DD is 11 weeks old and she still breast feeds every 2 hours on the dot during the day. I feel like by now she should be able to go longer between feedings. It sucks too because she wakes up from super short naps because it has been 2 hrs since she ate. She's eating abpout 10x per day and it is exhausting! Sometimes she only nurses for 5-7 mins and appears to be done. My sister said it is not good if she's a "Snacker". Any advice to get her to space her feeds longer?
DD was every two hours until around 9 months. I mean, you could set your watch by her. It's totally normal at her age, although yeah it does suck. I never had much luck spreading out feedings, but when she started daycare at 12 weeks she usually had one period where she would go 3 hours during a long nap. She transitioned to that at home around 4-5 months.
My DD did the same thing too. Eventually when at daycare she got to every 2.5 hours and started only doing 2 wakeups a night. This went on a long time. Sorry. I know thats not an answer that you wanted to hear. I also had someone I knew tell me she just spaced her kids feedings and did not feed on demand. Like every day instead of every 2hours she moved it to 2:15 and then 2:30. But a crying baby because they are hungry sounds like hell to me. Her kid did start going longer though.
Have you pumped and fed her a bottle, or done a weighed feeding? Is it possible you have small storage capacity? www.nancymohrbacher.com/blog/2014/1/17/infographic-on-breast-storage-capacity.html You could try pushing her to go longer between eating, but if you're not emptying your breasts regularly then your milk supply may slow down.
Ds is 7.5 months and still eats every 2 hours. He sleeps through the night so he is eating 6-8 times a day. Occasionally he will go 3 hours, but will make up for the missed feeding.
As your dd gets older she will eat more at each feeding and there will be less of the "snacking."
DS is 7 months old and still eats about every 2 hours. If we're out and about he usually goes longer. Also if our parents watch him he usually goes longer than 2 hours. But if we're just hanging around the house he eats more often.
Post by carolinagirl831 on Aug 6, 2015 15:02:53 GMT -5
My 3 month old eats every 2 hours during the day. From 11 pm she can go anywhere from 11-3, or 11-5 then its every two hours. Unfortunately I think it's normal!
Post by charlotteandwilbur on Aug 6, 2015 15:38:08 GMT -5
My DD is very close in age to yours and also eats every 2 hours. She's at a weird point where she hasn't consolidated her daytime sleep yet so she's taking a lot of shitty cat naps. Anyway, my DS also ate every 2 hours but things got a lot better once he started taking longer naps & having longer awake periods (typically he would eat at the beginning and end of each period). Hang in there!
My kids both nursed like that for like the first year of their life...ha! I'd just continue nursing on demand -- there isn't anything wrong with nursing that frequently. If this is new, it could be a growth spurt. If it's not, then it's just being 11 weeks. While some babies will certainly go longer stretches at that age, there's nothing "wrong" with a baby who doesn't or who "snacks." You probaby aren't far off from more spaced-out feedings, so hang in there!
Post by 5kcandlesinthewind on Aug 6, 2015 15:57:57 GMT -5
Our pediatrician told us he'd be more "efficient" at feedings around 2-3 months, so they'd likely be shorter but with the same frequency. So that could be why she's not feeding for as long at some points.
I feel your pain, though. B usually goes 2-2 1/2 hours before he starts losing it, unless he's napping or out and about. Then he'll sometimes stretch it to 3-3 1/2 hours. The issue is that he does this at night, too. I am tiiiiiiiiiiired.
It sucks but it is normal. DD ate every 1.5-2.5 hours until I weaned at age one. At night she would normally give a 5-6 hour stretch then the same crap. And she took forever to eat.
Why am I doing this again?
I guess she's normal then. She does exactly this! One long stretch at night but then everyone 1.5 to 2 hours during the day. Oh well!
