The big move?

[Lex444]

Hello all,

My little one is 14 weeks old, and we've been on EASY since week 4. By 9 weeks, he was sleeping with one night waking only, at 2am, which progressed to 4amish by 12 weeks.

All in all, I was very pleased, a BW devotee and would have been very happy with one night waking until 6 months.

But in the last week, he's started waking twice a night again, at various times, say 12.30am and 3am, or 2am and 5am, like a feeding routine. He's taking proper feeds each time, as well.

At first I thought it was gas (he's had terrible gas which feeding does seem to help), but now I'm not sure.

Where before he didn't stir for the dreamfeed, he now wakes at NINE pm crying. And he's not crying for comfort - nothing stops the crying but feeding him, which makes me think he's hungry. (Note that when he wets himself, after changing he goes right back to sleep without any help. He always puts himself to sleep with no rocking or patting from us. We just tell him it's sleep time and leave him to it).

Our routine was a basic 3-hour EASY, eating at 7, 10, 1, 4, 6.45pm, dreamfeed at 1045pm, awake around 4am for a quick feed. Rinse and repeat. It was working wonderfully, and I guess I felt very comfortable. He had his naps basically at the same time every day.

The last two days, I've been trying the 3.5 hour EASY but with the same results - still the night wakings, plus his naps are askew and he's waking up early.  I don't think PU/PD is going to work as he's not crying for comfort at night, he seems to be truly crying to eat.

I'm curious to know if people think I should go straight to the 4-hour EASY.

Is 14 weeks too young for the four-hour routine? The 3.5 hour doesn't seem to be making any difference, but four seems a terribly large leap.

[janapana]

hiya, maybe he's having a growth spurt? a couple of weeks ago my son went from sleeping 8 hrs at night to waking up every 3 hrs for a feed, and he seemed to be starving hungry too! i'd just about got on top of things, but that threw my routine right out of the window and i had to start again. i was seriously dis-chuffed with that cos it felt like i'd gone right back to square one! after a few days he went back to feeding every 3 hours though. (i gave him a dummy in the night for a few nights instead of a feed and it worked!)now i'm wondering how to change his feed times, as my daughter's school changes from finishing at 5 to finishing at 4, and i think i'm going to struggle to drive and breast feed at the same time! any ideas??

good luck, hope things are improving.

[Emma-Rose's mom]

Lex 444... I think your DD Definitely sounds like he's going through a Growth Spurt. When my DD went through GS, she was getting up and nursing all the time. So, I wouldn't try to change EASY schedule to 4-hr EASY. Just feed him since he's hungry, and after about three days to maybe even a week, your DD should be going back to his regular 3-hour EASY. Cross Fingers!

Janapana, maybe you can try to stretch your EASY schedule from 3 hr EASY to 3.5 hrs so it fits your new schedule better? I don't know what advice to offer, since I don't really know your schedule. Can you post it and maybe we can help you tweak it. Just try to make sure your lo gets more milk at each feeding if you are going to try to stretch it out.

[janapana]

that'd be great, thanks...... should i post it on here or somewhere else? (i'm still getting the hang of this!)

[Emma-Rose's mom]

Posting here is fine.

[Lex444]

Thanks guys, really appreciate the feedback.

Perhaps it IS a growth spurt - I never seem to be able to identify them in my own kid, although it's as clear as day when someone else's baby has one! Because it's been going on an entire week, I assumed it wasn't. I tend to think of growth spurts as 2-3 days, Emma Rose, not as a week, but I'm obviously wrong about that.

.... And last night he stopped. Suddenly started doing what he always did, dreamfeed, woke at 3am for full feed, woke again at 6.45am cooing. Cross fingers it happens again tonight.

After three days, I seem to have got him on a loose 3.5 hour EASY, meaning we end the day on a three hour schedule (7am, 10.30am, 2pm, 5pm, 6.45pm top-up, 10.30pm dreamfeed) and since he's making the early stretches fine, I think I'll keep him there as he'll have to move to four soon enough anyway.

Janapana, love the idea of being "dis-chuffed". That's exactly how I felt! I reckon you could do a tricky split feed.... feed him for ten minutes/one breast/part bottle just before you leave to pick up your daughter, and then finish the feed when you get home depending on how far away her school is.  Or maybe yes, go to a 3.5 hour routine?

[Emma-Rose's mom]

I had a hard time identifying GS in my lo as well. And hers did last an entire week, although there was a period of 3 days when it was the most intense. Hopefully the worst of the GS is over for you and you will be back to smooth sailing on your 3.5 hr EASY soon! 

[janapana]

ok, here it is.... his feed times are mostly the same each day, give or take 15 minues, but his naps are a bit all over the place, sometimes 1 1/2 hrs, sometimes only 45 min!


