Growth spurt every few days?!

[shanaz]

Hi

My DD2 is 5 months tomorrow and for the last week she has been wanting to feeding every 2-3 hrs, even at night.  I feel like every couple of weeks I am saying "Oh, it must be a growth spurt again" but I'm really struggling to believe it now!  She is exclusively BF and I am wondering whether I should be introducing solids or whether I should just ride it out til 6 months.  She will feed for up to 45 mins at many feeds and will often take up to an hour to get her to feed and resettle at night, sometimes even 1.5 hrs and feeding on both sides. 

I really am reluctant to introduce formula but I'm starting to wonder whether to give her a bottle at night.  I don't want to do the bedtime feed as formula as I think that feed is as much about comfort as feeding.   I have never been able to do a DF like I did with DD1 but perhaps I should try it with formula and see how it goes?

Any advice gratefully received.

Shanaz

[Fiver]

That 4-6m period can be so tricky.  The 4m GS can seem to go on forever and then the 4m sleep regression to go with it can be pretty full on.

To me it sounds like you're doing great.  Do you think she could manage a slightly longer gap between feeds in the day if she was distracted by something, or does she end up getting upset?  Could it be something else rather than hunger that she is cuing?

[shanaz]

Hi

Thanks for your reply.  I'm not sure if it's something else to totally honest, although I do tend to try everything other than feeding her if I can.  If she naps well then I can get her to go four hours between feeds but her naps are all over the place too at the moment 

She was born 6 weeks early so in terms of her physical/milestones development she's more like a 3.5-4 month old but I'm never quite sure what I should be doing EASY wise in terms of her adjusted/birth age.  Today I managed to get her to go 4 hrs between her 1st and 2nd feeds but that's because we were out and she always sleeps so well in her pram    It's like she will do anything to NOT do BW!!  Anyway, the 3rd feed was a total bust as she only napped for 30 mins and woke really grumpy but refused to go back off. I ended up bringing her downstairs as I was in the middle of cooking and DH was out.  It ended up in a total meltdown (for both of us in the end!) and then she was utterly hysterical and incapable of feeding properly    I ended up totally APing and rocking her to sleep in my arms and she had about 20 mins and she then had another small feed.  That all got her through us having dinner and then bath/bed routine, fed and asleep by 7.30pm.  It feels like I am just lurching through the day at the moment, nothing like where I was with DD1 at this age.

Oh well, I will continue with the BFing and assume she's having a massive growth spurt, especially as she was a premie and therefore has a lot of catching up to do.  I think tomorrow I will go completely with her, feeding on demand and just chart what she does re: E and S. 

Thanks for your reply, it reassured me!

Shanaz

[Fiver]

I might be making it up, but always thought that milestones/development etc went on adjusted age rather than actual age for prems, so could be that she's having her 3 and/or 4m growth spurt.

You're doing great.  The early days can be really brutal sometimes, especially with additional children around, but keep plugging on

[Erin M]

If it's any consolation, my ds had a massive (even bigger than the 4 mo old) GS at 5 months...

[shanaz]

Thanks for your responses.  I tend to go by her adjusted age for physical developments like smiling, grabbing, rolling etc but GS's I have gone by her birth age.

I do think she's not always hungry and wants to feed to sleep but I'm struggling to get her out of this in the house.  If I go for a walk she'll fall asleep no problem in the pram but that's another prop I don't want to have to rely on for every nap.  It's so annoying as this has crept up on me due to short naps I think.  She wakes early, refuses to go back to sleep then by the time she's ready for a feed she is also tired so falls asleep on the boob and the cycle continues.  A month and a half ago she was falling asleep independently during the day and now I'm having to be out of the house for school run etc its all gone haywire.

I am sticking with the bfing and at the moment just focus on her having regular naps!!

S x

[Fiver]

That sounds like a good plan.  School runs can be so inconvenient at times, but it's a passing phase