21 weeks - multiple night wakings to feed

[Flash181086]

Hi, I EBF and I am just about to start a more strict EASY routine although I have loosely been following this for a few weeks now. My LO can settle himself to sleep and does do this sometimes in the night and always at bedtime and nap times. When he wakes crying in the night I pick him up and feed him (I thought this was feeding on demand until I now realise this causes sleep associations, he has a feed and goes straight back sleep). I think he needs to feed more in the day but because he is feeding so much at night he just isn't very hungry. I try to offer it but he just refuses. He wakes for feeds on a good night at 10.12 2,5,7 so actually ends up feeding more at night than in the day (feeds every 3-4 hours in the day). Sometimes I believe he is genuinely hungry (because he doesn't have enough in the day) other times I think he wakes habitually and then he has a little milk and then settles himself back to sleep. LO is 21 weeks. I'm happy to have a couple of bad weeks while we improve things but I'm not sure of the best way to tackle the night wakings. Should I just to pick up /put down and not offer any food unless it's been way 4 or 5 hours , or should I reduce the amount he takes at each feed first and then do pick up / put down?

Thank you very much for your help in advance

[VnessMorris]

Hi Flash181086,

My DD2 had the exact same problem when she was 21 weeks old. She would take full feeds (EBF) during NW so I had to slowly move the calories to daytime. Below is what I posted as a solution that worked for her:

"Just thought I would update this post in case anyone else is having similar problems.

So, the NWs and EWs were solved with upping her calories during the day. I would BF every 4 hours and then top her up after each feed. Each feed would go like this: She would fuss at the Breast early into the feeding. And then happily take another 1.5-2oz of EBM immediately  afterwards. I would then pump an hour after BF (only 1-1.5oz pumped). By the 3rd day of doing this routine, DD2 is back STTN of 8-9 hours and only one NF (I do not DF). Her naps have also reverted back to 1:45-2:00 hours each and her catnaps are back to "normal". It's been a week now and she no longer needs the top up. I still continue to pump an hour after every BF to keep my supply up."

Here's a link to my original post:
21 week old, NWs and EW

Also, what are his activity times?
HTH!
V.

[Flash181086]

Hi V
Thanks so much for your reply! Did you do anything to restrict the amount they took at night? Or still just feed as much as they wanted ? I shall pump and feed as much as I can every 4 hours in the day. Thanks for the tip. Although he doesn't always take both sides in the day.. he just doesn't seem hungry.
Thanks in advance for your help
Faye

[VnessMorris]

Hi Faye,

Looking back, with topping up after each BF, DD2's activity time naturally lengthened to 2:15-2:20's from 1:50-2:00.  With the lengthened AT's she napped better, and I guess ate more in the subsequent cycle (e.g. hungrier). At first, she also refused the second side (she was so fussy at the 1st side to begin with!) but after a few days of BF'ing, topping up while upping my supply, she was back to "normal" and Long stretches at night.  If she had a NW, we would feed her. But the NWs went from 2-3x per night to 1x per night in those few days.

HTH!
V.

[Flash181086]

Sorry forgot to say he is awake for 1.45 - 2 hours before sleep. I'll monitor it once feed increases. Fingers crossed ! I'm struggling to inplementEASY at the minute because he is waking up full from all the night feeds he won't feed when he wakes so we start on A which throughs it out of sync. Any ideas?

[VnessMorris]

Hi Faye,

In terms of ideas, here's my personal experience in going "hardcore" to implement EASY:

With DD2, i had to implement EASY and ST for a second time; she was admitted to hospital for a fever at 2 months old and when she returned home, she had her days and nights all mixed up (she was STTN before the hospital stay!  ). It took me 4 sleepless days and nights to "re-train"her back to EASY.  And it was very hard

Things I did to help get her back on track:
- used shh/pat for most of her multiple NWs. Most of the time I ended up feeding her (so that she wouldn't wake up my 2 year old!)
- a lot of APOP just to get some night time sleep!
- pushing A times during the day
- lots of shh/pat and APOP during naps to get her back on track
- stuck with the exact same wind down routine, no matter what
- DH helped me out a lot during the NWs: we took turns with APOP so that each of us could get some sleep!!!

Finally, by the 4th night, she started giving me longer stretches at night (3-5 hours). When this started, I would use shh/pat for EWs (5am-6;30am) to get her to rest/sleep so that she could start her day at 7am.

I'm not saying that above is right for you and your LO, but it is the only experience I've had with getting EASY implemented ASAP.

V.

[Flash181086]

Thank you - I'll give it a go