Naps, bedtime and sleeping through - questions

[londoner]

Hi

My LO is now 12 weeks old. She feeds roughly every 3 hours (EBF), and is generally a good sleeper ie she goes down well for naps and at bedtime. She is not sleeping through the night yet. (I am currently trying a cluster at 5pm and 7pm then a dream feed at about 10/10.30pm and then she wakes one other time for a night feed).

However, she doesn't feed well at 7pm (I guess it's too soon) and sometimes not that well at the dream feed either.
Also, this last week or so, she is getting tired well before 7pm so the final feed has been more like 6.30pm, at which time, not surprisingly, she doesn't take much. She is not napping between the 5pm and 6.30/7pm feeds - I guess I'm not really letting her.

How can I tweak all this to get more efficient later afternoon/early evening feeds and to encourage her to sleep through the night?

Cheers

[anna*]

Hi there, welcome to the boards

I think most mums will have dropped the cluster feed by this point and just do the before bedtime feed and then dreamfeed. If she's hungrier at the dreamfeed, she should take more.

Although, honestly, those sleeping through at three months are definitely in the minority - most BF babies I know take quite a while longer. If she's only waking once after the dreamfeed, she's really doing very well.

[londoner]

Thanks for your reply Anna.
So how would you drop the 5pm ish feed though? Just try and time it better during the day so that the previous feed is earlier?

[anna*]

Difficult to say without seeing her whole routine? With my LO we were doing feeds at approx 7, 10, 1, 4, then before bed at 6.30ish

[londoner]

Anna - Thanks again.
 
Our routine is similar although she's been having a longer sleep at lunchtime this last week or so which means we feed at 7.30 and 10.30 but then the 1.30 feed slips to 2pm, hence feeding at 5.

I guess I'll try getting her up for 1.30 and do a 4.30 but then let her have a nap before 7?

Any other thoughts or suggestions will be gratefully received. 

[anna*]

At 3 months most are still having 4 naps per day - 3 decent long ones plus a cat nap to get through to bedtime. Remember you don't HAVE to wait three hours - if your lunchtime nap slips til 2 you can feed again at 4.30 if that will help your evenings.

As a guide, a sort of 'perfect' EASY for 3 months woul dbe something like
7.30 feed
9 nap
10.30 feed
12 nap
1.30 feed
3 nap
4.30 feed
6 catnap ~30-45 mins
6.45 awake
7 last feed
7.30 asleep for the night