eating enough?

[prncss]

Okay, i was reviewing the EASY routines and it looks like i may not be feeding my LO enough...FIrst he is 3 mon and 2 d.  He is BF and supplements because we had heart problems and needed to provide him with high calorie formula for weight gain. he is off the high calorie formula now and he is 7 weeks post op. I still BF... he will feed about 40 min a side. Then i supplement if he appears hungry. (He loves to suck his hands but wont take a dummy). But i usally give 3oz. I see others feeding 8 oz at this age... How can i be sure he is eating enough? I think if he eats more during the day we might sleep better at night. Currently he is up every 1-2 hrs.

[GraceKellysmom]

A 3 month old should be eating about every 3 hrs or so during the day, eating for 10-30 min per feeding, and waking to eat 2x per night is still expected at this age. He should gain about 1/2 pound/week but more or less is ok. Sucking hands is normal for this age because they CAN, it is fun to do and soothing, it doesn't always mean hunger.

If he is nursing and you are still supplementing, any idea what his weight gain is?

It sounds more like a sleep problem, those night wakings are brutal!

[Erin (redstarfalling)]

When you say you see other babies eating 8 oz, are you talking formula or EBM?  Because BF babies tend not to eat as many oz - and it doesn't tend to increase that much in amount as they get older either, but often caps around 4 -6 oz per feed, so don't judge necessarily from what others are doing.

I agree that waking every 1-2 hrs at night sounds less like hunger and more like developmental or habitual wakings.  But try to get full feeds, and just remember that if you supplement regularly with formula, it can decrease your supply in the long run. HTH!

[prncss]

i get about 20 min each breast and supplemented with 3-5 oz formula. His gain is slow but steady. He is 11.5lb for 3 mo. I know he is small but he had open heart at 6 weeks and is a little behind. I have never made great milk to start so I am not too worried about the supply decreasing... and if it does at least we had a few onths of BF. i just thought if we increased the food the sleep might improve... but so far it has not. He is up every 1.5-3 hrs all night no matter what we try. WE do have a routine but he falls asleeo by 10 is up between 1 and 1:30 then again between 3 and 3:30 then hourly after that. No matter what we do. Swaddling, eating, DF, pat and sh, Pu/Pd... I gurss he is just his own scheduler! I am ready to give it all up. THe hard part is that i go back to work in a week(i will work nights and daddy will take care of him then)...

[Erin (redstarfalling)]

What I would suggest is posting your schedule on the sleep or nightwaking board.  Seeing his whole day might give you some better advice.  Also, 10pm seems like a very late bedtime for a 3 month old...  A lot of moms find that starting bedtime much earlier can actually help with nightwakings - if you put them to bed too late, they get overtired and actually wake more often.  Let me know if you need more advice though - I had a lot of nightwakings at one time, and I might have some other ideas -but you'll probably find some great advice on the sleep boards.  Good luck!