12 week old, can he do 4 hr easy?

[michelleerin]

Hi,

I have a 12 week old, and we still having problems with feeding and sleeping. Been on easy since 2 weeks. He is hard to feed will take 3 oz no prob and then it will be a struggle to get the other 2 oz into him. His naps he will not sleep more than 30/40 mins in cot and then need shush pat and may or may not go back asleep. But in the buggy or car he will sleep for his whole nap time.
At night is up at 10/11 may be a df or he will wake 4/5 oz no problem, then he will sleep untill anout 1/2 need soother may sleep for an hour more, wake repeat shush pat etc. 4 am bottle 4/5 oz, go back asleep at 5ish up maybe at 6am,need help to reseetle or sometimes he wont go back asleep.
I really need some advice as we are up so much during the night giving him the soother, etc as he wont sleep longer than 2 hrs at a time. Would he benifit from a four hour easy? His 7am bottle may not drink a lot of it. Also i have changed him on to the comfort formuls as he was windy etc, seemed to have helped a bit.Would the soother be a prop, also he is swaddled but does love his hands will i stiop swaddling, but i dont know how he will sleep if we do?
Not sure what to do at this stage, the naps and bottles really a struggle, any advice really appreciated.
Michelle

[Lolly]

At 12 weeks some bottle fed babies do need to move to a 4 hour feeding routine but they aren't able to do the 2 hour A time needed for a 4 hour EASY so they need to do something like EASAES for a few weeks until their A times catch up.

That said, I wonder if you actually have something like reflux going on  Colic, Reflux, & Crying. Poor feeds, unsettled nights and poor naps are common symptoms. Have a look at the link and see what you think.

Have you tried feeding at 1/2am? If you are DF at 10/11 it is likely that the 1/2am waking is hunger and the fact that it takes ages to settle and then he wakes repeatedly until you feed at 4 does suggest hunger to me. If the waking is 3 hours or more since the last feed I would just feed and resettle to be honest.

What do you think?

Laura

[michelleerin]

Hi Laura,

Thanks for the reply. I will try the four hour and see how he goes. I would say at 1/2 he would feed, but im nervous that it will reintroduce all the nights feeds. Should i be trying to wean him off these at this age? But i dont want to neglect either if he is hungry?
Thanks for advice

[Lolly]

You don't need to wean nightfeeds at this age at all! Some babies drop NFs themselves which is fine, but the majority need a feed until they start solids really. The only time to think about reducing or dropping a NF is if they refuse the first feed of the day, but a DF and 1 nightfeed at this age is totally normal!

Did the reflux stuff seem likely at all?

Laura

[michelleerin]

that makes sense, i think too many people are telling me he should be sleeping etc and not feeding at night! He did have reflux, was spitting up but seems to have got better last few weeks, but maybe silent, i will reread and maybe that is the problem.
Really great to get some reasurrance, at least i dont feel like im doing the wrong thing all the time!
Michelle