2 hour feeds

[katyjane]

My 5 week old for the last week has been feeding every two hours (except in the night when she lasts for four fours - yey!). This means spending 1 hour feeding, 15 mins burping/digesting and 15-30 mins trying to get her to sleep. I get no more than 15-30 mins to do stuff and then it all starts again.

I guess I am wondering if there are any strategies out there for increasing the time between feeds (i.e that don't involve just rocking a hysterical bub) because I am eating biscuits for lunch as I have no time to prepare anything else, let alone sleep when she sleeps, wash some of her clothes etc etc. Please help!!*&%$#$%:fingerscrossed:

[hayleylea]

oh this sounds very familiar indeed!!!! It can get very frustrating thats for sure!! I remember thinking the exact same thing. I guess the main thing is it does get better! At this age they are doing alot of growing and my little man just wanted to feed all the time.

I use to stretch out time between feeds by feeding and then taking DS for a walk down the street. It doesnt exactly give you "ME" time at home to get things done but i did this for a few weeks to stretch out the feeds and then eventually the time between feeds got longer and longer and i could just stay at home (which was a god send!)

You could try entertaining the bub for a bit....or get a toy that gets their attention? I know its pretty hard to keep a 5 week old entertained!

Sorry i dont have much advice but i just want you to know that your not alone! :hugs:

Oh and you have to make time for yourself! maybe you could get someone to make you some meals to freeze so its easy to eat at lunch time. If you dont eat you will get yourself sick. I wasnt eating properly etc for the same reasons and i ended up in hospital with a kidney stone which meant i had to give up breast feeding completley! It might not have been related but you have to try to eat as hard as it may be!

It does get easier...hang in there!

[misskittyfantastico]

:hugs: This probably isn't what you want to hear, but my DD was exactly the same. She had major growth spurts from about 4 weeks and I nearly went insane!
I couldn't stretch her out between feeds so I just ended up embracing all the support and help that was offered to me. Don't worry about anything other than you and your bub. I promise it won't last forever (feels like it though)

[Supermum]

Hugs to you - same here.:hugs:

My son fed 2 hourly and drained my boobs completely. If, for some reason he slept for longer than 2 hours I would become engorged, very quickly.

He fed this way until around the 12 week mark. Tiring I know, but they eat what they need. I have no strategy for you apart from try to get some sleep when she does.

She'll settle into a lovely routine before you know it, and until then, when someone says "How are you?" - be honest. "I'm stuffed, I'm tired and have no time for anything else than feeding my baby - can you help?":thumbsup:

[MJ]

Totally here your pain! My bub is 8 weeks old and still doing the same thing and has started to do this at night too so it's a real killer. He used to sleep for 6 hours then 4 at night but must be going through a growth spurt as he is an eating machine .. I hope it gets better soon! They seem to grow up so fast so just enjoy what you can!

[BlessedWithBlue]

My ds#1 fed 2 hourly right through the day and the night until he was about 4 or 5 months old then he started to gradually go a bit longer. I guess i just had a hungry boy! I know how frustrating it is to not be able to get time to do anything and not being able to prepare anything for your own meals because you are constantly having to feed, burp and wash bottles. I don't have any advice but i agree with sleep when bub does! otherwise you will find yourself physically drained very quickly. With ds#2 we got him to go a bit longer by trying to distract him with something like a toy or grandma would take him into her room to play for a little while and within a week or so he was holding out that bit extra:thumbsup:

[Mumma22]

We have a little man who is almost 5 months at our place who is a snacker all night too. Its been hard with getting little sleep with a toddler too - but we are getting there slowly. We just bought Pinky McKays new book "Sleeping like a baby" which has been a great read for us both. Easy to follow - gentle kind ideas about why little ones dont always sleep as much as we would like - and ways to maybe help them sleep a little longer........

We are going to spend some time getting to know our little ones patterns a little better - and see if we can help him change them a little more so that he feels more rested, and we do too. We are following his lead for now - and responding as he needs us. I kind of cherish the time gazing at his wakeful little face in the glow of the lantern, but tireness is getting the better of me and it's time to rest together more. Lucky for us when he is awake at night he is laughing rather than crying - but still exhausting!!

I loved Supermums idea - and have been saying the same thing to people.....I wish we were all in communities where we all had more support for each other in the early days (well, all the days really!!) so that we do little else but focus on our babies and rest........

[Seekrit]

:hugs: Yup! Sounds very familiar.
Cobey's just graduated to 3 hourly feeds being the norm. :) last week it was 2.5 hourly..

And before you look in horror, the bubs get MUCH FASTER on the boob! Soon she'll have chowed down in 10-20 minutes, then spend the rest of that hour playing before having a snooze! :) (well that's what my boy does anyway)

[SilverStarfish]

Went through the same story here :) Every 2.5 - 3 hours or she'd start divorce proceedings.

I remember my childless BiL asking me about DD's feeding patterns and when I said every 3-4 hours at night, he went "oh, that doesn't sound so bad!" Until I explained that DD would wake, I'd feed her (45 - 60 minutes), burp & change nappy as required (15 minutes), settle her to sleep (at least 30 minutes) and then crawl back to bed, take a while to drop off again, only to start the whole cycle an hour or two later!!

Even though it doesn't feel like it now, it really does get better. Really! :)

[Mumma_al]

Sounds like a growth Spurt my DD did it every few weeks around that age.

Its natures way of increasing Mum's milk supply when bub needs it.

Good Luck