So if she's done eating in 5 to 7 minutes, it sounds like that's enough? i've also been having issues with plugged ducts, so I'm not sure if I'm not draining enough.
it's normal and i'm not inclined to change it. R was like this and it sucked, but any attempts to change his patterns were met with fierce resistance and it wasn't worth the agony for either of us. my best solution was to learn to nurse while babywearing (ring sling and ergo) and then i just went about my business.
sorry i know how difficult this phase is. and i know it doesn't really help to hear "this too shall pass", but it will. promise.
Sounds normal to me. DD is 4.5 months old and eats every 2 hours during the day. She does STTN 11pm-8am, so I'm fine with the daytime snacking.
noodleoo, to get longer naps I do what I call the "double snack." Nurse her when she wakes up, and she usually shows tired cues 1.5-2 hours later. So I change her diaper (she naps longer if she's dry) and nurse her AGAIN, even though it may have only been 60-90 minutes since the end of her last nursing session. This seems to fill her up well, and she'll take a better nap.
It sucks but it is normal. DD ate every 1.5-2.5 hours until I weaned at age one. At night she would normally give a 5-6 hour stretch then the same crap. And she took forever to eat.
Why am I doing this again?
I guess she's normal then. She does exactly this! One long stretch at night but then everyone 1.5 to 2 hours during the day. Oh well!
So if she's done eating in 5 to 7 minutes, it sounds like that's enough? i've also been having issues with plugged ducts, so I'm not sure if I'm not draining enough.
This is about what my little one did, and still does to an extent. I think that its actually a good thing. Go ahead and load up during the day, baby. Because if it means you sleep for six straight hours Mommy can function like a real human being!
And mine usually only nurses about 5-7 minutes a side. If you are getting engorged you can always pump a bit.
Sounds normal to me. DD is 4.5 months old and eats every 2 hours during the day. She does STTN 11pm-8am, so I'm fine with the daytime snacking.
noodleoo, to get longer naps I do what I call the "double snack." Nurse her when she wakes up, and she usually shows tired cues 1.5-2 hours later. So I change her diaper (she naps longer if she's dry) and nurse her AGAIN, even though it may have only been 60-90 minutes since the end of her last nursing session. This seems to fill her up well, and she'll take a better nap.
When did she start sleeping 9 hours at night? That's amazing!!
DD recently started going to bed earlier, like 9 PM vs 11-12. When we started putting her down earlier, I started waking her to feed at 11:30 before I go to bed. But she's always pretty deep asleep and I wonder if I could have just let her sleep. I'm afraid she'll wake at like 2 am if I don't but I never tried it. Currently she'll sleep from the end of that feed around 12 to about 5 am which is pretty good.
Sounds normal to me. DD is 4.5 months old and eats every 2 hours during the day. She does STTN 11pm-8am, so I'm fine with the daytime snacking.
noodleoo, to get longer naps I do what I call the "double snack." Nurse her when she wakes up, and she usually shows tired cues 1.5-2 hours later. So I change her diaper (she naps longer if she's dry) and nurse her AGAIN, even though it may have only been 60-90 minutes since the end of her last nursing session. This seems to fill her up well, and she'll take a better nap.
When did she start sleeping 9 hours at night? That's amazing!!
DD recently started going to bed earlier, like 9 PM vs 11-12. When we started putting her down earlier, I started waking her to feed at 11:30 before I go to bed. But she's always pretty deep asleep and I wonder if I could have just let her sleep. I'm afraid she'll wake at like 2 am if I don't but I never tried it. Currently she'll sleep from the end of that feed around 12 to about 5 am which is pretty good.
It is amazing! She'll slept that long since about a month old. She's amazing. She falls asleep on my chest around 8pm while DH put DS to bed. She nurses and doozes until 11pm-ish when I change her (which wakes her a bit) and do a full feeding. She falls asleep nursing and I put her in her crib around 11:30. She usually sleeps until 8am. She's incredible.
But like I said, she nurses every 1.5-2 hours during the day, and cluster feeds all evening from 7:30-11. So that's how she "tanks up" for such a long stretch of sleep.