Bottle at night????

[A&Omummy]

My baby is 9 wks old. She used to sleep and feed farely well. But over the past few days is wanting to be feed all the time, and is also not sleeping during the day. (10 , 15 min naps) Grrrrrrr.:mad: She is falling asleep while feeding. I continuely take her off and put her back on. Feeds for a little then falls aleep. When I put her in her cot she is wide awake again. I am returning to work in 4 wks. She will be coming as I work in child care. But I will be in a different room, (upstairs in the jnr kindy room). So I cant have her feeding all the time. I really dont want to put her on the bottle just yet. Also in the evening it is so hard as she is continuly feeding and it is so hard to do anything. Also really worried about this too when I return to work. I was thinking about giving her a bottle at night to see if that would fill her up. I really need some advice. Please tell me any ideas and what you all think about this.:confused:

Thanks Diana.

[Goosie22]

Hi,
It is normal to have more frequent feeds and changing patterns, growth spurts come really close together in the first 6 months. I would just wait it out and feed frequently as you do now a pattern will arrise agian, I wouldn't give any formula to try and get her to sleep longer (it is harder to digest) as it will interfere with your supply and ends up being a viscious cycle leading to early weaning (not to mention various health risks), if your taking her to a childcare centre with you she needs all the help she can get with to keep her immunity high. Try no to worry about having to feed her so often as it is your employers responsiblity to provide time for you to express ect while at work so why not just Breastfeed?

[the_queen]

Hi Diana,
:hugs: You sound like a fantastic mummy.
I think your little darling may be just going through a growth spurt - so she needs extra feeds. Giving her a bottle of formula at night probably will "fill her up" but that's because a tiny bubba's system won't digest it as fast, and it will sit in her tummy for longer. This can lead to constipation, and also because she isn't suckling as much, your supply will go down. Her stomach is the size of her fist, and your perfect boobie juice is made just for her, so it is digested really easily. It's hard on us mummy's in the early weeks! But you can get through this, you can do it, and trust me, your sleep deprivation won't last forever (it only feels that way...!!) Hopefully by the time you go back to work (she'll be, what, 12 or 13 weeks?) she'll be past this growth spurt and her feeds will have "settled down" a bit more.

My advice would be, take advantage of the time you've got left of your maternity leave. Spend a few days just laying in bed with her, feeding her whenever she wants, resting yourself, getting more sleep for yourself. Forget about the housework for a few days, or (better still) think back to all those people who said "oh if you ever need anything! If you ever need any help with the new baby....." give them a call and say "hey I need some help, come over and mop my floors and do my washing please":D

There's so many wise and wonderful breastfeeding mumma's on bubhub, I'm sure you'll get lots and lots of fabulous advice. :thumbsup:

You're doing a GREAT JOB you should give yourself a big pat on the back, you are a FABULOUS MUMMY!!:yelclap:

[veve]

this might sound silly - but have you tried to keep her awake more when feeding?? it IS exhausting work... but sometimes you can get an extra 10 minutes out of them by prodding them LOL :laughing:

- clean between their fingers/ toes
- wipe face with a cold/ cool washer
- jiggle under their chin (works more when they are still attached but droping off)
- play with their ears?? (I used to clean just inside.. behind etc with my finger while Jack was feeding)

a few ideas?? my DS took a few weeks before he realised that he needed to stay awake... you cant really demand feed if you are intending to work :(

you milk might be dropping off abit at night??? (it is usually the time of day when it is at its lowest) - maybe expressing a little after she has fed at night - might pump up the supply a bit..??

hope that helps - I'm sure that there are many more bubhubbers who can help!!!
:hugs:

[A&Omummy]

Thanks so much for the advice.:hugs: I just spooke to the CHN. She has given me some really great advice. She said that I probley don't have a feeding problem but a sleeping problem. As she is needing the boobie to go to sleep during the day, ( don't have a prob at night). She said when she has that morning feed around 8ish after the feed put her in a rocker or lay her on a pillow propt up, in a quite place, and have quite time. Watch for the tired signs and then put her in her cot. Pat her for a bit but not untill she is complety asleep. When she wakes praise her for having a sleep. Anyway I'm going for a day stay on thursday. So hopefully things will improve. I woudn't care to much about it all, but I am just so worried about the returning to work thing. I really want her to be in a good routine by then.:)