Reducing nighttime feedings: 10 week old

[@llli*amy191]

Hi all - I'm just wondering if there's a gentle way to reduce the # of times my little guy is waking up at night demanding a feed.

He's a big, strong boy at 10 weeks - he weighs 16 lbs. I am exclusively breastfeeding. He goes for longer periods (3 hours, sometimes a bit more) during the day than he does at night. Last night, he started down the "every hour" road, but I moved him to his swing, and then got 2-2.5 hours in between til morning. We do tend to feed him before he goes down, and try to put him to bed drowsy, but sometimes, we don't catch him awake.

I am lucky to not have to go back to work until the end of the month, but I'm afraid for how I'll cope after that!

Any advice for how to get him to sleep longer would be appreciated. (Or also, some reassurance that if we "just go w/the flow", it'll eventually work itself out.)

Thank you!

amy

[@llli*kjohanna]

If I've learned anything during my short stint as a mom thus far, it's that babies are always changing. Especially at such a young age, it is normal for them to be waking up frequently throughout the night. Sounds like he may be sorting his days and nights out stilll? Try offering more often during the day, at least every 2 hours maybe. (if they don't want to eat, they won't, but it doesn't hurt to at least offer!) That could help. Also, just because he's waking every hour, doesn't mean he will be a month from now. The path to sleeping through the night isn't always a linear one--sometimes baby will be sleeping great for a while, and then they start teething, or going through a growth spurt, or a new developmental milestone, etc and suddenly you're back to waking frequently again. It WILL eventually work itself out though! They won't be always waking at night, even if it seems like it's taking a while. Until it does, though, you're in good company here-- these boards have some great ladies to commiserate (and rejoice) with.

[@llli*melissawoods]

Hugs mama, I know it's hard when they are up every hour. For the most part I would go with it (as in I would not encourage a 10 wk old to feed less frequently). It won't last forever!

However, to maybe encourage him gently which is day and which is night, I would start feeding more often during the day by offering every 2 hours even if he does not necessarily demand to nurse, kwim? Another thing I have always done is this: my son goes to bed around 7 pm, he nurses to sleep. I will nurse him in his sleep (we co-sleep so I just lay beside him and nurse) about twice before I go to sleep (including right before I go to sleep). It seems to help me get a longer first stretch of sleep...

[@llli*still.here]

I'm definitely on the go with the flo bandwagon, especially this early on. With all the growth spurts and routine shifts babies go through in those early months it's important to feed on demand whenever possible. When I went back to work I started cosleeping. Accidentally at first, because I'd fall asleep with baby in the bed nursing, then I read up on safe ways to cosleep and never looked back. After being gone all day long it's a great way to reconnect with baby and give your supply a needed boost and for me it was the only way I could get any kind of sleep.

[@llli*triciajoy]

I am by no means a BF expert. However, my son (now 3.5y) was a HORRIBLE night owl for months and months. I didn't think that kid was ever going to sleep at night.

Things I did to encourage it:

As soon as you're up for the day, get him into as much sunlight as possible. When you're ready for him to have 'bedtime' keep him out of the light as much as possible. (Use a dim lamp when necessary.)

Swaddle at night and for any heavy nap you want during the day, but otherwise don't. The little cat naps during the day are unswaddled.

Start a night time routine now. It won't work at first, but eventually they'll get it. So read a story, sing a song, give a bath, swaddle, nurse, rock to sleep- whatever you want your routine to be.

[@llli*joe.s.mom]

I would offer more milk during the day, and also try to really fill him up around bedtime (and maybe "top off" with a dream feed). And we used black out curtains during the night and did lots of sunshine and light during the day. That said, just be prepared for things to continue to switch up and change, and go with the flow. You can do a bunch of different things, but depending on what's going on with baby (growth spurt, teething, new skills, etc.) you may or may not see clear "results."

[@llli*amy191]

One other sidenote: my pediatrician suggested that he may be looking for comfort moreso than food, so she suggested just letting him cry instead of feeding him sometimes. I'm not comfortable w/that when he's this young. In your experience, are peds usually so quick to suggest that crying is the answer?

[@llli*joe.s.mom]

One other sidenote: my pediatrician suggested that he may be looking for comfort moreso than food, so she suggested just letting him cry instead of feeding him sometimes. I'm not comfortable w/that when he's this young. In your experience, are peds usually so quick to suggest that crying is the answer?

In my experience, yes. And I just ignored mine. I started answering the "how does he sleep?" question very obliquely after a while. Personally, I think a baby's need for comfort is a "need" and I don't feel comfortable ignoring it. As my baby got older, I was more comfortable with tears when it was because Joe wasn't getting the kind of comfort he wanted (like, dad was snuggling him instead of me) but I knew he had what he needed. Just my two cents. Joe was a frequent night nurser, and I don't think he was manipulating me. I think he needed contact with me to check in and feel safe sleeping.

[@llli*still.here]

I'm kind of appalled that a pediatrician would suggest ignoring feeding cues from a 10 week old. Not surprised mind you, but still appalled.

[@llli*nsm]

One other sidenote: my pediatrician suggested that he may be looking for comfort moreso than food, so she suggested just letting him cry instead of feeding him sometimes. I'm not comfortable w/that when he's this young. In your experience, are peds usually so quick to suggest that crying is the answer?

Yes, my ped told me to start weaning my daughters night feeds, she is 3 weeks old! I just nodded, ds night nursed until 15 months no way I would be weaning a 3 week old. They do begin spacing out their feedings as they grow.