How many feeds in 24hrs at 5.5 months?

[ZacsMumme]

Hug cath. Your getting fab advice but I did just want to agree with this...

I followed Rosas lead too but she just was taking in far too much solids and it didn't help her sleep at all. Made it worse which I didn't actually think was possible!!

^^ with both my boys once I did no solids after 3 pm too things  improved a lot. Better BT feed, more settled night.

[<Catherine>]

Ok, so a better night for me (except for missing out on 2 hours sleep as I went to bed much later than planned thanks to dh!) in that he woke for two feeds and was more settled after each one as he was sleepy and not wide awake - I am convinced this is a routine issue as the days he's had longer naps are the days I have him wide awake at night.

He had 2 feeds:-

12.05am
4.10am
Woke at 6.50am

Neither we're full feeds, it's all a bit of a blur as I was so tired, but the second feed was the better one. The first wasnt as short as they have been some nights though. I needed to resettle him once or twice after the second one but only 5/10 mins after and then he slept til 6.50.

Fell asleep on boob both times though.

I think a DF is the answer, from my point of view definitely, even if it doesn't make him go longer. At least it's one feed I don't have to do and maybe we'll be able to get him to have more from a bottle?

Will stick with the 4hourly day feeds and cutting back on the solids.

Going to pump now

[cuckoochick]

Hugs hun. I didn't see your post last night so I'm sorry about your argument with DH. They don't really get it. DH complains about me going in with G but if he'd been having to hold her asleep for the past few months then he might have a better idea.

Pleased B had a better night. Do you think 3-2 as well as stretching the feeds is at play? I know your car journeys are the killer for you on workdays but just wondering what A times and naps you can get when he's at home?

Interested to see if the DF helps as I might try it with G. She woke at 12:10, 3:40 and then 5:50 (I know that last one is shocking!) but other than the first feed the other two were v short!

[<Catherine>]

Yeah, I'm sure 3-2 is the problem too. He'll happily do two naps, and I think he needs the longer A times, but I can't guarantee a decent nap and if he does have a decent nap he's ut during the night, yet if he has 2 short naps then we can't get to BT!

Should I be pumping before his first feed? I've just pumped an hour after his feed and got a dribble at best :/

[anna*]

If you can juggle it, pumping off one side while you feed from the other will give you the most and easiest. Or pumping straight after, if not. What kind of pump do you have?

[<Catherine>]

Only a hand pump. My sister's friend has an electric one which I can borrow but won't be able to get that til next weekend.

If I pump whilst feeding will it effect what he has? He feeds from both sides at each feed.

[anna*]

I'd pump from side 1 when he's on side 2, then finish side 2 when he's done. Havin said that though I was never able to get more than a trickle with a hand pump.

[Shiv52]

I couldn't pump for the life of me.  About this age I was shattered too so I used to do the BT feed then DH took over. I had an hour to myself then headed to bed with the aim of being asleep by 9.30. at 11 DH would bring R to me in bed. I'd feed her then he'd take her and sort her back to bed.  It meant I was only half conscious and I got straight back to sleep.  She generally went to 3am ish then. But it meant I slept 9.30-3 and that made me feel so much better. Just another option xx

[shivi]

This was exactly as I did with Emma.

I had a total love-hate relationship with my pump after being back in work at 4 mths and pumping twice a day everyday till 10mths with Oscar.
I could pump an awful lot to begin with (as I had been priming my breasts since Ozzie was born - he was a single sider feeder till 4 mth GS so I fed one side and pumped the other at all 7am feeds and one more everyday from around 10 days old).

With Emma, I hadn't the time, she had an unclipped tongue tie, she was very confused between breast and bottle and I was constantly in oversupply-undersupply mix due to her haphazard latch, my high prolactin and possibly all the stimulation from my first breastfeeding relationship...

It worked really well and I loved that snuggly feed while I was already in bed. I would totally do it that way again if I were ever to have a third.

S x

[<Catherine>]

Thanks ladies. It's worth a try if the pumping isn't a success but I find I wake so much when feeding that it might not be enough to make enough of a difference yk? I'm not able to doze whilst feeding, I need to be sat up. We'll see though

Today we've had 2 short naps and a long A to bed so I'm expecting some OT wakings but we'll see. He had 2 solid feeds, both less than he's been having (he was less than impressed!!) and bf's have been as follows:-

7.30am
11.20am
3.00pm
5.35pm (too close but he needed to get to bed!)

Pumping didnt happen, I got practically nothing. I struggled to pump whilst he was feeding as it just distracted him so gave up. Will try the electric pump when I get it and go from there.

[cuckoochick]

Fingers crossed xxx

[roseola]

Hugs Catherine. DD is a month younger and having tough nights too. Everything is magnified when we are exhausted. Xxx

[<Catherine>]

Thanks nini. Yes it really is, and I've had DS1 up a few nights recently too so I think DS2's nights have seemed so bad when perhaps they're not really as bad as they appear yk?

Well last night he was asleep at 6.05pm, we had a couple of OT wakings but I quickly settled him he then fed at 11.40pm and 2.10am. Again fell asleep at the boob both times but did have a good feed at the first waking.

It's a definite pattern that he's waking roughly 2.5hrs after his first NF for the next, regardless of how much he takes at the first. Would a DF stop that, or would he just wake 2.5hrs after that instead?

Would formula at the DF (or at his first night feed) enable him to go longer?

He then woke for the day at 5.40am, no surprise though as he went to bed so early, and I was ok with it as I went to bed at 7.15pm myself last night!! Anyway, he was soaked through so needed a full change (sheets too!), then I fed him and he went back to sleep so at least today won't have started too early in the end.

The long NWings are definitely down to nap length, he's gone straight to sleep after (well, during) each feed since I've not allowed him to nap longer than an hour.

[shivi]

Well last night he was asleep at 6.05pm, we had a couple of OT wakings but I quickly settled him he then fed at 11.40pm and 2.10am. Again fell asleep at the boob both times but did have a good feed at the first waking. It's a definite pattern that he's waking roughly 2.5hrs after his first NF for the next, regardless of how much he takes at the first. Would a DF stop that, or would he just wake 2.5hrs after that instead?

That's a decent night really. I would have been doing bedtime feed and DF with Oscar up at silly oclock for the day at this age...

As for DF helping or not...I suppose it would all depend on intake at DF.

S x

[cuckoochick]

G is similar at the minute Cath, sometimes not quite making 3hrs after the NF but she then continues that pattern through the night, so if she'd have woken like B last night at 11:40 it would have been a 3 feed night for sure. Once that initial stretch is over then she will go anywhere from 2.5-4hrs but 4 is rare and usually more like 2.5-3hrs x