Advice! 16 wks, 3hrly feeds, short naps, 6x feeds a day: what to change first?

[KatieAlexis]

Hi there,

My 16wk old baby usually goes 3 hrs between feeds, feeds six times a day and has a short 40-60 min nap between each feed (i.e. feeds around 830am, (nap) 1130am (nap2), 230pm (nap3), 530pm (nap4), 830pm and 4 or 5am). That said, evenings are a little unpredictable with ofyen less than 3hrs before last feed of the day. At the mo she generally wakes only once in night to feed, but she's started needing more help to get off to sleep.

I feel like I need to change quite a few things, but not sure what to do first? I offer more milk per feed but she doesn't take it, so not sure how to a) shift from 6 feeds to 5 feeds, or b) switch to a 4 hr routine (if that's even possible given length of her naps). She has always had short naps, regardless of where we are, noise, quiet, light, dark, car, cot etc. She's very happy and so I think perhaps that's just her make up, especially as she sleeps pretty well at night. Ideally I'd like her to sleep earlier in evening (currently 9 to 930pm) and I'd like her to fall asleep without needing my shoulder and shush-pat, but otherwise not many complaints.
Any advice welcome on what I should change and how!
Thanks

[KatieAlexis]

I should add that I'd also like her to drop the 4th nap, but not sure how to do it without her being exhausted by BT...

[becj86]

Hi, welcome to BW

I think you can probably sort most of that by shifting her A times to 2hr. It sounds like you might already be there, in which case, try 2:15 as she sounds like she might be a little on the high end of A times for her age.

It sounds like you're formula feeding her - is that right?

I'd suggest a routine somewhat like this with ~3.5hr between feeds (shift it for when she wakes in the AM):
7 - wake, feed
9 - nap
10:30 - wake, feed
12:30 - nap
2- wake, feed
4 - nap
5:30 - wake, feed
7 - feed
7:15/7:30 - asleep in bed for the night

If she's not getting up until 8:30am, 9/9:30 pm is a perfectly reasonable BT, so you may have to shift WU if you want BT earlier.

Once the routine is more appropriate for her, the falling asleep issues usually iron themselves out, so lets sort the routine and see if there's anything left to fix in a few days or so.

[KatieAlexis]

Thanks so much for the reply! Will see how we get on and get back to you.

Yes, sadly had to stop BF at 10wks to take heart medication... I started formula feeding in the same way as BF as she was pretty much going 3 hrs between feeds by then. She immediately dropped the 2am feed, but everything else remained the same until now when she's becoming harder to settle at night as she's not just feeding and sleeping again after her catnap, so bedtime has gotten later and I realised I needed to change something. Fingers crossed!

[becj86]

Yes, sadly had to stop BF at 10wks to take heart medication...

Well, important to look after your health too. Hugs xx

Keep us posted

[KatieAlexis]

Hi again,
I held off posting as was hoping to have made more progress, but we seem to be all over the place: occasionally I can stretch her to 3.5 hrs between feeds and occassionally she is taking a 1.5 or 2 hr nap, but no clearly consistent rhythm is emerging and even with longer between feeds she is still going for that 6th feed, even on days when the 5th feed is quite late because she's gone longer between feeds.

I think the longer A time is helping, but wonder what I'm doing wrong still. I try to stretch her to 3.5hrs when she will and try to get her to nap after she's been awake about 2hrs, but the precise times vary so much day to day depending on when she wakes up. I have a lot of medical appointments etc so sometimes have to feed her a bit early which might not be helping, and then she drops to sleep in the car, but not sure how to get around these kind of things. Is it better to wake her at a fixed time each morning? I thought we were supposed to follow the baby so bit unsure how I feel about waking her.
Any advice appreciated!
Katie

[becj86]

I have a lot of medical appointments etc so sometimes have to feed her a bit early which might not be helping, and then she drops to sleep in the car, but not sure how to get around these kind of things.

Not much you can do about this except for wing it and cross your fingers you can keep things more consistent the next day. Its not the end of the world.

