5 mo baby, never eats for longer than 10 minutes :(

[PaulsMom]

Do you really, really think it's going to work finally?

  It will work if you are consistent.  For several months, I would try to extend my DD's naps and almost always fail.  it was really frustrating but just recently, she's figured out how to do it so I don't have to go in any more and shh-rub her tummy!  For bed-time, I also use shh-rub (because she sleeps on her back, I can't do the pat when she's lying down).  Sometimes she wakes during the night and if it's been less than 3.5 hrs since her last feed, I'll shh-rub her and she will go back to sleep.  Again it's consistency and eventually they learn.  What makes it harder is if they are used to the paci or bf to go to sleep, then you need to get them to learn something new which is stressful for a LO.  hang in there!

[annazet]

At least this is not a problem, the paci has been gone for a long time!

[PaulsMom]

how was last night?

[emily_Mae]

Hi, just wanted to say that my DD was sleeping 3/4hrs at night until 13 weeks and she started feeding 2hrly, like clock work every night. She has been doing this for 4 weeks now and last night slept 4hrs again so I'm hoping she is just coming out the other side of a phase! I did try settling her instead of feeding and only feeding her every 4 but this didn't last long as my DH couldn't help out at night during the week and I was beginning to get too tired during the day, I reverted back to co sleeping and feeding every 2 as I wasn't waking up as much and felt a bit more rested the next day. DD also feeds for 10-12 mins every feed and has done so since a few weeks old and has had excellent weight gain throughout. I think the phase started when she became more interested in everything around her and freeing during the day was always distracted! Feeding at night was quite/dark and she had my undivided attention. I'm hoping to see it through as it crossed my mind to switch to formula but don't want to if we can just get through it!
No advice, just wanted to say your not the only one!
☺

[annazet]

I'm not completly sure about the hours because I was too asleep to be completly conscious   I fed him at 18:30 and did a successful DF at 22. At 20:30, 24, 1am and 5 he woke up but was really easy to resettle, so that's an improvement. He did wake up those times though so I gues it's a matter of seeing the glass half full or half empty. At 6:30 he woke up and I fed him again and we started the day. Implementing this method we change with my husband- one night I sleep with LO and the next one my husband does and it's definitely something to recommend. It may seem weird but when I sleep in the other room every other night I put earplugs in my ears and it really helps me get good sleep, not trying to hear if my poor baby is crying or not
Anyway, fingers crossed for tonight- it's my husband's turn!

[PaulsMom]

yay for the easy re-settling  .  That's a step in the right direction.  Also, great plan with your DH!  I'm impressed that he'll do one night so you can get better sleep.  (I also sleep with ear plugs in...otherwise I'm waking up at every single little sound  )

[annazet]

@emily_Mae
Thank you darling for the post, I haven't seen it writing my previous one! I personally believe that eventually our babies do want and need to sleep through the night and get as much rest as possible. In our case my husband was actually the one who was really fed up with the night feeds (they would always wake him up) and he motivated both of us to try and change it. I'm sure it would change on it's own on some point, we just were too tired to wait.

I think the phase started when she became more interested in everything around her and freeing during the day was always distracted

I'm sure it happened in our case as well. But giving up the paci really helped and I can also see that if I feed every 3-3,5 hrs during the day my LO doesn't get distracted so easily- he's just too hungry.

[annazet]

great plan with your DH!

I must say my DH has been huge help, and since I'm not the only person who is able to rock our son to sleep any more (it was like that 2 weeks ago) I can see that he's more confident and much more eager to take care of our LO.

[jennie_kyle]

Hi! Funny I've been searching the forums to solve a similar and related problem and stumbled across your question.  My babe is almost ten months and I have been struggling with the exact same thing as you for months!  I have only just started to reduce my NW to one a night now for the last week!  It has been absolutely brutal so I totally understand your problem.
I found with mine that he too was also very distracted and never ever fed for longer than 7 minutes.  Also because he woke so often during the night and was finally focused on eating he would get most of his calories at night so day time feedings were frustrating.

Since we have moved into solids I have been trying to increase his feeding during the day and it has been helping but I think there were a lot of bad habits forming at night that I have had to break, take it from me, start to try and break these habits now before you struggle with it as long as I have. I think that it might have started from coming out of a growth spurt and being left with bad sleeping habits. I really can't figure it out to this day!  You are not alone!

[momma.bear]

Just wanted to say we are going through the exact same thing here. DS is 5 months and for the past 3 months he has had countless NWings. I was feeding him up to 3 times a night, and we're now down to just 2 but still many many NWings. Hope things get better for all of us!

[annazet]

I had some progress and it was really going well. Now it got worse again- more NW, but there are some things I want to point out:
-I started to feed every 3,25-3,5 hrs during the day (before it was every 2 hrs to be sure he gets enough callories- it was a mistake)
- I do clusterfeed before bedtime
- than I do dreamfeed at 10pm
-I feed a 2-3 am, depending on when my LO wakes up
- than I feed at 6-7

Daytime feeding improved a lot. It's never longer than 13 mins but it's more efficient and I can really feel my breasts are empty after each feed.
We have less NW and even though recentlywe've had a regression (but it's definitely not as bad as it used to be before we started!) I hope it' s heading in the right direction.
I didn' starve my baby, which was my main concern. He gains weight beautifully. I guess every mom is worried that her LO is the only one in the world who REALLY NEEDS to feed so often. Turnes out my LO is not so unique after all

Thank you so much for the support and hope one day I'll be able to say at least that we have no NW between the feeds

[PaulsMom]

I think there are always instances of "two steps forward, one step back" with these bubs!  I'm glad that overall you are seeing an improvement in feeding!  as for nw's there are lots of developmental reasons they wake especially at this age.  I think what's important is to stay consistent and yes, you are right, one day, you won't have nw's!