Growth spurt ??? but not sure Do I feed or work on routine??? 4mnth old lg

[Jo-Ann]

Hi there,

I have already looked at the growthspurt section of FAQ. I am still unsure of how to proceed though.

My lg is 4 mnths old and we have just recently gotten back from a road trip that messed about with our routine. I read in BW Solving All an example of where a 5 mnth old was eating every 2 hrs. Her solution was to feed every 4 hrs and then tank up at 6, 8, & 10 for two days then revert to the typical 4/4 routine. While in the first two days do not feed after 10pm no matter what. The baby will not starve and the baby needs to get a proper routine established.
I followed this scenario except that I fe my lg at 2:30 or 3am as well as she has never made it through a whole night & is only 4mnths not 5 mnths old. She is exclusively breast fed and has not yet had a bottle of anythng. (I do not use CIO but rather do PU/PD and the first night it was very trying but got better by the end of the night, the second night was huge progress and the 3rd night she slept well 10:30 till 3 soothing herslef back to sleep when she awoke and the smae between 3:30 - 7am.

Now 4 days later we have either had a regression or she is in a growth spurt. (she just turns 4 mnths today)
Yesterday she awoke and ate at 3:45-4:30 am instead of 3 and ate a fair bit more longer than usual. Then when she awoke at 7:00 am she was not very hungry and only nibbled for about 4 minutes when she usually guzzles for about 10 mins (she is a very efficient eater and usually guzzles 9-12 mins per every 3-4 hrs [we just recently switched from 3 hr to 4 hr EASY]. That seemed to throw the whole days routine off a little as she seemed famished just before her nap so I topped her up at 8:30 and she ate about 8 mins guzzling for about 5 of them and then still eating not just sucking for the las few as she drifted off to sleep. Then I woke her & burped her and took her for nap in bed snoozing by 9:10am. Nap was pretty good 1.5 hrs and she seemed really hungry and had company so did not try to hold her off until 11 am but fed at 10:45. Due to the distraction f the company she did not eat terribly well but still managed a pretty good 8 mins and then when they left at 11:30 I topped her up for 5 mins.
2nd nap was short only 1 hr and PU/PD was not working after 15 mins lots of very loud crying so I got her up. She was better but she seemed hungry. I was worried about snacking so I tried to hold her off and fed her at 2:30 as she was losing it. Then we went for a walk around 4 and she slept in the pack for about 45 mins. When we got home I thought that would likely have replaced our cat nap so i tried to do some relaxing things with her but she started to lose it again at about 5:45-6pm. I tried to put her sown for a nap but she was still losing it and was sucking everything. I held off feeding her until 6:30 by carting her around trying to distract her. She was in bed by 7:30 asleep awake again at 8 PU/PD to slepp then awake again at 9:30 inconsolable and sucking everything so fed her and back to sleep. Awake again at 11:30 with the same scenario so fed her again thinking ???growth spurt tanking herself up at 7-9-11 ish? Then she still awake again at 4am. I was exhausted and tired so fed her (she ate until 4:45 and back to bed. We had to wake her up at 7:00am and she ate well but not guzzling instead ate longer 35 mins.

So my big question is:
How should I progress?
Is it important to maintain her routine times at allcosts as she is only just starting to establish them?
Or is  this a growth spurt and if so then do I need to feed her because she is hungry and deal with the routine once it is over?

Thanks for your help now I must run as she is awake after a 45 min nap and crying.

Jo-Ann

[Erin (redstarfalling)]

Hi Jo-Ann - growth spurts seldom last longer than a week, so if it HAS been longer than that, it's probably something else. If it has only been a couple of days, then certainly, feed her when she seems hungry - aim for as close to your routine as possible, but it's more likely to be a 3 or 3.5 hr EASY. From your description, though, it also sounds like she's not been eating as well during the day and snacking more (distractions, guests...)....I know it's hard when you think they haven't eaten well, then a nap time comes up...you want to feed them....but it's hard not to feed to sleep then.  If you really have to feed close to nap time, try to do something else before putting her down.

Now, when you say that you recently switched to a 4 hr EASY - did you do that successfully for at least a week?  Because it's possible that either the growth spurt threw things off, or it's also possible that you lo just isn't ready for 4 hrs between feeds (some bf babies can't do it for a lot longer than 4 months).  I think it would be a good idea to start from scratch, IYKWIM.  Take 1-2 days and chart what your lo seems to be doing - give the growth spurt a chance to pass too.  Aim for full feeds, preferably close to the start of A time - reduce distractions, use breast compression to inspire her a bit, dark, quiet room...  Try to stay consistent with naps - how you put her down as well as where, if you can.  If naps go badly, do an early bedtime (sounds like she was overtired last night).

It never hurts just to take a step back and see where you're at! If it IS still a growth spurt, you might be surprised at how well she settles down after a few days, and you won't have to *work* on anything! 

[Jo-Ann]

Thank you so much for the advice.

I will give it 3 days just watching her cues & charting everything then see where we are at.

Jo-Ann