How do you get LO to have bigger feeds during the day?

[elisha77]

Charlotte is 3 months and goes down at 7pm, DF @ 10.30 and then waking anywhere between 3.30 - 5am, then back to sleep til 7am. In the last few weeks she has started to wake anywhere from 1am, (put dummy in), wakes again around 2am, then around 3am (feed her then), then wakes again at 5 and then at 6am shes ready to get up. This is becomming more and more frequent, i really want her to go from 7pm - 7am with a DF and another feed in between which she was doing well unti lately.
I am thinking these NW are because she isn't getting enough food during the day, she is bottlefed and has 180ml in her bottles but will mainly now only take 100ml each feed, sometimes a little more. How can I get here to take more during the day? She is 12lb.

[* Paula *]

Hi and welcome to the BW website.

Can you post what you routine looks like with

E - how much
A - how long
S - how long

It could be a number of reasons why your lo is waking in the night.  Your lo could be over tired, the dummy could be the problem, or she could genuinely be hungry.

How long have you been doing the DF for?  How long have the extra night wakenings been happening?

[elisha77]

Hi & thank you for the welcome

Charlotte is pretty much on 4 hour easy,

7am - Feed
9am - Sleep
11am - Feed
1pm - Sleep
3pm - Feed
4.30pm - Nap
6.30pm - Feed
7pm - Bed
10.30pm - Dreamfeed
3am - 5am - Feed

She is up for 2 hours A except for before her 4.30pm nap where she is up for 90minutes, she doesn't have any problem going 4 hours between feeds and seems to like the routine. She was taking about 120ml each feed for nearly 2 months, would never take any more but has slowly been increasing amount she takes. I have 180ml in her bottles, the last week most of the time she takes between 100ml - 130ml, but sometimes will take 150, her Dreamfeed is about 80 - 100ml.
She doesn't seem interested in her 7am feed at all but will eventually take about 100ml but fusses around alot which she doesn't do at other feeds.
I have been doing the dreamfeed for 2 months, and the extra night wakenings have been happening for about 2 weeks, I can only think of a few nights where she has slept from her DF past 3am when before she had no problem doing it.
Last night she went down at 7pm, DF at 10.30pm then woke at 1.50am, took til 2.30am to get her back to sleep then she woke at 4am. The night before after the dreamfeed she woke at 1,2,3,5 then awake at 6!!
She does have the dummy but we always try and settle her without it but she still has it a bit and we use it if she wakes before a feed during the night.
Her two day sleeps are between 1hr - 2 hours and a 40min nap which she will now have most days.

[* Paula *]

You say that she is fussing when you feed her.  I am wondering if perhaps she may be bored with the flow of her teat and require a faster flow nipple?

How long are your lo's naps? 

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

Hi,

I was still BF mostly when Spencer was that age, but she had one bottle a day of formula. She always liked the faster flow nipples and lately we switched to sippy cups as the bottles weren't cutting it for her! I would think to go up to a faster flow too.

Heidi

[elisha77]

Been unable to get on the net for a while so a late post, since I last posted I changed her to a faster flowing teat but she still seems to drink similar amount, over the last 5 days she is drinking a little more during the day, she still doesn't seem overly interested in her 7am feed but I still give it to her and she takes between 30m - 100ml.
She starting sleeping better at night going from 7 - 4am with a dreamfeed at 10.30 and even did till 5.30 one morning! She does still wake though not as often as before, I just resettle her unless its after 3am then I give her a feeed. So the NW have improved but last night she was awake every 30mins between 10pm - 4am and then awake at 6am - not sure if she is going through a growth spurt? - she is 14 weeks.
Am wondering whether I should try and resettle her when she wakes about 3/4am to see if she will sleep longer as she seems to be in a real pattern now of waking at 4 so I'm wondering whether she is waking because she is hungry or because when she does wake I feed her so she is used to that. She normally takes up to 100ml at that feed.

[TDR'smom]

Great Great news on the 10pm-4am stretch.  She could very well be going through a growth spurt however they only typically last a few days...

By 14 weeks, I would try to resettle DD overnight before feeding her.  I found that sometimes just reswaddling or giving her the paci, she'd go back to sleep and not need to feed!  It is worth a try!!!
You are up anyways!!!   

Good luck!

xxx
Judy

[* Paula *]

How long is your lo's naps during the day?

Can you post what your day looks like now?

[elisha77]

Charlotte has 2 x 2hr sleeps & 1 x 40min nap, usually in the bigger sleeps she mostly wakes after 40mins and I have to go in and resettle which can take up to 10/15mins.

Her day is:

7am - Feed (She has lately been waking before 7 but we don't get her out of her cot till 7 in hope that she will start to sleep till then!)
9am - Sleep
11am - Feed
1pm - Sleep
3pm - Feed
4.30pm - Nap
6.30pm - Feed
7pm - Bed
10.30pm - Dreamfeed
4am - Feed

The last 3 nights have been awful, awake by 1am and waking every 30mins all night till her feed at around 4, then she will sleep for 2 hours and be awake again at 6. She doesn't seem hungry before 4, just keeps waking, I resettle she goes back to sleep - 30/40mins it starts all over again - am hoping it just a growth spurt.

[* Paula *]

Just wondering if your lo has a dummy - just trying to figure out what might be causing these NW's.

There is a growth spurt around the 4 month mark so it could very well be that your lo is going through a growth spurt.