An overtired 8 week old baby - how do I break the cycle?

[FabFiona]

Yep, I know all the tired signs and am very conscious not to keep him up too long. We did a day stay program recently and that was very good for reinforcing my instincts (don't know why I questioned them in the first place!)

I'm a bit nervous about shifting his feed times to be more frequently... He was in this very bad habit of napping / snacking every 2 hours. 4 hours seems to be when he gets hungry I think I will stick with this.

However I'm willing to try anything so I might keep this in the mix.

[Jennifer13]

He was in this very bad habit of napping / snacking every 2 hours. 4 hours seems to be when he gets hungry I think I will stick with this.

Hun, you're his Mum and you know him best, but 2 hrly feeding is common for babies this young. Even on formula his tummy is still really small and he may be digesting his milk that quickly. 'Snacking' is not really likely when he's so small.

Maybe try shortening the time between his feeds during the day and see if this makes a difference for him?

[Neptune]

I'm not very experienced, as my bub is only 16 weeks old, but I was formula feeding him every 1.5 to 2 hours on demand (was driving me insane) and all of a sudden he snapped himself out of this habit and started feeding 3 - 4 hourly at 12 weeks, so as a last resort you could try more frequent feeds (if he seems hungry) during the day. But I know that you know your baby best, and trust your instincs.

Also, are you using any bed-time routines/cues? Might help with the night sleeping. EG, we have a sea-horse toy whose tummy is a soft night-light when pressed and it plays classical music softly for 5 minutes. Or anything else that you can think of.

If nothing else works, know that this too shall pass!

You are doing a great job