should I continue with night feedings?

[heatherc4]

hello,
my son is 10 weeks old tomorrow and I am desperate for some sleep. we have had him on a pretty decent EASY routine since he was born, and he has been ok with it except for a few issues.
the daytime routine is not really my issue, since he takes a few naps during the day ranging from 45 minutes to 2 hours, and he gets some pretty good stimulation but not too much. a few minutes of tummy time, some mommy son conversation/cooing time, etc, and pretty good of eating. he has always wanted to eat every two hours though, so I have been struggling to get him on the three hour EASY routine.
My main issue is the night time.
we have a steady routine of bath, bottle, wind down then crib to bed at 8pm. he will generally sleep until about 1am (with the dream feed at 1030). however, once he wakes up that first time in the night, he will wake every one and a half to two hours for the rest of the night. when he wakes, he appears to be very hungry, (crying quite loudly and frantically, rooting, etc) and will finish a 4 ounce bottle of formula within minutes and then go back to sleep fairly easily. he has been  doing this pretty much since birth.
At first, I was feeding him in the night because he was a newborn and felt he needed it, then, he went through a growth spurt, and again, I felt he needed it... now I am to the point that I am so tired from lack of sleep, that I am questioning if he ACTUALLY needs it, or if he is just used to it now. I am fairly convinced that he is actually hungry, because he will finish the entire bottle, but I don't know if he is hungry only because he is used to getting fed...
Any help and/or suggestions would be very welcome as I am struggling to get through the days on such little sleep...
Thank you!!

[Erin M]

Do you burp him well after all the night feeds?  I found that made a huge difference with mine on how they were sleeping at night.  It would certainly be within reason for him to still need to eat a few times a night at 10 weeks, but if he's got a sore tummy he might be eating to try to soothe  it.

Can someone else do the dream feed so you can get at least a decent stretch of sleep in there? 

[heatherc4]

He burps about half the time. This child is so difficult to burp even during the day it can take 15-20 minutes to burp him.
As for the dream feeds, my husband and I take turns, but I'm usually awake at that time anyways as that is usually when my husband and I squeeze in our quality time. I've tried going to bed early, but I've always been a night owl and toss for hours if I try to go to sleep early
So you don't think I should try to cut out some of the night feedings yet?

[heatherc4]

I'm not sure if it makes a difference or not, but here is a bit more info on him...
He was born at 37.5 weeks, no complications, just a bit early (should I actually be considering him a 7.5week old now??)
For the first couple of weeks he was only waking at 4-5 am
Up until 2 weeks ago, he was EBF but I realized (selfishly perhaps) that the amount of caffeine I needed to keep me going during the day with 2 under 2 was more than I should be consuming while breast feeding, so we successfully transitioned to formula with no digestive issues...
He had a cold 3.5 weeks ago which turned into bronchitis 2 weeks ago but is now healthy again (could this have caused/increased the night wakings as well?)
Also every few days he goes on a nap strike (like today) and will only have a couple of cat naps no matter how hard I try to put him down... Wide eyes and bushy tailed all day... And cranky too...

[Erin M]

I would say that he *probably* doesn't need to eat quite that often at night -- but it sounds like there's something else going on, just can't quite put my finger on it.  It could the cold, could be he's not getting burps up -- does he seem at all uncomfortable when he wakes?

Let me keep thinking on this one. 

[Erin M]

And if you wouldn't mind, could you post what a typical day looks like in
E
A
S
format?

[heatherc4]

He does not appear to be uncomfortable at all (other than hungry...) as soon as the bottle goes in, it's almost like there is a wave of relief that ripples through him.
We thought about reflux, but none of the typical symptoms were there (my first boy was a 35week baby and had it, so we were familiar with it)
These are the last few days of his schedule (yes, I've actually been tracking everything...)

January 27 evening:
8pm: bath, rocking, wind down
9pm: 3oz, bed (shush/pat for five minutes)
11pm: woke before the dream feed... 3.5 oz right back to sleep.

