times early - no earlier than 10:30.  Perhaps yours will be similar?

[alexandrafromHolland]

Hi, I think you should still clusterfeed, this is the only way of getting her to sleep thru the night.
What I did at 9 weeks old was: feed at 4 pm, 7pm, 9 pm and 11pm. try to make the 9pm a dreamfeed as well, you don;t have to wake her up, espcially if this makes her cranky...? When my baby was fast asleep at 9pm I gave his bottle like a dreamfeed. No problem, and at 11pm again. He slept thru the night when he was 8 weeks. And then, after three months orso, you can stop the 9pm bottle gardually...
But in this way she is fed every two hours, so you wont have to worry about 3 hours being too long.  And then give the 4pm bottle a little bit more so she will able to strech it till 7pm...

Good luck!

[mommy2two]

I like the idea of the cluster feed at 4,7,9 and 11 but I don't think I can stay up that late. I really want to do the DF by 10:30 at the very latest. Also, since dd's day never seems to start at the same time, I wonder how I will hit those feeding time targets. Any advice?

Also if she eats say 2 oz at 9 and 11 (since she wont be as hungry since it has only been 2 hrs since the last feed) how is that better that her taking a 4oz bottle all at once at 10 or 10:30pm?
Thanks!

[RegMum]

I don't think there is a real advantage of 2oz*2 vs. 4oz*1, which is why i think the book recommended the clusterfeed for younger babes with smaller capacity.  Alot of this is really about how much effort you want to put into feeding her in the evening - I'm really enjoying the 7:30 to 11 stretch of having time to myself, and with my LO was your LO's age, I was taking a 2 hour nap in the evening while my DH minded the LO if she woke.  I'm not sure how I would have made it through month 3 if not for those naps....

[alexandrafromHolland]

I think you should wake her up and be in control of what her feeding times are. Every day start at 7am, will enable those clusterfeedings in the evenings. and I also think you need to take a nap in order to strech it till 11pm.
I still have to wake up my son at 7am sometimes, 7.30 at the latest, because if I don't it will mess up his day and feeding times...and just give the amount she takes normally, at 7 and at 9 pm and 11pm because she will take whatever she wants, so at 7pm less, at 9pm more and so on, no way of telling that. Just prepare enough and she will decide herself howmuch to take at those hours.
good luck!

[mommy2two]

I would love to start the day at 7 but often she wakes up between 6 and 7 so I just go ahead and start the day. I have a 2 year old to deal with so she will hear us up and then get up too.

Yesterday I fed her at approx 7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm, 6pm and after her bath I toped her off at 7pm and then dream fed her at 10pm. She woke up at 2am, but rather then feed her I reswaddledher and gave her the paci and she went back to sleep until 4am when I fed her. Then she did sleep till 7am!  I hope it was not a fluke and she does it again tonight. Now if she would just resettle herself so I don't have to wake up at 2 am I would be so happy.

[mommy2two]

UPDATE: Ok, I fed her at 6 tonight but she fell aleep and did not want to top off at 7pm. Now I am second guessing myself and thinking I should have just waited and fed her at 7 instead of 6 because now she probably won't wait until 10pm to eat for the DF.

AGGGGGGGGGGGGG!! I just want to get this evening feeding routine settled. I keep trying something different every night and am going nuts!

[alexandrafromHolland]

Maybe that is the problem! Keep trying something different...?! If it drives you crazy, she must feel the same way?
Try to be consistent? 7 am,10 am, 1pm,4pm,7pm,9pm and 11pm. If she wakes up at 6, everything is forwarded with an hour: 6am, 9am,12pm,3pm,6pm,8pm and 10pm....falling asleep or not! Like I said, you can always make 9pm a dreamfeed as well...this SHOULD work, as long as you keep trying it consistently...Maybe it takes two days, maybe two weeks....but she will eventually get it, I am sure.

I started this routine when my son was 8 weeks old and he got the hang of it, within one week or a bit longer than that...with my help ofcourse, because I had to wake him up here and there to train his body to sleep according those hours. and he slept through the night with 8 weeks! The clusterfeeding was definetely doing it for him. and also good dayrests, cuz if they are not well rested in daytime it will make it harder for them to sleep at night peacefully as well.
As he grew bigger, I increased his intake on all bottles in order to leave out the 9pm one.

Keep trying!!

[mommy2two]

Thanks for the replys! All of the sudden I think we turned a corner and are getting into a more consistant routine. The past 2 nights, instead of feeding my dd at 2 am when she woke up, I reswaddled her and gave her the paci and she went back to sleep.  The first night until 4am when I fed her and then put her back to sleep until 7am and today she woke at 5am and I fed her and put her back to sleep until she woke up at 6:45am.

She seems to be eating around 7a,10a,1p,4p,6p(or 6:30 sometimes),8:30p(I usually have to wake her up for this one) and then DF at 10:30. She always only takes about 2 or 2.5 oz in her DF (I give her a bottle of EBM). This seems to be working for us. I can stay up till 10:30p to DF, but 11p is too late for me so I can't do the previous poster routine times.

How long to I do the 6p and 8p feedings? When should I switch to 4pm, 7pm and then 10pm DF?

[alexandrafromHolland]

I think you should keep this up until she sleep through the night...? and then gradually increase the intake on all bottles, so she will have the same amount or more in 6 feeding times instead of 7 and then you can leave out the 9pm one... Maybe she is still used to waking up at 2 am out of habit...you might try wake to sleep, to break this habit, since you don't feed her at this time anyway...?Try couple of nights and she how it goes..? I did it once or twice too, and I hated it (setting the alarm in the middle of the night...!!!) but it broke his habit of waking up and not being hungry anymore since he was clusterfed. after that he slept through the night. so your baby might do the same thing?
But I would try to do the clusterfeeding at least until she is 3 months old. After 11 weeks or so I only fed 6 times and started to use Tracy Hogg's schedules for shifting from a 3 hours routine to 4 hour routine and feeding 5 times instead of 6. I managed to get him into the 4-hour routine right in the week when he turned 4 months! But I have to say my baby is rather big and he was really ready for a 4 hour routine, less bottles, but more milk at once and sleep longer in daytime. It is a really nice schedule, it still works great!
I hope it will work out for you too! Let me know if you don't have these schedules for shifting from 3 ro 4 hour routine by the time you need it...they came in really handy for me and worked exceptionally well.

[Pacified]

Just a thought, but the BWSAYP book says not to cluster feed after 8 weeks... you still do the DF, but just drop the 4, 6, 8, 11 feeds in exchange for the 4, 7, 10 feeds. Your lo may wake up hungry for a couple of nights, but then will start taking more oz at the evening feeds.

[mommy2two]

Just curious what to do when on occasion my baby wants to eat closer to 6:30 pm rather then wait until 7pm. Should I expect her to then wake up to eat at 9:30pm and DF then?

[Pacified]

Depends, she'll probably be able to make it 3.5 hours and wake at 10:00 like usual. If not, I'd just feed her when she wakes.

[Aly Mac]

Hi there guys - just reading your posts.  My little one is 14weeks and I cluster feed but only one (if that makes sense).  I find if the last two feeds at night are only 2hours apart, she sleeps through to 4am.  I found when I didn't, she didn't do it.  Not sure if this is just coincidence or not, but it works for me. (my lo does not take to DF and seems to be fine with not having a latge feed.  Her last feed is aroun 6.30pm. Hope this helps. 

ps> I onlty started doing the EASY at 11weeks as I only just found the book.