Forum home Babies Baby

Advice needed about feeding and sleeping please

Hi girls. I am currently bottle feeding my LO who is 7 weeks old. She is on Aptimel and her feeding is all over the place! She feeds at all different times of the day and more often than not has anything between 1-5 oz, there is no consistency. When she feeds she gulps loads to start and then makes herself choke and gives up or just stops and then is hungry again an hour later!!



We have a bit of an evening routine and she in bed by 7pm and we feed her again at 10pm but she doesn't always take a whole 5oz. She wakes any time of the night and from once to, last night, three times!!



I am completely at a loss as to what to do as my DS slept through from quite early and she is showing no signs of sleeping well at all at the moment.



Should I change the formula?



Many Thanks

Replies

  • i cant comment on the formula as im breastfeeding but at 7 weeks i think its very early to be sleeping through so you may have just been lucky with your ds. my son is 12 weeks and started sleeping through at 10 weeks (ie 10-5) which is amazing for a breastfead baby but a week later he started teething and hes all over the place now. im trying to just go with the flow as theres nothing i can do to stop him waking anyways. maybe your little girl just needs a bit longer to get herself settled? x
  • hi



    i agree 7 weeks is very early for breast or bottle fed baby to sleep through. I think you were lucky and more than likely will need to wait another 3-4 weeks. Im also BF so not sure what to say about formula. I always thought changing your formula caused more tummy upset but im not the expert, sorry!



    JVL my LO is 10 weeks and doing a 7 hour stretch most nights from 8-3 then another 4 hour one. Would you consider this sleeping through for a BF baby? Iknow im up once in the night but its just timings that mean he isnt sleeping through! Dont know when to expect the 12 hour stint - sadly its probably several months for a BF baby? x
  • I always used routines with my babies and found that a good daytime feeding routine led onto better nights. They need to have a certain amount of calories in a day so I aimed to get as much as that in between 7am and 7pm. My daughter was 100% BF and was fed every 3 hours from day 1 and cluster-fed between 4 and 7pm. She then had a feed at 10pm and woke once about 4am until 10 weeks when she dropped that feed and slept 7-10pm and the 10pm-7am. We didn't drop the 10pm feed until after she was on 3 solid meals a day.

    My son was very different as he was tube-fed and had severe reflux so isn't really a comparison but even he had a set sleeping routine from very early and we fed him every 3 hours during the day and 2x during the night (10pm and about 3-4am).



    I would try and set up a strict daytime routine (waking for 3 hourly feeds) and go from there.



    H x
  • I'm in exactly the same situation hun (with 7 wk old) and it can be a bit frustrating. My little man is so random with times and amounts.



    I asked the HV for advice today and he said to just go with the flow for now as he won't starve overfeed himself and will settle down.



    With regards to changing formula ive just done that due to baby straining like crazy. I'm not sure it's changed anything..still gulps food so fast he's full of wind and often just gives up on rest of bottle.



    I think he's just a snacker - although for the first time ever today I managed to stretch him a bit longer with a dummy and a walk in fresh air - he'd only eaten an hour before so I felt confident he wasn't starving.



    HV did say I could try and make him wait a bit longer but I'd have a very upset baby and it could be stressful. I couldn't do it to him X
  • alfie222 - i think a 7h stretch is as good as itll get for most breastfed babies. i think a full 12 hours will take a while. but some are lucky and have that early on so guess you never know.

    personally im not a fan of the strict routine thing and it wouldnt work for my son as he wont eat properly when hes not hungry and he gets very cranky if he wakes up when hes not done sleeping yet. might well work for some babies but certainly not all.
  • hi jvl with bean - im very lucky, henry did 1930-0600 once at 11 weeks old (mixed in with other nights that he woke anything from 0030-0500, so not consistent at all) then last 2 nights he's managed 1930-0700. Am so pleased as didnt expect this till he was on solids. However, he feeds 12 times a day whilst awake - we never stop! x
  • My daughter is 15 weeks, bottle fed and still will not take more than 3 oz in a go. It is the most annoying thing in the whole world and she is currently waking 3 times at night. I dont know what the answer is, just wanted to say you are not alone!
  • Blimey, 7 weeks seems a distant memory now image with regards to changing the formula, if she seems uncomfortable or windy etc you may want to. My LO was FF from 5 days & we started on SMA Gold, but didn't agree with her, switched to Cow & Gate & she loved it! The gulping could poss be down to the bottle, are the teats small enough for her maybe? Or maybe you could try a different bottle. I would agree with the girls, start a daytime routine as well as evening. My LO fed evey 3/4 hours, I always made a little more than she'd norm drink too. I'm sure she'll settle down, HTH Hun image xx
Sign In or Register to comment.

Featured Discussions