3 month old still feeding every 2-3 hours day and night

[klittin]

Help! 

My 3 month old feeds every 2-3hours consistently all day/night long.
He feeds every 2hours the day, and can handle around 60 mins awake time max.
He falls asleep easily using the sh-pat method in the day and on his own with no help needed at night. His daytime naps are max 1hr long.
We give him a dream feed still at 10:30pm but he still wakes 1:30am, 3:30am, 5:30am.

We used EASY on our daughter and she was an angel - slept from 10pm - 5am as of 6 weeks...this little guy is quite different!
He was born via breech c-section at 38 weeks and weighed 6lbs. He is now around 13 lbs. He is taking med for acid reflux which seems to help a little. He is a really happy little guy and only cries when he's hungry or over-tired.

I have tried to encourage him to have bigger feeds in the day but he just can't take more than he is currently.
I'm not sure if he is just a baby who needs smaller feeds more often, or if there is something I can do differently so that he has longer routines and sleeps for longer periods at night.

Any advice would be really really helpful. I'm super tired.

Answers to your questions:

How old is your child?
3 months

What’s his/her daily routine?
EASY but only lasts a 2/2.5 hour cycle.
eg:

7:00 eat
7:20 activity
8:15 sleep
9:15 eat
9:35: activity
10:25 sleep
11:30 eat
11:45 activity
12:00 sleep
2:00 eat
2:30 activity
3:40 sleep
4:15 eat
4:35 activity
5:30 sleep
6:30 eat
6:45 activity
7:00 sleep
10:00 eat and straight back to sleep
1:00 eat
4:00 eat
5:30 eat

What's bedtime routine?
Swaddle and shush pat - works well

Do you bottle or breastfed??
Bottle and formula. Most feeds are around 100ml at the moment and take about 20 min

When you go to him/her is she fussing or crying? Or is it a mantra cry?
He cries very quickly and loudly. I have tried settling to see if he goes back to sleep but he just gets louder and seems genuinely hungry.

What have you tried to settle??
Pacifier and sh-pat

What do you do for A time and how long is it?
We sing or play. Usually 20-60 mins

Are there developmental issues such as teething or milestones?
No

Do they have a prop? If so what is it?
Pacifier

Thank you!

[Ima shel Alon]

Hi there and welcome to BW! Sorry we missed your thread.

Your EASY doesn't look too bad, yk? I mean, 3m is not an easy age sleep wise and the fact that he settles well with paci and Shush-pat is great. It's already something to be positive about .
You mentioned that he can stay awake for about 1h but in your EASY it looks like he is awake for longer times, like 1:15h? In any case, these A times are a bit too short for his age and are probably the reason you get UT nap of 1h. IIWY I would work on gradually and slowly stretching his A times. You can do that by increasing by 10min every 3-4 days. You'll need to stick to the new A times even if he is getting a bit OT, because it does take them 4 days to get used to the nee A time and get over the OT. If after 4 days naps are still between 45min and 1:20h long you can increase by 10min more. At his age the average A time is 1:20-1.5h but some babies need a bit more or a bit less than that.

The NF won't be gone, yk? At this age my LO was fully formula fed and needed still 3 feeds, it's pretty normal. I think that the frequency you get them now, which is a bit too often, is because of pain. Do the Reflux meds work well? Because often LOs with Reflux will take smaller feeds but more often because of the pain. The milk coming down their throat is often the only thing that is easing the pain. If you think that the meds are not doing their work then I suggest you go talk to your Dr. again about it.

HTH

[Bears mum]

Big hugs
Just to say that it will get better. My LO is now 20 weeks and has terrible reflux. (Silent) he was over feeding through the night until the pain was managed by the medication which only happened about 4 weeks ago. We now have a habit problem but that is slowly improving. He goes 4 hours happily between feeds now!

[Martini~]

Hello! One point I see is that his feed last usually 20min and he takes around 100ml only. As you are only using formula and there is no problem with nipple confusion, have you tried bigger teat for him? I don't know which size you are using and what kind of formula, but when my DS was small we had some problems with formula. We used a very thick one and having the slowest-flow teat from Avent. As a result, as feeding from bottle was "hard" for DS he took only the minimal amount so not to starve:) and was hungry pretty quickly.

I am not saying that's the case here as pps but maybe it's worth trying a slightly bigger teat. It worked for us. You will know it is too big, if he will be choking or milk will be coming out of his mouth.

[klittin]

Thank you so so much for the feedback - all very good suggestions and I am trying them all! Really appreciate it - helps to have someone else look at the routine...as its easy to miss things when you are so 'in' it. : )