Has anyone tried changing routine?

[mosac]

Hi all, :wave:

Since we came home from the hospital I've been demand feeding and Sam normally goes down around 10pm and wakes at 2am and then 6am. During the day he feeds every 3 hours or so and in the evenings he's been going crazy and cluster feeding... or most probably more accurately, he's been COMFORT SUCKING! I have been DUPED by my own son!

Today we went to see our Paed and he said Sam should be going for 4 hours between feeds during the day and he should sleep through from midnight until 6am. So he has told me to let him cry during these hours at night as he is comfort feeding.

Until now I have been demand feeding but these last few days he latches on, sucks once and then stops sometimes. Sometimes he feeds too much and just brings it back up. He also said that Sam would be having wind pains too from over eating, which does happen... So I know in theory he is right... I just don't know how it's going to go.

Basically, I am after some positive stories if there are any, of baby crying for a night or two and then being in a wonderful routine. Or at least, someone who's been through this changing of the routine and has come out of it better off. I am NOT looking forward to having a screaming baby and not being able to feed him as this normally calms him and puts him back to sleep. I'm SCARED!!! :o

[UmmInayah]

I think you should do whatever your motherly instinct is telling you (believe me, it is there!) Only you know what is right for your baby. Be warned that your bub will feed as much as they need and your supply may drop if you start feeding on a schedule. I think there are reasons why we are told to feed on demand..

Good luck with whatever you try. Let me know if you want my personal opinion, as I know you wanted to hear positive stories, but I really thought I should at least say the above. :hugs:

[mosac]

Thank you. I will give it a go but if it doesn't feel right, I will stick with how it's been going and just be more vigilant with his 4-hour nibbles like he did this morning.

This morning he was up from 4am to 8am screaming until he got what he wanted - a feed - but then he'd just look at me, not sucking and sometimes I SWEAR he'd even SMILE up at me as if to say "YOU'RE THE SUCKER!!!". I think he was definitely comfort sucking this morning so if the paed's idea doesn't work out, I am fine feeding every 4 hours during the night but will not let him take advantage again.

It has crossed my mind that maybe I don't have to do exactly what the Paed tells me to do! ;) Oooohhhh!!! REBEL ALERT!!! :laughing:

[MandaMommy]

All babies are different. All babies feed different and you should do what you think is best for your baby.

When my DS was a few weeks old he feed constantly from 4pm till 11pm. It wasn't very good for me and I had people telling me all sorts of things. I decided to feed my DS every 4 hours on advice from a doctor... weeks later he had huge ongoing issues with weight gain. I really think most young babies feed every 3 hours and I will be doing this with my next baby.

So maybe try feeding every 3 hours and in the evening try using a swing or rocker... I know this helped with my DS and I would give him his final feed at 8.30pm but from 7pm - 8.30pm I couldn't hold him, my DH had too and we usually rocked him to stop him from crying... but when I did feed him at 8.30pm he would have a proper feed, fall asleep full and sleep until 5.30am :D then it would be feed every 3 hours on the dot... he never really cried to be feed.

I think you just need to work out what you what and what bub will be happy with and not worry too much about what think you should be doing.

And to answer your question.. yes I picked a routine and my baby fell straight into it and stuck to it until he was 6 months old. But I will say my DS was sleeping through the night on his own esteem at 10 days old. He himself already had a routine... it was first feed 5.30am next feed 11.30am next feed 4pm until 11pm.... that was his chosen routine and to change this I increasing feeding to feed at 5.30am, feed at 8.30am, feed at 11.30am, feed at 2.30pm, feed at 5.30pm, final feed at 8.30pm... so really I decided to feed him before he wanted a feed and thats why it probably worked.

[MandaMommy]

I'm going to add.... my DS somethings didn't feed well, too business smiling to me and not sucking... I dealt with this by putting him on the floor for 3 minutes, letting him cry then picking him up and trying to feed him again... it only took a few times of putting him down and he was much better.

[mosac]

MandaMommy - I can definitely understand the constant feeding for HOURS and also the not really feeding but rather holding nipple in mouth and smiling up at me!

He has only just woken up after sleeping since about 5pm (it's now 9:30pm).... ggggrrrrr. Think I am going to have serious problems doing this! I do like the idea of putting him down for a few minutes if he's not "co-operating". It's nice to get some ideas from other people. Thanks.