E 7.00
S 8.15 


E 10.00
S 11.15

E 1.00
S 2.15

E 4.00
This is where it gets a bit random, as we have to leave for DD's school at 4.15 to get there for 5.00, so he normally has a nap in the car, is awake for 10 min while we're at the school, then naps again from 5.15 to nearly 6.00 when we get home (we live in spain and her school is quite a long way away!)

E 6.15
7 bath
S 7.30

DF 11.00
then usually through to morning, although he likes singing around 4am, i just give him a little pat and leave him to it!

so my problem is that from next week i will need to be out of the house from 3.15 til 5 while we pick mia up, and my brain can't seem to figure out what to do! (i thought i'd got stupid after DD, but it's so much worse now, the lights are on but there's definitely no-one at home!)

Thanks for your help
x

[Emma-Rose's mom]

IMO, how about if you move to 3.5 EASY, then you can have her eat at 7:00, 10:30, 2:00 - that way she naps at 3:15 when you pick up DD2 from school - then Eat when you get back at 5:00. You may need to cluster feed and feed her again at 7:00 so you can keep her bedtime the same at 7:30? or you can move bed time 30 minutes later. (which means the first feeding can start at 7:30AM instead of 7:00AM if you want) I've had to crunch my evening feedings when I've transitioned my own DD to 3.5 or 4 hr EASY. That's the part that gets weird, but if you want to keep the same number of feedings in, you'll end up cluster feeding in the evening unless you are ready to drop a feed.

Side question...habla espanol? Porque estas en Espana? Soy una maestra en California y tengo que hablar en espanol mucho. Me encanta espana! (you don't have to reply in Spanish or reply to this at all if you don't want. Just having fun here!  )

[janapana]

si, yo hablo espaňol,  pero no muy bien! hemos vivido aquí por cuatro aňos, y por el primer aňo fui a una escuale de idiomas, y aprendí mucho. pero cada aňo olvido cada vez mas! Todo mi familia viva aquí ahora, el tiempo es más caliente que en Yorkshire!

[Emma-Rose's mom]

Let us know how it goes w/ new schedule, Janapana. I just sent you a personal message so we don't clog up this thread w/ spanish conversations!!

Lex444, how's it going? Is your lo still waking up to feed or is your schedule back to normal...

[Lex444]

Hey Emma Rose, thanks for asking!

It went oddly yesterday, with surprising results.

We did the early 3.5 hour easy, 7am, 10.30am, 2pm, and then fed him at 5pm when he seems to want it. I'm loving this 3.5 hour thing as he seems hungry where he never did before, had started to snack.

Then, he fed before falling asleep at 7pm, but he was so exhausted from resisting his last nap (that's another post), he wouldn't take very much at all. Woke at 9pm howling for food, and I fed him again. Before I went to sleep at 11pm, I chucked him on the breast thinking, what the hell. I'll do the dreamfeed to keep the routine going as best I can.

And he didn't stir until 5.15am! Even then, he only was making a few little groans.

He probably would have lasted until six, but I fed him anyway, as I've had recurrent mastitis because of an oversupply and at 5am could feel a blockage developing.

So I guess it's a food issue. Now I have to figure out how to get him to eat enough at 7pm. If he did that, he'd eat well at 11 and might well go all night! (Then again, I would get mastitis if he suddenly drops the feed. Might need to reduce the night feed bit by bit).

By the way, your avatar pic is stunning. What an adorable little girl!

[Emma-Rose's mom]

Thanks for the complements on my lo! I think she's rather cute, but my DH says I'm totally biased.  But, then I think all babies are pretty darn cute.

Overall, it sounds like 3.5 hr EASY is working great for you! And if your DS is lasting until 5:15, it looks like most of the GS has passed, and it's just now a matter of transitioning to your new schedule. Do you think your DS would have fed better at 7:00pm if he didn't skip his nap? I've always found that there's the ideal schedule you aim for, but there are always little things that throw a wrench into your daily schedule.  I'm glad things are looking better for you overall! Keep it up mommy!

[Lex444]

Hmmm, just to let you know, things have taken a depressing turn. I weighed my son yesterday for the first time in three weeks, and he hasn't put on enough, as far as I can tell. Now I'm worried he's been hungry rather than a growth spurt and perhaps my supply is suddenly low? He's been fussy at the breast, but I just decided that was the four months syndrome.

Argh. It's so awful when it's a feeding problem. Naps, meh. Feeding is the cornerstone of everything. Am going to post on the breastfeeding board now. Thanks for all your help, ladies!

[Emma-Rose's mom]

I would talk to your ped also just to make sure he's put on enough weight. Sometimes the weight gain varies, and you don't want to worry if there's no cause for worry!

Mika