Barely will nurse upon awakening...

[deemom]

My 3 month old has been nursing every 3.5 hours during the day.  Her last feeding is around 7:30 pm and then goes till about midnight or 1 am.  Then, she wakes and nurses about 3-4 hours after that, and then the last one being around 4 or 5 am.   (Those two “nighttime” nursings do seem like she’s taking a full feeding)  She nurses after awakening about 3.5 hours after her early morning nurse, and she will barely take anything upon awakening.  Still, she’s very happy and active.  I’m working on her daytime naps doing w2s, so I haven’t tried to get rid of any nighttime feeds.  Do you think she doesn’t need any night feedings, so therefore is too full in the morning to nurse upon awakening? 

[Samuel's mum]

I think this is a personal call. At her age some babies really seem to need night feeds. I think you could experiment with shortening her feed at 3-4am and see if that makes a difference to the first feed of the day.
7.30pm to midnight/1am is a great interval.
Some people do use the dreamfeed technique and then find they get only one more feed after that (or even none on occasion). Have you ever done a dreamfeed?

[Mum of 3 + 2 stepkids]

Hi how are things going?

Kate x

[deemom]

Well, i tried extending her daytime feedings to 3.5-4 hours.  In the evenings, she would eat more, but still she wasn't eating much during the day.  the past three nights, she's been waking every 2 hours to nurse.  I actually first thought she was just waking up w/ gas, and my husband or I would hold her and then after a bit put her back down.  but last night, i decided to nurse her every 2 hours when she would awaken, and she'd take one side and then fall asleep.  She's also only takes one side each time I nurse her during the day/night.  I'm not sure what to do now...??

[Mum of 3 + 2 stepkids]

Hi Deemom, im sorry to hear that things have not got better 

Could you post your routine so we can get an idea of where you might be able to tweek it, just list as below:

time - E
time - A
time - S

and so on

hopefully we can get to the bottom of it for you

Kate x

[J & J's Mom]

Just thought I'd jump in and let you know my DD has been doing pretty much the same thing as yours was.  She is 11 weeks today.  I just started stretching her to 3.5 hours or so for daytime feedings because she wasn't all that interested in eating every 3 hours.  She has noticably more awake time and is taking great naps for the most part so the 3.5 schedule seems to work well for us.

Her last feed has typically been around 7:30 or 7:45 and she has been sleeping til midnight or 12:30.  Then she's up again at 2:30ish and somewhere between 4:30 and 5:30.  Then up for the day at 7 or 7:30.

She is definitely more interested in that first feeding if she had last eaten at 4:30 rather than 5:30.  It is tough with night feedings, especially what you think might be the "last" one before she is up for the day.  You want her to make it til 7 but at the same time you don't want to fill her up too much.  Maybe cutting that last feeding short might help.

I did try a dream feed last night (we have only recently been able to get to sleep early enough to bother) at around 10:30.  Her last feeding before bed had been at about 7:30.  After that she was still up at 2:30 and 4:30 then up for the day at 7.   

[Mum of 3 + 2 stepkids]

Hi J & J's Mom, To really see if the df feed works or not you should try and give it at least 3-4 days to get lo used to it. Although its great that your lo i now doing 3.5 hrs it could also be the result of you having many nwings. What do you think?

Just a thought

Kate x

[J & J's Mom]

I actually was hoping that cutting out one feed during the day might help her drop a feeding at night.  She has been waking the same number of times forever.  Until maybe a week ago I couldn't get her to bed before 10 to save my life so her last feeding was always around 9:30 and she'd sleep til 2ish and then 4 or 5 and then be up at 7.  So basically the same thing was happening even with the earlier bedtime, except the feeding she had been getting at 10 she was now waking for at 12ish.  And after the DF at 10:30 last night she still woke at 2:30 and 4:30ish.  And it isn't always the same time, either.  She has had a few times where she wakes at 3:30 and will make it til 7 without another feeding but that has been rare.  And there was ONE time (when I dropped a cluster feed) she made it 7 hours - from about 9:30 to 4:30 and then up at 7.  But on the same schedule the next night she was up at 2 and 4 and then the next night back to 12, 2 and 4.

She is still sleeping in the bassinet in our room and I am going to try to get her into her crib at night.  She is in the crib for naps and does fine with it but I wanted to tackle getting her bedtime earlier before I made the switch to the crib.  I really don't think she is all that comfortable in the bassinet anymore and I am hoping that maybe even just that switch will help her sleep better.

Do you think I should add a feed back in during the day?  We've actually been on more of a 3 hour EASY today so her next feed is due around 4.  I could do 3:30 (if she's up from her nap) then 5:30 and 7:30... or should I give the five feed schedule one more day?  Today will be day number 3 with 5 daily feeds instead of 6.

[deemom]

thanks for all the input.  it's nice to know that i'm not the only one going through these things.  after 2 nights of waking up every 2 hours and nursing her, i thought that maybe it was growth spurt?  she's now 16 weeks.  so, since i was also concerned about her not nursing well, i decided to feed her closer to her nap times.  so, i started going back from 3.5-4 hours to nursing every 3 hours.  after i'd nurse, i'd wake her and then put her down for her nap.  she did seem to nurse better but of course was drowsy, so i'd have to keep waking her. 

this is her approximate schedule for the past 2 days, depending on when she wakes, she stays up for about 1.45 to 2 hours for A time.  i'm also trying w2s but so far hasn't been too successful.  it's only been a week.

7am wake
A
8:30 eat
9 sleep  (usually short 45-1 hour)
A
12 E
12:30 Sleep (usually 2-3 hours)
3 E
A
5 sleep (short 30-40 min)
6 nurse
7:00/7:30 nurse to sleep

i've just started df around 10 pm

[Mum of 3 + 2 stepkids]

Your right it does sound like a GS, do you think that that is over yet?

If your still doing that 4-5am feed then i would say that is def the reason for not wanting to eat upon waking, It might be a good idea to shorten the time of that feed like Emma says so that she will take a feed in the morning (7am). Once you can start doing this you can then get on EASY plan which makes life so much easier Try not to look at times when on EASY and watch cues and let that tell you what the time is.

You should find feeding straight after waking they are still relaxed and makes it easier.

I really think that once you can stop that early morning feed your day will go better

HTH

Kate x

[deemom]

Thanks, i will try this...and will let you all know how it goes! 

[Motmom]

Hi there

When I introduced a dream feed to my DS I slowly realised that his regular waking at 3am to be fed had become a habbit and wasnt really out of hunger...so I followed the three night plan shown in Bbaby Whisperer Solves all your problems and am delighted to say DS has slept through the night ever since.
Initially he would go till 4.30/5am but now he wakes at about 6/6.30 now every morning. We still have problems settling him in the evening but are getting there!!!

  xx

[deemom]

Hi Motmom, what is the 3 night plan shown in Baby Whisperer Solves all your problems?  It might be a habit but I'll have to wait and see as my little one is getting over a cold, and i think going through a growth spurt? 

[Motmom]

Hi Deemom

I have outlined the three day plan on this forum, see the post "bf and dream feed"

best of luck xx

[deemom]

it's been a while since i posted and i'm still struggling w/ getting her to nurse in the a.m.  b/c she hasn't been nursing well, i've been nursing her right before her nap, and then she'll take some as she is falling asleep.  she still nurses 2x at night and then once again around 5:30 am.  in fact, today she went all day until 4 pm before nursing.  before that she would just bob on and off and refuse or cry as soon as i put her in the nursing position.  i tried different positions but to no avail.  and her last bf before i put her down, she nursed normally. 

her schedule goes like this:
6:30 am awake...barely will nurse
8:15 nurse
8:45 nap
11 awake
12:3o nurse
1 pm sleep
3 awake
5 nurse
5:30 cat nap
6 bath
7 bf and then bed

10 dreamfeed

1/2 am nurse, and again 4/5 am nurse

i'm not sure what will happen tonight as she barely nursed all day, she may wake more often.

any advice would be helpful.
thanks