Night routine help...

[MrsE]

Ok, Thomas wakes me around 2 times a night for a feed, how can I start to get him sleeping through?
I feed him around 11.30pm, then he wakes around 2.00pm and again around 5.00am and he gets up just after 7.00am so as you can see I'm knackered lol.
We feed him 4oz of SMA Gold and it takes around 30mins per feed. And he feeds every 3 to 4 hours.
He won't take anymore than that as he falls asleep but stirs and grunts and moans a couple of hours later and we try to ignore him and he drifts off again. But the grunts wake us too.

No point asking my HV, she's useless. I asked her about his wind and ended up answering my own question and googling for advice.

So any ideas? I was thinking of getting the SMA White for hungrier babies, do you think this would fill him more?

How do you guys do it?

Charm x

 

[Tezzy]

if it takes around 30min for each feed his teat size could be too small so he could be getting too tired to drink any more

 

[MrsE]

It takes around 30 mins to feed him, wind him, change him and put him down.

Does that seem like a long time? I thought he was pretty quick

I did try some size 2 teats for a few feeds but didn't notice a difference, hmm maybe I should try them again.

Thanks Terrie

 

[Tezzy]

ohright i thought you meant 30 min of him drinking...

with SMA for Rhys he was drinking up to 8oz every 2-4hourly until i swtched him over to cow and gate blue(the hungry baby one)

why dont you buy a few cartons of SMA white and try them before you put him to bed and see if it makes a difference?

 

[ablaze]

sma white can be quite hard for a baby to stomach, (a little baby i mean) when he is falling asleep on the teat(as i assume hes doing) why dont you try to wind him then and see if hell take more?

 

[Tezzy]

i didnt start Rhys on the hungry baby stuff till he was around 3 months

 

[MrsE]

Ooh never thought of that, good thinking terrie . Saves me buying a whole tin just to try him.

Think I'll try the SMA White from around 7.00pm feed tonight to fill him up before bed and see how he goes. Even if it makes a slight difference I'll switch but if it makes no difference I'll try the bigger teats with SMA Gold.

Think a trip to Tesco's is on the cards in a minute lol.

Charm X

 

[MrsE]

When he falls asleep I wind him and he gives up a couple of good burps.
I even try lying him down and changing him and he gets cranky and wakes a little but as soon as I pick him up again he's fast asleep.

Little bugger seems full but then stirs a couple of hours later so I try and ignore him as it'll have only been something like 2 or 2.5hrs and he won't be due another feed and he goes back to sleep but I can only do that so many times and then he starts crying for food. Usually around 3 or 4 hours after the last feed.
It's like he's getting full but it's not lasting as long as it should if you get me.

He was 8lb6oz at birth and at 2 weeks he was 9lb7oz and at 4 weeks he was 10lb8oz he's in the 75th centile. The HV says he's doing really well but I'm worried that he's getting too many feeds that aren't filling him and he'll end up a little porker maybe the hungrier baby milk will settle him more.

Cx

 

[ablaze]

lol, well id gradually introdue the sma white liek ur gunna do, good luck!!

 

[Cat]

This sounds very much like what Dylan was like, He still at 9 weeks only has 4oz per feed and it takes him half an hour to have that, some babies just dont drink as much so as others (Noah was a pigglet) so long as he is gaining weight dont worry about him not ffeding enough, The trick that I was advised which I used with both my two is to feed like clockwork every 3 hours regardless of wether they wake for a feed or not, The more they are filled up during the day the longer they will go at night. I started Dylan on this routine about 3 weeks ago and after just over a week he started going through. so he feeds at 10:30am, 1:30, 4:30, 7:30 (so we get dinner uninterupted) and last night bottle at 10:30 then he goes through till at least 6:00am. He also is very noisy in his sleep so we had to put him in his own room very early on cause we just couldnt sleep with all the grunts and squeeks it kept making my jump out of bed to go to him when he really didnt need it.

With him still being 5 weeks dont worry to much about getting him to sleep though just yet and perhaps just think about getting him on a feeding routine when you feel ready as this will really help.

 

[Cat]

Oh just a thought as well, be carefull about introducing a differnt formula, even just a brand change can upset a babies stomach and will prob take them a few days to settle down again. So if you do decide to change feeds do it all in one go not switching between the two or you will really upset his tum.

 

[Tezzy]

i think she was gonna change from SMA gold to SMA white

 

[hypnorm]

i think 5 weeks is very young to expect a baby to go through the night.
30 mins isnt long Ewan used to take anything up to and over an hour to feed wind and get back to sleep and was still waking for milk at a yr old.

If he is big baby then he obviously needs the food.

 

[MrsE]

Thanks Cat, sounds similar lol.

Hypnorm, I don't expect him to sleep through the night at 5 weeks, I just want him to have a full tummy and not keep stirring between feeds as it disturbs all of us and if I can give him a good feed and make him happy for longer and gradually cut out one of the night feeds I think it'll be better all round.

Thanks for the advice girls

Cx

 

[Helen]

Glad you asked the question Mrs E.

Ours are pretty much in the same pattern as Thomas. They usually wake (well one of them does so we wake the other one ) at 2.30-3 ish and 6-7ish with the odd 5am wake up from Charlotte.

Looking forward to them sleeping through though!

 

[MrsE]

Bad night last night lol, I'm shattered. Should have seen it coming as he slept most of yesterday

Went to bed and did last feed around 10.00pm, woke every half an hour grunting or stirring, had feeds at 1.30am only took 2oz, 3.45am only took 3oz, 6.30am took 4oz and threw the whole lot back over me

I changed him to the No2 teats yesterday to try that before changing formula and he took 3 feeds dring the day perfect on them but they didn't seem to agree during the night.
We're going to persevere for another couple of days to see if he gets used to them, if not we might change his formula.

Am going to speak to HV today, even though she's useless and will probably just tell me to do what I thinks best

All I want is for his poo to be a little softer (he goes every other day and they're big and hard) and for him to keep the feed down and feel a bit fuller so hopefully drop one of the night feeds.

Time will tell...

 

[Tezzy]

aww charm im so sorry you had a bad night hun xx