11 week old with lots of issues suddenly!

[Lucysmom]

Hello –

I am having some difficulties with my 11 week old dd and would love any insight you may have about what is going on with her.  This is REALLY long so I apologize in advance for that.  I don’t know if I can isolate the problems we are having as they might be all related so I am including everything here.  I also don’t know where to post this considering it covers feeding, night wakings, and her schedule…  Sorry.

Last week she was sleeping through the night from about 9 pm to 6 am.  We went away for the weekend (with her) and since then she is not sleeping through the night.  It may very well be her 3 month growth spurt because she is waking up at different times to eat.  For 3 nights she would drink 6 ounces in the middle of the night and go right back to sleep.  However, last night she woke up twice and drank about 2.5-3 ounces each time.  This, of course, concerns me.  Also, she has not been feeding well during the day (this started while we were away and continues now that we are home).  She just does not seem interested and pushes the bottle out with her tongue and gags if I try to put the bottle back in her mouth.  She would usually drink 4-4.5 ounces every 3 hours during the day (she is on 3 hour EASY) and now it is a struggle to get her to drink.  I have switched to a faster flow nipple as of yesterday evening and it is too soon to say if that does the trick.  I have thought about moving her toward the 4 hour EASY but she gets very tired after being awake for an hour and a half so don’t know if that would help.  It is frustrating as I want to get more calories in her during the day so that she is not up at night but that does not seem to be happening.  I try to cluster feed in the evening (usually at 6 and 8pm) but the last feeding she fights like mad (she has done this for ages).  I have not done the DF because her bedtime is later (see below) and it just seems like I would be putting her to bed and then feeding her again an hour later.

Her schedule is the 3 hour EASY and we just start whenever she wakes up (can be 6, 6:30, 7).  Her A time is about 1.5 hours each cycle and then she has been napping until the next feed.  I am waiting for her to revert to 45 minute naps (please God no!!! :shock: ).  I have to wake her up to feed her and I don’t let her sleep more than an hour and 45 minutes at a time during the day.  I am really trying to keep her at 2 naps of 1.5, one of 1.75, and one catnap in the evening around 5:30-6:00.  Her bedtime is a bit wonky.  It varies between 8:30 and 9:30.  I know the book says to put the baby to bed at 7 but that does not make sense considering a 3 month old needs about 10 hours of nighttime sleep.  If I put her to bed then wouldn’t she want to be up at 5 am?  But I realize that she is awake for a long time in the evening (sometimes from 6 to 9) so that is not good.  My dh gives her a bath as a part of her bedtime routine and he really enjoys it.  But her bath seems to wind her up and he cannot commit to doing it the same time each night.  I think it will break his heart if I say that bath time should be moved.   

Another thing Lucy is doing is that she does not seem to be able to get back into a deep sleep starting at 5 am (or sometimes 4).  She will doze, but will make TONS of noise grunting, groaning, stretching, moving around.  We try to just ignore her until at least 6.  She sleeps in a cradle in our room but will outgrow it soon.  Dh has felt that maybe she did not want to be swaddled anymore so will unswaddle her sometimes in the early morning (she is always swaddled at bedtime and naptime).  I don’t think it really helps to unswaddle her as her hands disturb her.  It seems that as soon as the sun starts to rise she can’t get back into a deep sleep.  I put her back down for a nap about 1.5 hours after she is up for the day and I can tell that she is REALLY tired.  Our room does not have window treatments so maybe will have to move her into her nursery now so that it is a bit darker?   

Have to run now as she seems to be having trouble staying asleep for her first nap (does not bode well for the rest of the day and is unusual).  Again, I am so sorry for the length of this.  Thanks for any advice you may have about any of the issues.  This website is a godsend.  Actually, the more accurate thing to say is that you ladies (and men) are a godsend!  Thank you!!!

[mommynow]

It must be an age thing!!  My 11 week old is having issues too.

Mine is the other way around though.  She is sleeping longer at night (12 hours with one feeding inbetween) and will not nap long. 

