34 weeker now 10 weeks old, confused!

[Millnsy]

Hello all

I'm hoping someone will be able to offer some advice to keep me sane! My Daughter is now 10 weeks old and was born at 34 weeks. She weighed 5lb 8oz and has continued to gain weight well. I had a weighed at 9.5 wks and she was 10lb 14oz on the 91st centile (adjusted). She is really strong and holds her head up really well. She has definitely caught up with other babies at the same age as her in terms of her weight.

Because of this, I sometimes forget that she was early and I think my expectations of her may be a bit high! She still feeds every 3 hours at least (she is BF) and all the way through the night. Last week we tried to move her in to her own room in an attempt to get her to sleep a bit longer but it was a disaster and she is now back in with us. We have instigated a bath, boob, bed routine at about 7pm but she never really settles before 9pm and then needs another feed at 10pm. I know most 8-10 week old babies would have started to drop a night feed by now and maybe go 5 hours at night but Maddie shows no sign at all of doing this.

Should I be treating her like a 5 week old or 10 week old or something in between? I'm scared that she is developing comfort feeding habits as opposed to feeding because she is hungry.

Any suggestions?
Thanks!

 

[Cazzyg]

She is still very young and I honestly wouldn't worry about her developing comfort habits at this age. My advice would be to ditch what the books say a baby should be doing at each age in terms of eating and sleeping. Every baby is different and unfortunately they haven't read the books!

My daughter was born at 36 weeks and in all honesty, she didn't start dropping night feeds until she was much older. In the end we went with it and coslept as it was the only way for us all to get some sleep. She seemed to need the comfort of being close to me and so that's what we did. She was in our room until 7 months and then went into her own room with barely a murmur. I know cosleeping isn't for everyone, but it really helped save my sanity.

At this age, I honestly believe that babies are still adjusting to the world and that takes time, the amount of time for each baby is different and I felt it was best to just go with the flow and let her get there in her own time.

Very few people I knew with babies the same age were dropping night feeds at this stage and I didn't expect it until past 12 weeks.

 

[keldac]

oooh I would have to agree with post above - still really young to be thinking she should be dropping feeds whether you go by correct age or not.
All babies are different - some sleep through the night very early on and some don't for a year or more!
Hoping you get some more rest soon!

 

[Cazzyg]

Forgot to add, that you also have to factor in growth spurts, when the frequency they feed at increases to increase your milk supply. I always forget when they are, but it's important to let babies feed when they want during a growth spurt to ensure you produce enough milk. It does settle down again.

 

[Foogirl]

Abby was the same, although we "demand" fed, she wanted feeding every three hours on the dot. She dropped a night feed on her own, at about 4 months actual (which would have been about 6 weeks corrected) She would go from midnight to 6 - but this was at the same point as she began cluster feeding in the evening. It was after she dropped this feed that we put her into her own room.

I'd agree with the other posts, be led by her. But definitely keep to the bedtime routine to signal day/night and treat the feeds after this as "night feeds" e.g little stimulation, low lighting, quiet feeding and settle her back down afterwards. This will get her used to day/night which will certainly be a benefit as she gets bigger. I'm not sure when you say she won't settle, if you're interested in hearing about tips on how to settle to sleep etc, check out the sleepsense support thread if you are.

As a general rule though, for everything (except weaning) we treat Abby as her corrected age, rather than her actual. It makes for a much easier life!

 

[LMH]

If I were you I wouldn't worry about it and follow her lead. I gave up trying to work out what Alex should be doing for his corrected age and if he was due a growth spurt as it was to complicated and just went for demand feeding. Mind you he was still having night feeds at 8 months actual, 6 months corrected until I made it clear that as he was having 3 solid meals and 4 or 5 breastfeeds a day he was not having a night feed as well!