3 month old with extra feeds

[Cally]

3 weeks ago, DD started having shorter day sleeps (eg a bit over an hour, occasionally she will do 2 hours) and also feeding faster. She tends to only have an hour or so of awake time. We have been doing eat, play, sleep routine, which means that sometimes (like yesterday), she is eating every 2 hours! I don't mind feeding her every 2 hours, although it makes it hard to get anything done by myself.

The last week she has also picked up an extra night feed, so is now getting up twice a night (eg last night she finally went down at 9:30, woke at 1 and 4:30, then was ready for the day at 7:30). This is pretty exhausting for me as with only short day sleeps I'm not getting the chance to catch up. She used to regularly sleep for 7 hours straight before needing a feed at night.

Has anyone else experienced this? Should I not feed her if she wakes less than 3 hours since the last feed? I'm wondering if the extra night feeds are because she has got used to having a pretty full belly all the time and so is waking before she is really hungry.

She is exclusively BF.

[ruby_8084]

perhaps she has become a "snacker" ie she has got in the habbit of not filling her little tummy up so she is needing a feed more often to refill... this could be folllowing her into the night aswell!!

dd did this for a few days aswell and the nurse advised me just to offer her more when she seems to be finished... that worked for us and she was back to 3 hour feeds in no time and going her normal 4.5hrs at night.

dd is exclusively bf aswell

[AnyDream]

Cally, I have noticed that E is needing extra feeds at the moment too. She's getting up more at night time as well. Just the last day or so I've started giving her a little 'top up feed' anywhere from 15-45 mins after her main feed, and have been surprised at how long she feeds for then. She seems to be more settled as a result. If she's been awake for a while (ie getting near 2 hrs of being awake) I'll also offer a quick feed before she sleeps. Sometimes she has one or two sucks and drifts off but sometimes she feeds for longer and seems to sleep a bit longer too. Does this make sense? So it's more of a sleep feed play feed sleep routine. I'm hoping after a few days of extra daytime feeds she will sleep longer at night.

[kungfubecca]

Hi,

those are some good suggestions. Don't forget it could be a growth spurt and she may adjust herself soon. We have had some interesting feeding here lately too and I have axtually been getting ds and dream feeding him at about 9.30 each night so he doesn't wake me at 2am!! Works for me.
this morning he got up at 6.45am went to bed at 8.30pm i think.

[LiddlePixie]

I have no advice Cally - I just noticed you wrote 3 months and i thought 'Wow - It feels like we all just had our little bubbas last week'.. They're growing up so fast *sniff*.

[Cally]

Ruby - I've tried putting her back on when I think she's finished just in case she wants more, but she just flicks my nipple in and out - not pleasant!!

I was thinking growth spurt at first, but it's just been going on so long. The other times it was only a couple of days.

[bilby1]

So good to hear all this guys - my little chickadee is doing the same at 3 months and was pulling my hair out about what to do. she wakes up after a 40min nap and wants to be fed straight away. Tried keeping her up longer but grizzles and is obviously tired but yet won't sleep very long. Might give some of your top-up feed ideas a go. I am hoping its just growth spurt time?!

[Cally]

Will try next week offering her a bit more 30 mins or so after she thinks she's finished and see if that keeps her going a bit longer.

She woke this morning only 2 hours after her last feed. I didn't feed her, we got changed and had a play and I fed her after 3 hours when it seemed she wanted it. Then she went to nan's while I had a massage and was quite happy to go another 3 hours between the feeds. She's asleep at the moment and is approaching a 4 hour gap (fell asleep in the car on the way home of course). So I think she is just eating because it is on offer, likes to have a full tummy. So today she's had 2 less feeds than this time yesterday! The other possibility is she's bored at our place and has a feed because its something to do - nan's is fairly new and exciting and lots to do there.

Bilby - come and join us in the baby buddies thread!

[Junglemum]

Hey Cally- Lu has been doing this too. Almost exactly the same, including putting in the extra night feed.
I tried yesterday and today to resettle her when she woke up after only 45 min and she went back to sleep everytime, then she woke at her usual time for a feed. I think my issue is sleep related, rather than feed realted IYKWIM? .................. not sure if that will help your situation but you never know!

[MantaRay]

Cally, I think 3 months is a usual time for a growth spurt, and it can last a couple of weeks. Or it just might be she needs a bit more between now and 6 months or so when they tend to start dropping feeds. I'd just feed her when she wakes for now. It all sounds very normal to me and I don't think you are setting up any bad habits.