I think what is happening is she is hungry more now during the day from going longer at night.  She will not sleep longer than 45 minutes most naps and it has only been 2 hours since her last feed.  I tried getting her back to sleep because I thought she was having trouble transitioning between sleep cycles but now as I watch her cues I think she is waking up hungry. 

It makes it very hard to stay on a 3 hour EASY.  My daughter also gets tired after 1.15hours so I can't keep her up longer and make her sleep longer.

Maybe you DC is doing the same thing but has it reversed.  Maybe you could try to extend the times at night between feedings so that he will be more hungry during the day again and then you could offer the bottle more often during the day so that he drops the night feeding.

[loliac]

I'm not expert but could your dd be overtired? That could be throwing EVERYTHING off. My dd is 11 weeks too and we are still pretty much letting her give us her cues as to what she needs. She is still just staying up about an hour and sleeping (naps) for about 2 hours. Sometimes this varies but not very often. She seems to cluster feed on her own in the evening. We don't force this. We put her to bed around 8pm and then DF her around 10pm. She ususally only takes a couple of oz. at the DF but she sleeps until 6:30am usually. Some days she eats better than others and we just go with the flow.

Our room does not have window treatments so maybe will have to move her into her nursery now so that it is a bit darker?

I would say move her to her nursery. You'll sleep better and so will she. Just my opinion!

Good luck!

[Critter]

I agree with loliac!  Move her to her nursery.  You will sleep better and so will she.  When she is in your room, you hear every grunt and gurgle and if you're anything like me, jump to see what's wrong.  We've had our son taking naps in his room since 4 weeks old and moved him in there for nights at 5 weeks old.  It's a long walk when you just need to give him his paci, but it's definitely worth it!

I am having feeding problems similar to yours and Luke is only 10 weeks old.  He's pushing his bottle out as well and only taking 2-3 oz at some feeds, but the usual 6 oz at others.  As for night time, he gets his bath around 7 or 7:30, goes to bed b/t 8 and 8:30.  Sometimes he'll wake for a bottle at 11, and sometimes he goes till 2, but he always goes back to sleep and usually lasts until 6.  The cluster and dream feed didn't work for us, and I so wish it did.  If he's not hungry, he REFUSES to eat.

What kind of bottles do you use?  Just curious.  We use Avent and we're on the #2 nipple...

[Lucysmom]

Thanks Mommynow, loliac, and Amy for your replies.  We did move her to her nursery last night and my dh did the dreamfeed at 11:30 and she slept through to 6am.  Her last feed was 7:30 and then I was finally able to get her to sleep at 9:15.  We are off schedule today as I had a babysitter for a few hours and I fed Lucy at 6:30 and she threw up the whole feed practically.  She is not ill, I think I may have been force feeding her  :oops:  :cry: .  So now I will wait a while and keep activity really low key and then try to feed her a bit before she goes to sleep.  I know she will have a nightwaking tonight because of my stupidity. 

I also have started feeding her every 3.5 hours instead of every 3 and that has helped.  It means we do EAS first thing in the morning, and then AEAS the rest of the day. It is working out OK but is limiting as I cannot run out with her during her activity times as both times are so short. 

Thanks again for reading and responding to my super long and neurotic posting!  Oh, and by the way Amy we are using Dr. Brown's bottles with level 2 nipples for babies 3 months and older.

Hope you are all having great weekends with your lo's!

Melissa

[Mom2X&F&V]

My dd is 11 weeks and having the same problems. She refuses to take the bottle by pushing it with her tongue. I didn´t insist much and she was eating only 3 or 4 ounces each time so for the night she was waking up every 3 hours. Three days ago I left her with mother and she had no trouble at all. So... if you insist more with the bottle she may eat as usual. Mine eats 6 oz. every 4 hours. She is on a 4 hour easy and goes to sleep at 8 df at 11 and eat again at 7 am. But now she won´t sleep until 9 and wakes up at 4 am... Sooooo I think it is an issue according to the age... she also is sleeping less at naps, and having a lot of tummy issues (colic, gas, reflux) so she wakes up because something is bothering her. Hope next week would be better....  I give her Dr. Brown as she  won´t take Avent  because the nipple is too hard.   Good luck....