Is it better to wake her at a fixed time each morning? I thought we were supposed to follow the baby so bit unsure how I feel about waking her.

Ideally, she wakes reasonably consistently in a window of about half an hour, so somewhere between 6:30 and 7 for example. That gives her circadian rhythm a chance to kick in and help with bedtime, etc. as she grows and develops. Things will change as her A times get longer and she drops naps but if you can keep one end of the day reasonably consistent, it helps.

I'm not entirely sure what the problem is with 6 feeds in a day?

Can you post a few days in EAS format - actual times for those days rather than something 'typical' so I can give you some pointers?

[KatieAlexis]

Hi there,
So 6 feeds was fine when she was going back to sleep, but the last feed is quite late in the evening usually and getting later if her A time is longer and she's going 3.5 hrs between feeds. Last week she's been feeding very strangely, just a few oz at several feeds and she's taking bout 45 mins to drink even that. Previously she'd take 5oz 6x a day so she's really not taking enough and it's hot here right now too so I'm wondering why.

I paste a few days below so you can see how much they differ. She was always feeding bout 5 or 6am but this week it's become nearer 3am, perhaps hungry sooner as taking less milk during the day?

8th July
S 2045 to 530am
E 530am (6oz)
S 553am to 830am
E 900am (2oz)
S 1050 to 1220 (1.5hr nap)
E 1230pm (4oz)
S 1430 to 1545 (1hr15min nap)
E 1610 (5oz)
S 1745 to 1815 (30min CN)
E 1922 (5oz)
S 2055 to 315am - woke her by mistake checking on her as just moved her to nursery

9th July
E 315am (6oz)
S 335 to 715am
E 730am (5oz)
S 815am to 0900 (45 min nap)
S 1030am to 1115 (45 min nap)
E 1115 (4oz)
S 1230 to 1250 (20 min nap)
E 1400 (5oz)
S 1500 to 1630 (1.5 hr nap)
E 1700 (5oz)
S 1800 to 1830 (30min CN)
E 2000 (5.5oz)
S 2045 to 0120
Unusual to wake at this time...

10th July
S 0200 to 0415
E 0420 (5oz)
S 0435 to 0600
Unusual to wake again
S 0610 to 0815
E 0830 (4oz)
S 1050 to 1130 (40 min nap)
E 1200 (5oz)
E 1415 (4oz)
S 1545 to 1620 (35 min nap)
E 1655 (4oz)
S 1815 to 1845 (30 min CN)
E 1930 (5oz)
S 2015 to 2040 (25 min in car)
E 2100 (2oz)
S 2140 to 0600

11th July
E 0600 (6oz)
S 0622 to 0830
E 0900 (1oz)
S 1000 to 1030 (30min nap)
E 1130 (5.5oz)
S 1400 to 1430 (30min nap)
E 1440 (5oz)
S 1600 to 1648 (48 min nap)
E 1800 (2oz)
E 1850 (5oz)
S 1920 to 1950 (30 min nap)
E 2050 (3oz)
S 2125 to 0245

12th July
E 0250 (3oz)
S 0318 to 0755
E 0800 (4oz)
S 0920 to 1120 (2 hr nap) v rare
E 1130 (3oz)
S 1220 to 1345 (1 hr 20 nap)
E 1400 (4oz)
S 1530 to 1610 (40 min nap)
E 1700 (3oz)
E 1844 (2.5oz)
Stopped recording as wasn't sure it was helping!

Thanks so much,

Katie

[KatieAlexis]

No responses so I thought I was post to close this...
I wanted to report that I've had some success, all if a sudden it just worked and she dropped the late, last feed and that meant we moved from 6x feeds of 5oz a day to 5x feeds of 6oz. The longer A time was indeed the secret. Naps still pretty short most of the time, but she's happy and bedtime is at a much more civilised time now she's dropped a feed and nap.

[creations]

Sorry you didn't get a response to your earlier post.  I've been off line a week due to a house move or I would have stopped by.

Great update, good that the longer A time has helped.
Perhaps we can support you with the nap length? Have you posted on the nap board?