January 28:
2am: awake frantic hunger cry, rooting. 3.5 oz, right back to sleep.
4am: same as above, 2.5 oz.
630am: same as above, 2 oz, awake for the day.
7am: in bouncy chair while I make breakfast for my 20 month old.
745am: quiet time in play pen while I get my 20 month old ready for the day.
9am: 2.5 oz.
915am: tummy time and soft toy play
945am: nap (I try every day to put him for a nap earlier than this but he refuses...)
11am: awake 2.5 oz
1115am: one on one cooing/conversation with mommy.
1230pm: nap
2pm: awake 3.5 oz.
215pm: tummy time/ music
245pm: quiet time in play pen
315pm: in swing
4pm: 3.5 oz
430pm: nap
530pm: awake, 2 oz
6pm: bouncy chair during dinner
645pm: 2.5 oz
7pm: stories with both boys, start bed time routine for 20 month old.
8pm: 3 oz
9pm: bath, rocking, wind down
930pm: 3 oz, bed with two times five minutes of shush/pat (we were a bit delayed with bedtime so I think he was a bit over tired...)
No dream feed tonight because we all fell asleep...

January 29:
2am: (made it 4.5 hours without the dream feed) awake, frantic hunger cry, rooting. 3.5 oz, right back to sleep.
4am: same as above, 3.5 hours. Very difficult to get back to sleep. Wide awake.
445 am: asleep.
530 am: awake, crying, rooting. 1oz only then fell asleep while eating.
745am: awake for the day, 3.5 oz
8am: in bouncy chair while I get my 20 month old ready for the day
830am: tummy time and soft toy play
9am: quiet time in play pen
945am: 3.5 oz
10am: nap
1215pm: awake, 2.5 oz
1230pm: nice day so we went for a walk to the park.
215pm: 3oz
230pm: nap
430 pm: awake, 3.5 oz
445 pm: tummy time/music
515pm: cat nap
6pm: awake, 2 oz
730 pm: bath, rocking, wind down
8pm: 4 oz, bed.
1030pm: dream feed, 4oz

January 30
1am: awake, crying rooting, 4 oz back to sleep
330am: same as above, 2.5 oz, back to sleep.
5am: same as above, 1.5 oz, fell asleep while eating.
620am: awake, no feeding. Shush pat back to sleep.
730am, awake for the day, 3.5 oz

Tracking today was a bit of a write off because he was on a nap strike this morning and then we had a family emergency this afternoon...
But after wind down tonight, I put him in his crib wide awake and he put himself to sleep with no tears! Yay!
I am going in for the dream feed now...

[Erin M]

Aside from agreeing that he has some very long A times for his age, nothing is jumping out -- have asked for a few more eyes to come take a peek and see if they can see what I'm missing. 

[heatherc4]

and on to a whole new issue now.... posted in the nap board too as we are on complete nap strike now... serious need of help please...

[Erin M]

It's most likely all related hun -- I think he's probably super tired from his lack of sleep during the day.  I'm going to see if the nap ladies can help with the naps. 

[becj86]

It could be OT buildup... The day is long, maybe if you bring BT earlier to 6 or make wakeup later rather than getting him up at 6. We aim for a 12hr night at this age.

The problem seems to be getting worse as he gets older, yes? We do see this with reflux and I wonder if you're seeing symptoms that are not really the 'typical' ones so its presenting differently than it did in your elder son. A few things other than the poor sleep jump out at me as possibly being reflux. The frequent feeding and crying in the early hours of the morning, the bottle being a 'relief'...

Here are some links that may be helpful.
Alternative diagnoses and Reflux mimics.
Reflux 101 - General reflux information

[Erin M]

Since we've got a Naps thread and a NW thread with the same ideas on them now, I'm going to lock this one and link to the other -- please continue adding any advice here: serious need of help please...