can someone please answer this time!!!!!

[crazycanuck]

hi

i left a post below wondering if I should have my son on a 4 hour easy and no one responded, so here i am again asking some questions.  he is 13 weeks and curently on a 3 hour easy......he istaking to it ok and his night sleep was really good, he was sleeping like 9-10.5 hours at night when he went down.  However he was still waking and taking pretty much a full feed so I know he was hungry.  I know if it's a growth spurt you need to increase his ounces during the day, bit I am alreayd feeding him every 3 and he stops eating, how can I force more into him....I can't.  I have been keeping track and he's taking in about 30 ounces everyday consistently....he has slept 10.5hours on this but last night he only slept 7 before waking at 3am....he was hungry it's all I could do to keep him from chewing off his fingers!!  So what do I do???  for example, this morning when I went into get him again at 6:30am he was really at his fingers and hungry I didn't feed him until 7am and he only drank 4 ounces.......he seems so inconsistent with what he wants to eat.....sometimes he takes the whole thing right away and other times he leaves some or we have to make 2 more ounces.....if I'm consistently feeding him every three how can I remedy this??? Is the answer right in front of my face and I don't see it?

[GabrielleD]

Hi,

Just want to reassure you that if we didn't answer your previous post, it wasn't because we didn't care, but we didn't know the answer. I wish I could help, but I am trying to figure out the same thing with my son. In his case the finger chewing is related to teething - I am not sure if your LO is going through the beginnings of teething as well. Sorry, I can't help with the questions about feeding; perhaps someone else will have an answer.

Good luck!

[crazycanuck]

thank you for your reply....i don't think people don't care, I'm just desperate!!! 

[jayne]

i too am sorry that your previous post was not answered.. the girls do their best to get to everone
--I will do my best to help you  

i know that they usually go thru a 12 week growth spurt so that could be the culprut right there and you may want to hold off going to a 4 hour easy until he tapers off a bit here..

just a few questions

how much is he taking at each feed??

do you dream feed??

do you cluster feed before bed??

[crazycanuck]

he takes between 4 and 8 ounces at each feed, never always the same....usually at least 5 but this am only 4....I have been keeping track and he takes in roughly 30ounces a day very consistently.......right now he is hungry because he didn't eat enough but it's only been 2.5hours, I can't let him get into a bad cycle so I'm holding him off until 3 hours.  I don't do the dream feed.....I'm scared to wake him up.....after having what we think was a colicky baby to begin with I'm so scared to wake him from his night sleep for a feed.  I try to cluster feed but sometimes he isn't interested and doesn't want it...........any more ideas

thanks for your reply

[jayne]

have you noticed any signs of teething?? or a cold??

i can understand not wanting to wake him up at night for the dream feed.. gina was a touchy baby and i dont wake her for anything :wink: 

30 oz a day sounds like a good amount.. i would just continue on with the 3 hour schedule and see if this works itself out..he might be waking at night for a number of things.. has he done anything developmental lately? roll over? or even use his legs more??

sometimes they just go thru these things and will work themselves out.. if he wakes and is hungry i say feed him --but only if he takes a full bottle if he just plays with his food then he is up for comfort not for food...

i would keep him on a 3 hour easy or maybe start to switch him gradually to a 3 1/2 hour then to a 4 hour easy--he may start taking more each feed if he goes longer between..(and then you have those times they only take half and then are hungry at 2 hours and they throw off the schedule completly :roll: --this is normal )

hth

[Mom2katiebug]

I must have missed your original post.  Don't have a magic bullet answer, but with our LO (who's only 5.5 WO) when we started the CFs it took a few days for her to figure it out.  (We don't DF...yet.)  Now, she'll want to eat every 3 hours during the day and has adjusted to the 2 hour feedings in the evening.  We couldn't go 3 hours in the evening if we wanted to!  But, when we first started we had to really coax just a couple of ounces in her at eat CF.  Now she'll take 2.5 to 3 ounces which is pretty close to a full feed for her.  You may want to give that a try again for a few days/a week to see if you LO adjusts to the new feeding schedule.  This may get more calories in during the day and then maybe, just maybe, your LO will only wake up when he's really hungy and take a full feed at night.  Even though our DD took a few days to get used to the evening tank-up, she started sleeping in longer blocks right off the bat (we usually get a good 5-6 hour stretch).  When she wakes after her long stretch, she'll take a full feed and sometimes more so we know she's hungry! 

