Author Topic: 7 week-old "stuck" at 12:30 and 4:30 feedings--ple  (Read 1720 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline mommyof2boys

  • New & Learning The Ropes
  • *
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 41
  • Location: Southern California
7 week-old "stuck" at 12:30 and 4:30 feedings--ple
« on: September 29, 2005, 15:50:40 pm »
My little boy is sleeping pretty well during the day--1 hour awake, then 1 1/2 to 2 hours asleep (falling asleep on his own, no pacifier, etc.)  However, he seems to be "stuck" at night, and the dreamfeed seems to make no difference.

Because he had still been waking and eating (though not voraciously) at 12:30 even after a 9:30 dreamfeed (he goes to bed around 7), I tried a few nights ago to forego the dreamfeed, feed him at 7:30, and see what happened.  He still woke at 12:30--a 5 hour stretch!  I thought--hey, 5 hours is just about right for this age, but this is the wrong 5 hours!

Last night I did the dreamfeed again at around 9:30, but sure enough he awoke at 12:30.  I fed him, put him back down, and he woke again at about 4:40 (his usual) and then ate and slept again till 7:15. 

I'm not so worried about the 4:40 feeding; I'd just like to get rid of the 12:30 one.  Anyone have any ideas?  Should I try the pacifier trick?  Or perhaps a bottle of water (a friend of mine did this and it worked for her...)

Please help...
mommy of Graham--August 10, 2005
mommy of Bennett--January 30,2003

Offline sandraorion

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 93
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 1959
  • Albuquerque, NM
  • Location: Albuquerque, NM, USA
7 week-old "stuck" at 12:30 and 4:30 feedings--ple
« Reply #1 on: September 29, 2005, 16:58:53 pm »
The dreamfeed never worked for Adrian. He did exact same thing you are describing. We went to bed early and he eventually started moving the feeds later and dropping them one by one.
Sandra, mom to Adrian - July 30th, 2004 and Nina December 4th, 2007

Offline CaedensMama

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 166
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 3717
  • Location: Colorado
    • Hand Full of Blessings
7 week-old "stuck" at 12:30 and 4:30 feedings--ple
« Reply #2 on: September 29, 2005, 17:31:59 pm »
The DF never worked for Caeden either and I would say 2 feeds a night for 7 weeks is not too bad. He will drop one when he is ready. Caeden is still feeding twice a night (12-2ish and 3-5ish) on a regular basis. I think they are still little enough at 7 weeks to need to food if they are waking for it. I would give it another week or two and see how he is doing. Just my opinion though!
Jen
Mama to:
Caeden (6/05)
Colm (3/07)
Alannah (11/08)
Tadhg (8/10)
and Ailish due Sept 16, 2011

Offline mommyof2boys

  • New & Learning The Ropes
  • *
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 41
  • Location: Southern California
thanks for the input!
« Reply #3 on: September 29, 2005, 20:12:47 pm »
Can I ask a few more questions?

First of all, did your kids really seem hungry when they awoke at night?  My little guy is  interested, but certainly not demanding to be fed NOW!!

Also, did your kids awake at the same exact time every night (like they were stuck) or did it move a bit?  Is it likely that one feeding will magically disappear, or will it likely take some coaching?  How long should I let this go?  And should I keep trying the dreamfeed, or give up and hope that he'll outgrow this and start sleeping from about 7pm till 3, and then 3 till 7am.  If so, how do I get rid of the 3 am feeding?

I'm just full of questions!!!

Thanks for any help you can provide...
mommy of Graham--August 10, 2005
mommy of Bennett--January 30,2003

Anonymous

  • Guest
7 week-old "stuck" at 12:30 and 4:30 feedings--ple
« Reply #4 on: September 29, 2005, 21:45:00 pm »
First, two feeds at night is not just pretty good at 7 weeks, it's FANTASTIC and he is behaving like a normal 7 week old.  He will drop the feeds as and when he needs to... his system will tell him when he is ready so PLEASE do with it right now and wait.  They have their deepest sleep at the beginning of the night so 7.30 till 12.30 is typical and normal.  In fact 7.30 to 12.30 is once again great for his age.

He is doing so well, and so are you so please go with it.  He NEEDS these feeds during the night for many different reasons and they will begin to ectend out EVENTUALLY.  When he does that btw, he will probably go from waking at the same time then abit later, then back to the same time, so they oscilate for a while. The DF works for some and not others.  I personally chose not to do it because I wanted to be guided by what I our ds needed at that time and it allowed me to see where he was 'at'.

Cheers
Ted

Offline Karen Pierrehumbert

  • New & Learning The Ropes!
  • *
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 3
  • Location: Australia
7 week-old "stuck" at 12:30 and 4:30 feedings--ple
« Reply #5 on: September 29, 2005, 23:03:15 pm »
Hi from Australia,
It also sounds to me as though your little one is doing REALLY well for this age. My six-month-old still wants to be fed at least once a night and I am having a very challenging time extending him. I would suggest to just go with it for a little while longer and see what happens at around two months?
Karen
Karen M Pierrehumbert

Offline sandraorion

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 93
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 1959
  • Albuquerque, NM
  • Location: Albuquerque, NM, USA
7 week-old "stuck" at 12:30 and 4:30 feedings--ple
« Reply #6 on: September 30, 2005, 12:26:53 pm »
Sometimes he was acting very hungry and was plain out crying, and sometimes he would just fuss and try to go back to sleep but discomfort of empty tummy wouldn't let him go back to sleep.

At that age, if he woke up at night, I went in quickly, fed him and put him back to sleep. You want to take care of his needs quickly at this age for two reasons: to make him secure that his needs are met and to promote good sleep. You don't want him to get into the habit of prolonged night wakefulness. Over the course of months, the in and out time went from one hour to some 15-20 minutes to feed (change diaper) and put back to sleep.

Adrian had typical times to wake up, I think around 2am and 5am. When he was ready to drop 2am feed, he started waking up at 3-4am. We was alternating 2 am and 4 am for awhile. 5 am got pushed to 6-7 am. Later 4 am became 5 am, then 5:30 am. Then we regressed, so we started solids and finally the every-night night feedings stopped at about 6 months. He was well over 20lb by then. We kept feeding him at night, on as needed basis (once a week or so) up until couple of weeks ago.

Anyway, long story short, night feedings won't go away quickly, but they will go away. Your son seems to be doing great for his age, and let him guide you. As others have said, he needs that nutrition now. The doctor will tell you when it is OK to stop feeding him at night, if he didn't stopped asking for the feeds. In the meantime, go to bed at 8pm. :)
Sandra, mom to Adrian - July 30th, 2004 and Nina December 4th, 2007

Diego's Mama

  • Guest
7 week-old "stuck" at 12:30 and 4:30 feedings--ple
« Reply #7 on: October 01, 2005, 11:29:51 am »
WAY too early to try bottles of water -- a seven week old is waking because they need the calories. 

Hands down, the BEST thing you can do to work toward independent night sleep is to work on independent day sleep.  Use a genle pat/shhh to ensure you baby goes to sleep in his crib/cradle without props.  Use the pacifier sparingly.  This takes a huge amount of work and patience.  As you gain independent day sleep, your baby will transfer those skills to nighttime when he's ready.

The only thing I'd encourage you at this point with a seven-weeker is to cluster feed in the evenings -- but remember, their tummies are so very small at this age.  I've heard that a newborn's stomach is the size of a walnut (to give you an idea).

Forget trying to delete nighttime sleep, work on daytime sleep instead and you'll see it happens naturally.

Weight gain and healthy development are crucial at this age, so please feed your baby whenever he needs to eat at this age.

Bless.