[loliac]

We are using Dr. Brown's with the #2 nipple as well.

[Critter]

So, should I switch Luke to the Avent #3 nipple?

[Lucysmom]

Hi Daniela - Our babies were born on the same day - how cool is that?!      I am sorry you are having trouble feeding your lo as well.  Last night I decided to persist a bit too much with her feeding and she ended up vomiting the whole thing practically.   :cry:  :oops:   So I will not do that again.  I have tried giving her breaks in feeding (just a minute or two) and that has helped a bit.  So your dd is on the 4 hour EASY already?  When did you switch her?  I don't think my dd could handle the longer awake time.  Would love to hear what your schedule is like. 

Must get going but thanks for your reply...

[Critter]

We are on the 4 hour EASY and have been for about three or 4 weeks.  Luke is 10 weeks old today.  He put himself on the 4 hour EASY.  I guess it was easier for us b/c he's a formula baby.  He also started taking 5 oz at a time when he was 5 weeks old.  Now we make 6 oz bottles and sometimes he'll suck it all down and other times he'll just take about 3 1/2 oz.  Our pedi told us to make more than we thought he'd eat.

My  problem is that the last few days he's going for obscenely long stretches without eating, or only eating 1-2 oz.  Last night he went from 6:30 (with only 1 1/2 oz at that feed) till 1:30 (at which point he sucked down a 6 oz bottle).  We tried feeding him in between there, and he would have none of it.  I guess they just know when they want to eat....still...very frustrating to me considering that I could have set a 4 hour timer by his eating schedule!

[mcconnfamily]

Hello all!  My ds is 11 wks old tomorrow and in reading your questions/responses I have a few of my own for you guys. 

I am bfeeding and pumping for my husband when I work mornings and for the nights he feeds in early am.  I'm worried that I may not be feeding him enough in reading your posts but he doesn't seem overly hungry.  Out of a bottle he gets about 3.5 ounces and I bf him about 10-15 min. single side.  I used to give about 4 ounces but he would spit up so much and sometimes even 2 hours after I fed him.  So . . . my ped. said to try 3.5 ounces (this was a week or so ago) and the spit up issue has been somewhat better.  Is this not enough???

I do cluster feed him at night and he usually goes down for good between 8:30-9:00pm.  In the past week he will wake up about every 2-3 hrs. and we have to go in to put the paci in his mouth.  Sometimes he will drift back off until about 2am and then he won't stop until we feed him.  He then will sometimes wake up by 5:30am.  He was sleeping longer and sometimes all the way until 7am until about a week ago.  Is this a growth spurt? Could it be I'm not feeding him enough?  I would like to try the dreamfeed regularly but the one night we did he was up every hour crying and we just kept giving him the paci.  What do you think?

Wow this is tough!

[Mom2X&F&V]

Hi there... yesssss  May 30th...
I didn´t switch her, she takes 6 oz. of formula, maybe that is why... I was triying the 3 hour but she kept vomiting and didn't eat. You can try  by giving her every 3.5 hours for 1 week, then for 3 and 40 min next week... and so on. That´s what my ped told me at first.  My routine goes like this: is more like EASAE
7:00 E
7:40 A (just diaper change)
8:00 S
10:30 A
11:00 E
11:40 A
1:00 S
2:30 A
3:00 E
3:40 A
4:30 S
6:30 A (BATH TIME)
7:00 E
8:00 S
11:00 DF (3 or 4 oz.)
AND GOOD NIGHT TIL 7 AM !!!!!!

My dd is now eating ok... guess it was just a week issue. I must say my dd is like an angel. Maybe she is not an angel type... but I can´t complain at all. Hope we can talk more as we have exactly the same age babies....

[Critter]

I wish we could do a DF.  My son REFUSES to eat if he's sleeping.  Believe me, we've tried!  HE wakes up around 2 for a bottle, but then goes right back to sleep until 6 or 6:30