I have the same problem with my DD - when she's done eating, nothing is going to pry those lips open!  On a previous post, someone suggested actually going back to a 2.5 hour EASY program (or whatever shorter schedule works for you) so that I could get one more bottle in each day.  Once she got used to these extra daily ounces, stretch back to a 3 hour EASY and see if she'll eat more at each feeding.  I don't know if this will work - I haven't tried it yet (our eating issue went away for now).  It's hard not to feed a hungry baby (at least my LO will scream for her bottle), but in Tracy's book she recommends holding them off with a paci or other distraction for 15 minutes to stretch the feeds out (to help avoid snacking issues - which we had).  Sometimes we can hold our LO off for an hour or more with this (trying to eliminate a 4am snacking habit), sometimes we can't even make it 5 minutes.  Like I said, my LO can raise the roof!

My only other suggestion is to take the 30 ounces and divide it by the number of feeds each day.  Then put this amount in each bottle (maybe a little less for the CFs if you try this).  Only give him more if he REALLY needs it.  The big feeds may resutling in smaller feeds later which may just be throwing the whole day off.  Again, it might take a few days to find out if this works, because your LO may be expecing those large meals.

[crazycanuck]

the whole day has been off now..........i fed him again at 3 hours and he took 8ounces compared to the 4 before this.......he then napped for about 1 hour and woke up screaming, he had soaked himself with spit up....did I mentione I think he has reflux?  so i changed everything and elevated his mattress and from then on he would scream and then be fine for a minute then scream....then spit up more.  I didn't even try to pu/pd cause I knew he was in pain........so for an hour we dealt with this and then it was time to feed again.....and because his nap was cut short before and he had been up for about1.5hrs already he started falling asleep while eating at his next feeding and only took 3.5 ounces.....then spit up all over himself again...........I put him in his crib and left him to sleep cause I know he's tired as well.  I can see the bad cycle starting but there is nothing can do differently.  Sometimes he only naps for 45mins or an hour and is happy and content until his next feed but then when he feeds he's already been up for over an hour and usually is ready to go down shortly after he eats, so these days he gets the "A" before the "E"..........he's still awake so I may try and see if he's still interested in eating....he's just hanging out in his crib not crying though.  I think it's his relux that has been a problem today or he ate too much with the 8 ounces...........so frustrating!!!! 

I will try the dream feed maybe and be more persistant with the CF's in the evening if I can. 

i just can't wait for today to be over with.....see if we can start fresh tomorrow.......things have managed to get royally screwed today and not for lack of trying.....baby has another agenda today.

thanks for all of your ideas and suggestions.....no I don;t think he's teething I haven't noticed any signs of this at all. 

I did however, by accident, almost clip the whole top of his thumb off today when tryiing to clip his nails.....maybe he's just angry with me I felt and still feel so bad.....I think he likes sucking on the bandaid though

I'm also going to look into getting a pediatrician because my family physician doesn't seem to know specialty things for babies and I have concern about his maybe reflux

[Noelle]

so these days he gets the "A" before the "E"..........

That's the tweaking I had mentioned in your other post.  This is perfectly ok and normal.  I would definitely check if he has reflux, that always throws wrenches in things 

As far as the waking at night to eat...he just may be a hungry baby.  Some babies take longer than others to sleep through the night.  Have you tried using a pacifer for this waking?  A growth spurt like the other mentioned is a good bet too...along with developmental issues (rolling, etc.)

{{HUGS}}  Hope it goes better tomorow..