7 week old feeds issues

[Daisy8680]

 My DS will be 7 week old on Sunday and he is already 13 pounds. He is still on a 2.5 hr schedule day and night. He would wake up from 45 min nap and only feed on one breast. Same thing happens at night:only eat one side and wake up 2-2.5 hours later.

Is it possible that I should try to stretch his feeds to 3hours? I just feel that he isn't hungry enough with 2.5 hour schedule. I also think he uses nursing as a prop to fall back to sleep.  In the afternoons, he would wakes up and root. I feed him and he falls back to sleep (only 45 min naps). I post a question in the sleep board already on his short naps. If I should stretch his feeds, how would I do that?

[*Ali*]

I just posted on your sleep thread too.

If he isn't hungry when he wakes from a nap then I would maybe play with him a bit and give it another 30 mins or so before offering if he isn't rooting etc. before that. I wouldn't hold out on him if he is obviously looking for a feed or crying though. Also maybe try to keep him awake to take both sides. Sitting him up to wind him between sides can help wake him a bit.

I think it is rather presumptuous of your doctor to say he can go 3-4hrs between feeds at such a young age. That is certainly not the norm for a BF baby and he really has no way of knowing that. Even Tracy, whose advice pre-dates the most recent BF research showing how quickly breastmilk is digested, said that babies should be fed at least 3hrly before 4mo and only then transition to a 4hr EASY. Even then some BF LOs would need more frequent feeds for a while longer. 8-12 BFs in 24hrs is recommended in the early months.

I'd try shush pat in your arms instead of rocking him. You can do it over your shoulder or in a cradle hold and that is then much easier to transition to doing shush pat in the cot because they aren't reliant on the movement of rocking.

Have you tried wake to sleep to extend the 45 minute naps?

[Daisy8680]

Thanks for all the comments. I have been rocking lo back to sleep after his1st cycle for two naps today. So he doesn't need my boobs for that I also tried w2s but unsuccessful. I also have been sticking to a 2.5 or 3hr feeding interval, even though it means that feeding is out of sync with sleeping. But he does take more milk this way. I think we have some progress.

I think his nighttime wakings has similar problem: want to be rocked back to sleep. Last night he woke up every2hours and two 1.5 hours. I fed him back yo sleep. When he woke up again at 5am, he barely took anything. I have been feeding him back to sleep for this long time, stupid... I will try rocking tonight and see how it goes. I have couple of questions:

Would it cause more problem now if I start rocking him back to sleep during the night? Would he wake up more often?

Secondly, I will start trying ssh/pat instead of rocking in my arms first, like pp suggested. If he starts cry, I would rock a bit until he calms down and then continue the sash/pat. Would this work? Also how long do you think this transition would start to work? A week? Do I need to do it during his nap wakings and nightly wakings as well? Or should I keep rocking for nighttime until naps are good?

[*Ali*]

I'd just get rid of rocking altogether. I think the bad naps are being perpetuated by all the rocking. If he wakes he looks to be rocked (or fed) because he has no idea how to go to sleep without it. I would just stick with shh pat in your arms even if he is crying.

He will of course need frequent feeds at night so if it has been a couple hours since his last feed he may well be hungry.

What happened when you tried wake to sleep? Did he wake when you stirred him at 35 mins or did he just still wake at the 45 min point? Just wondering of it is a timing issue or whether you stirred him too much or not enough.

[Daisy8680]

We will be on vacation for couple of days and I will try the ssh/pat once we are back.

When I tried w2s, he still woke up at 45min mark, even though his arms moved when I stirred him at 35min. Does it mean I didn't wake him up enough?

[*Ali*]

That would be my guess yes.  Have a nice holiday.