3.5 mo still taking 5 naps!

[MegDinsdale]

So here is my dilema...my daughter who is about 3.5 months old still eats 7 times a day.  Her day usually starts at 7-7:30 am and her last feeding is between 10-10:30 pm. I give her breastmilk, but she will not latch on anymore, so I have to pump and give it to her in a bottle.  She usually eats 5 ounces everytime (She is a chubby little one).  Anyway, she is usually awake for 1.5-2 hours and then will sleep for an hour...sometimes I think she would sleep longer, but I have to wake her up so that she can get seven feedings during the day (so sometimes her naps are less than an hour).  If she gets less than 7 feedings then she will wake up in the middle of the night (and I really enjoy that she has not had to do that for a while).  I try and give her more to eat, but she won't take anymore and I don't want to force it. 
So she ends up taking about 5 naps a day!  It seems like each step in EASY is so short (probably because it is, only lasting 2.5 hour intervals, but because I wake her up).  She has no problem going down for naps.  I guess my question is..how do I get her into the 3-4 hour EASY and taking only 3 naps?  What would the schedule be like?  IS she then only eating 5 or 6 times a day and how do I get her to do that (i.e. have less feedings) and still sleep through the night?
I feel as though I just rambled forever and asked way too many questions.  But if you can make any sense of it....and help would be greatly appreciated!  Thank you!

[becky1969]

My first thought is that if you feed her less frequently, she should take bigger feedings each time. So, you'd still get the same amount in her but in fewer feeds. It won't necessarily be in increments you expect - so you need to offer her more than you know she'll take. In other words, one feed she might take 4 oz, but the next feed she might take 5.5-6 oz. It might take a few days for her to get used to the new feed schedule, so don't despair if the first few days she doesn't get it. But, I don't think you'll want to continue waking for feeds at this age - it could backfire.

My concern with you waking to feed her is that she'll get used to short napping, and won't be able to take longer naps when you want her to.

[MegDinsdale]

That is exactly what I am worried about as well.  So how long is too long to nap?  Like today I decided to not wake her up and she went for 2 hours.  What would an example schedule be like for a baby at this age? Thank you so mcuh for your help earlier too!

[becky1969]

I'm glad I'm able to help! I'm a little sleep deprived due to baby's ear infection last night, so I'm never sure if what I say makes sense when I'm like this! 

At 3.5 months old, most babies are starting to transition from 3 hour EASY to 4 hour EASY. Some go to a 3.5 hour easy as they adjust to going longer between feeds. Tracy recommends that you don't let your baby sleep longer than 2 hours during the day (at least at this young age - once you move to one nap, your child might sleep 2.5 hours), so that your LO keeps the difference between daytime and nighttime sleeps. A 2 hour nap at this age is the perfect length, so way to go LO!

I think at that age, Owen was going to a 4 hour EASY, and we pretty much went straight to 4 hours because he was ready. His A time was about 1.75-2 hours, so he'd be awake for around 2 hours, sleep for 2 hours, etc. We also had a 45 minute cat nap at the end of the day.


A good routine at this age would be:

7am wake/eat
9-11 nap

11 am wake/eat

1 pm-3 pm nap

3 pm wake/eat

4:45-5/5:30 nap

7:30 bed


I think you are going to find this adjustment very easy. Sounds like LO is textbook or angel, and very adjustable. The fact that you have a 1.5-2 hour awake time right now is perfect for make the change to a 3.5-4 hour EASY. And, you were able to get her to take a 2 hour nap, so she is able to do it! That's FABULOUS! Lots of moms would kill for that! You're at an age where 30-45 minute naps become a tough hurdle to get over, so you are doing beyond wonderful!

Anyway, try letting her nap as long as she needs (no more than 2 hours though), and then feeding her. Like I said, she may not eat as much as you'd like at the first feed or two, but by the end of the day my guess is she'll make up the difference with a couple of large feedings. That's how my DS was. His first 2 feeds of the day were relatively small, but his last 2 feeds were very large (I think he was taking 6-7 oz at that age for 1-2 bottles!), so in the end it worked out. We had a dream feed at 10/10:30 (which it sounds like you're doing), and then that was it for the night! I also had a luscious chunky monkey - he was 17 lbs at 4 months old - so, I know the worry that their little tummies will empty before the night is done. But, my guess is you'll be fine by just adjusting the feeds.

My only other suggestion is to make sure that the nipple size is the correct one on the bottles, especially if she's used to being BF. At 3 months old, we had to change to size 2 nipples because size 1 were too slow. What would happen is that he'd get bored with how long it was taking, and so would take a short feed. When we switched to size 2, he started taking full feeds again because he could eat fast enough. There was an adjustment period with a little bit of glugging and choking, which I solved by starting the feed with Size 2, ending it with Size 1 once he started choking.

Hope that helps!