[SpottySocks]

Personally I'd find it really hard to let my baby cry at this age - midnight to 6am would be a big ask for her and me! My older 2 were both good sleepers but didn't regularly sleep for this long until they were about 3 months old.

Currently Evie is feeding a lot in the evenings from about 5.00 through to 8.00 then she is sleeping through till about 1.00am. Then wakes again at about 5.00am. I think she needs this cluster feeding period in the evening to get in the 5 hours of sleep. We have had 2 nights this week where she has slept for 6 1/2 hours :smiliedance:.

Talking to other mums it seems to me that it is easier for formula fed bubs to feed 4 hourly because the formula digests much slower than breast milk. 3 hourly seems to be the average for breast fed bubs - but then again every baby is different and they are not going to stick to a particularl time schedule just because the paediatrician recommended it!

During the day I do try and stretch out her feeds to 3 hourly for similiar reasons that you mentioned - she feeds to much for comfort then gets a tummy ache and vomits it back up.

For the night feeds I don't turn the lights up full, don't talk to her and make little eye contact. I feed her till she slows or stops, then change her nappy & offer her a bit more until she slows or stops and then back to her cot. I like to think this helps her learn the difference between night and day - it seemed to work for my older 2 who were both good sleepers and slept through (10pm to 6am) from around the age of 3 or 4 months.

Do what suits you and makes you comfortable.

Goodluck!

[Angroc]

If Sam is comfort feeding and just suckling on your nipple, have you tried a dummy? Maybe try and introudicing a dummy while you are cuddling him like you would when feeding. Not all people like dummies but I found it really worked with dd. She normally spits it out after a couple of minutes when she has settled enough to sleep. You have to remember also that your bub is still so young and as nevjay said, breast milk is digested so much faster too. Good luck.

[happybunnypony]

we are having similar issues with my DS.

I had low weight gains a while ago with DS, so decided to feed every 2 hours during the day (instead of comping with formula), now he wakes up every 2 hours at night also... sometimes hourly! :( But i think it's mostly because of wind... and wont settle down so i feed him back to sleep.
I'm getting exhausted! :rolleyes:

I think once he's put on a good amount of weight i might try going 3 hourly and see how we go.

I am also trying to use the dummy, but only for nighttime, after he has fed and to help him get back to sleep, as he would comfort feed at night on me for ages (as i feed laying down!)... i try to avoid it during the day though.

Good luck with it though, it's so hard knowing what to do... let us know how you go! :)

[mosac]

Thank you ladies,

This morning I am a different person! Firstly, Sam has put on heaps of weight since birth and if he hadn't been gaining much I don't think I would have done this.

He went down at 10:30 last night and then woke up at 1am. DH calmed him with a dummy and some patting on the chest and back to sleep he went!

Woke up at 3am and I fed him, didn't bring up any and had a little wind but NOTHING like before.

Woke up at 5:30am and I KNEW he couldn't be hungry so in the dummy went again and I gave him some cuddles until he was almost asleep. Then I put him back in the bassinet and he went to sleep on his own whilst grumbling on the dummy.

Woke up at 8am and I fed him and he's been grumbly ever since but this is normal. He's normally wide awake for about 2 hours in the morning and grumbles a fair bit.

I must say... the dummy is a god send! Like others I'm not too keen on using it but hey, whatever works!

Sam was definitely comfort sucking. I have also fixed another problem: he's been wetting through his nappy during the night for the last 2 weeks or so. It seems no matter how often I change it, the poos were explosive. Last night he had hardly anything in the nappy. The paed also said that his poos won't be as explosive anymore. So I think this has been a success! :yelclap:

[SpottySocks]

Well Done! :yelclap:

We have also used a dummy (which we didn't need at all with our 1st 2). But I haven't tried using it at night, just during the day if she wants to feed in less than 3 hours, it has really helped space out her feeds and we are using it less and less which is good.

[mosac]

Thanks nevjay. That's exactly it - spaces out the feeds. At first I felt bad as I thought he was crying for food but nope.... he just wanted to suck on something. I just had my first solo outing and it was much easier than even before with DH.

Thanks to those who gave feedback and advice. It has really helped. :thumbsup: