wake up call at 3 am

[kikoz]

Hi,

I am a great beleiver of EASY. but i have a night waking issue:

I tank up and dreamfeed and still baby wakes up at 3 am to take a 2 oz only. I tried giving her pacifier instead, she d wake up after an hour obviously hungry but only to take 2 oz- half of what she usually take. her total daily and night intake is 6 feeds - of 24 to 25 oz total.
I even tried to put more water than formula for that feed ( hald water half formula) but she keeps waking up hungry.

her 3.5 hr  EASY routine is at its best as follow:

7 am E ( wake up around 630) 4 or 5 oz
8 am S ( 1hr 30 mins)
1030 am E - 4 or 5 oz
1130 am S ( 1hr 30 mins)
2pm E - 3 to 4 oz
3 pm S ( 45 mins)
530 pm E- 4 oz
rarely CN for 30 mins.
7:15 pm E B&S- 4 oz
10:45 pm DF- 4 oz

and then the 3 am wake up call!- i dont think she wakes up for a need to suck only , she does take half a feed... i cant force her to take more than she does in one feed during the day, I tried but she simply starts gagging and spiting poor thing!

she was on a 3 hr routine but was not interested to feed as often so I extended it to 3hr 30 mins.
but as you see the S and A time remained of 1hr 30 mins. Afternoon she is very alert but it gets a bit messy.

I do work half day and back home by 1:45 pm.


thats that! this is my first post    any advice please?

thank you all in advance     

[Adaias mom]

Hey there,

How old is your lo???

[kikoz]

Hi she s 3 moths... although by the BW book, when a baby takes 23 to 30 oz and is 5 kgs is cluster fed and DF he should able to skip the 3 am feed...but probably she s too young to skip that 3am feed right?!

[Adaias mom]

3mths is very young to be sttn. You do get some lucky ladies who have babies that will sttn from 8 weeks, but they are few and far between. Most babies will manage up to about 6 hour stretches at night, so say from DF at 1000 til 4am but i wouldn't count on getting a full sttn until she is fully weaned onto solids around 6mths.

Even though my lo is 8mths and only just sttn! One feed a night is really good at this age, but 4oz feeds are quite small. How much does she weigh? Have you tried maybe upping her to the 4hr easy and see if you can get her to take bigger bottles? You are right in waking for 2oz is not exactly starving hungry, but it may just be what she needs to get her through those last few hours.

You could try the 4hr EASY for a few days as you are geting good naps off her and see how she gets on. After looking at your routine you may have to give her a feed a little sooner for the 3pm feed but apart from that she should be able to transition with naps etc. It may be a little more EASAE for a bit but i wouldn't worry about that. What do you think?

[anna*]

Helen has given you great advice. At this age I would actually drop the cluster feeding as it can mess with their night sleep and encourage them to snack rather than take full feeds. But yes, one night feed at 3 months old is excellent, I would just feed and enjoy!

[kikoz]

so it s ok to have EASEA!? hehe i seriously can get stuck on really wanting to stick to EASY! very sticky all of this
ok, so, i tried four hours yes but she d get very hungry sooner.. i think it s a bit soon for the 4 hrs.
I changed the teat of the bottle today to a medium size since she is 3 months now, she 6 kg exactly and she seems suck more efficiently and contently and took up to 5 oz ( for the 3 feeds till now!!!) and she was quick too! waw!
yeah the 3am feed is not a big deal for me since its a very quick feed and sleep. but yes i ll probably drop the cluster or alternatively the DF for sometimes I want to sleep at 10 pm!
will keep you posted! thanks for the support X

[Adaias mom]

Upping her teat size was a good move. You may find she will naturally up her own feeds now and then when she ups them you can push her to further between feeds.

EASAE is absolutly fine and is what most babes are on when they get to 4 hr EASY. If your lo gets hungry before 4 hours then its absolutely fine to feed, but if you find that pushing her to 3.75 hours gets a bigger bottle into her then could be worth a try. Not all babes will go from 3.5hrs to 4hrs straight off. The transition usually takes a while.

So glad things are going well...keep us posted

[kikoz]

ok hi, i am back, lo is getting good feeds of 5 to 6 oz with the new teat.
here was my routine for today:
lo woke up 5:45- managed to keep her asleep till 635
E 650am - 4 oz
A
S 8am ( 1 hr 15min)
A
E 10:10 am- little less than 6oz
S 10 30am (1.5hrs)
A
E 1:30 - little less than 6 oz
S 2 pm( 1 hr 15mins) usually this is 45 mins but was able to extend it for 30 mins.
A
E 5pm took 3 oz
530 routine - 6 pm took 2oz slept for 30 mins then woke up and slept again around 7 pm.
usually she sleeps a long stretch up to 1230 and then between 3and 4 am wake up to feed.
Same result if I DF.

this afternoon she was tired but didnt want to CN... I am confused as to her afternoons. she seems very awake but at the same time i know she has to be sleeping...
today she was up from 315 to 6pm! thats a very long time...
Also these days her routine is between 3 and 3.5 hours depending on how tired or hungry she is...

As you see this is not following so much EASY ... I would really appreciate some advice for her afternoons...

thank you
Christiane