Confused with 14 wk feeds

[bethany mum]

I'm having trouble sorting out what's going on with my almost 14 week old. She seems to not be able to go longer than about 4hrs in the night, though she was doing up to 5 or even 6 hrs a few times about 6 weeks ago. Not sure if it's a growth spurt/hunger thing or not. I offer her both sides at each breastfeed, but she doesn't always want it. That's doing a 3hr routine. Her E times are 6am, 9, 12, 3, 5:30 ish, 8 ish and 10:30pm dream feed. Do I need to express, feed sooner, or what? Why is she waking at different times each night, at still 1 , 2 or 3pm despite being able to go as long as 5:30 once!? Any ideas?

[Tay]

This is exactly how DS (15 wks) - feeding times exactly the same except that I hadn't been doing the df until last week.
But the DF doesn't seem to change anything, he's still waking up at around 2/2.30am and then again at around 5.30am.
Looking forward to hearing the suggestions.

[~ Vik ~]

Hi and welcome

Why is she waking at different times each night, at still 1 , 2 or 3pm despite being able to go as long as 5:30 once!?

Waking at different times at night is a sure sign that *something* is causing the waking (i.e., it's not habitual).  It is very, very normal to be doing one (or even two!) night feeds in addition to the dream feed in an ebf baby.  Ebf babies often need night feeds for longer than formula fed babies due to the digestibility of breast milk.  Have you read http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=98183.0 ?  You really can't judge how long your dd *should* be able to go without a feed at night by a few infrequent long sleeps - many things could have caused her to sleep longer on occasion (did she get her jabs?  Have really good/really bad naps?  Have an exhausting day due to travel/visits/etc?  Get a lot more fresh air/sunshine than usual?) even though she isn't ready to do it regularly.

Also, there is a growth spurt around 4mo, give or take a couple weeks, so you might be coming onto that too.  Here's a link about that if you're interested:  http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=66001.0

HTH

[Tay]

Update that might be helpful: I started moving DS into a 4 hour EASY two days ago - currently 3.5hrs and I've noticed that DS is feeding for longer and last night slept for 4.5hrs.
He's also had a better afternoon nap today.

[Tay]

Another update that might be helpful (not sure if you're doing the DF always at the same time, if so then this probably doesn't apply to you).
I was doing the DF at around 10pm and DS was waking up at around 4 hours later - two nights ago 4.5hrs later - which always happened to be at around 2.15am. If I didn't do the DF he would wake up at around midnight.

Last night I done the DF at 11pm and though DS was going to wake up at around 3am - no chance, he woke up at 2.15am. So instead of feeding him I done the pat/shush and he went back to sleep until 3.20am, when I done it again and he slept until 4am - when he woke up REALLY hungry and I fed him.

Will try again tonight, but it was obvious to me that even though he would have usually taken a full feed at that time, he didn't really need it, just got used to having it.

[bethany mum]

Tay- just curious- what is your LO A time at 15 weeks? Mine is now 15 weeks, and I really aren't too sure what her best A time needs to be. Seems to be anywhere between 70-80 min, but I can never pick whether she'll sleep well or not. Sometimes she surprises me and has 2 hrs despite having a v. long A time when we're out etc. Also- how do you count A time- from when they wake till you put them into bed? Or do you count the time it takes them to be asleep (usually another 15 min after put to bed)?? Oops- bit off topic now, but I think A time may be the problem.

[Tay]

in the mornings he can go go up to 2 hrs but only about 80/90 min in the afternoon. I count A time from he opens his eyes until he closes them (falling asleep I also count as A time).