DD only spending 5 minutes feeding on 3 hour EASY!

[Aisha's mum]

Help!

My 4 month old dd is only spending 5 minutes or less feeding during the day - she's on 3 hr EASY. I know she ought to be on 4 hour, but she's very spirited and has really problems still staying up for longer than 1hr 15 min. She still has one night feed between 3-4am, but then is fine going through until 7am after this, and doesn't necessarily even seem hungry then. She's been putting on weight really well, but this week she stayed the same as last week for the first time since she was born.

I know Tracy has also said in her last book that a 4 month old shouldn't be needing a night feed. My dd is very small for her age - 12lbs, 10oz, so is Tracy's statement based on the average weight of a 4 month old, or on developmental stage?

Any advice would be much appreciated!

[Erin (redstarfalling)]

Actually, a lot of the book tends to be more relevant to bottle fed babies...  If your baby is happy and gaining weight well with one feed overnight, as long as you're ok with it, I wouldn't sweat it too much.  She's still very young.  My dd woke for a feed overnight until she was about 11 months old!  A lot of babies need the feed at 6 months or older. Also, they sometimes go through a plateau in the weight gain at that age, so you might find from week to week that it doesn't change as much.  If she hasn't gained in a month or if she loses, then get it checked out.

As for the 5 min feeds, she might just be efficient!  But it's also possible that she's snacking and not getting full feeds.  Hard to say.  A lot of 4 month olds can't stretch to 4 hrs though - we stuck to 3 or 3.5 hrs between feeds for the longest time.  The book is meant to be a guideline, not a strict regimen.  Some babies also develop mature sleeping habits later.  Go with the flow and do what seems best for both of you!

[Aisha's mum]

Aw, thanks Erin, you've made me feel loads better. I'm pretty sure Aisha isn't snacking, as I do only feed her every 3 hours, and she's always been pretty quick - used to just spend 20 min when a newborn, but she suddenly went from that to 5 minutes overnight, so I was a bit freaked.

I didn't realise that the stuff in the book was more relevant to bottlefed babies - really?

[Erin (redstarfalling)]

I find it so...although not everyone might agree. Some of the expectations on sleep and eating certainly don't always fit most of the breastfed babies I know.  But I suspect even Tracy would have encouraged us to look at it all as merely guidelines - she always emphasized listening to your baby and getting to know his or her individual needs and habits.

It IS pretty scary when they have one of those developmental leaps, that's for sure!

[Gigismom]

my dd was also a very efficient eater.  her feeds were and still are 2-3 mins.  sometimes, she will go 5 mins.  but she is healthy and gained weight so i didn't worry too much.  just look on the bright side...at least you don't have to carve out 20-30 mins every 3 hours to feed like some moms do!!
and my dd fed during the night until about 3.5 months...