3 month old - feeding/waking times?

Days - My Mother Care Nurse said my 3 month old should be feeding 4-hourly now, so I have tried pushing her out, but she just gets grizzly and whingy - should I take this to mean my baby is happy staying on 3 hourly feeds and just ignore what the nurse says and keep going as I am? (It was said in a way to imply I'm doing something wrong by not feeding her 4 hourly at her age so I've started doubting myself!)

Nights - Also, she feeds at about 5.30/6pm (for bed at about 7/8pm - whenever we get her settled!), then wakes (and so I feed) at about 10.30/11, then 2.30, then she wakes at 4am and 5.30, then I try to wake and feed at about 7am (as they say its best to start babies at 7am for whatever reason). Is there anything we can do to get her out of the habit of waking at 4 and 5.30? (Sometimes we can resettle her easily enough, other times I'm just too damn exhausted so feed her to make her quiet!) The Mother Care Nurse also said she should only be waking once during the night (again, making me feel like I'm doing something wrong). Is there a way to make them stop waking so often in general?

My baby kicks all her bedding off soon as she's in bed, so we just leave her like this, or should we try and secure the sheets so she is more restricted and can't kick them off?

Help! I'm confused and doubting myself! :eek:

If it were me I wouldn't take too much notice of the MCN and just keep doing what you're doing.
My DS is also three months old and he stills feeds every three hours during the day. There's no way in hell he'd cop it if I tried to stretch him out to 4 - and it's not worth it to me for him to be distressed and me to be distressed by his crying if I tried to do that. I don't mind feeding him every three hours during the day - it's not waking me up or anything so why not?
As far as nights go, he feeds at about 6.30pm before going to bed, wakes around 1am for another feed, and then again around 5/6am so he is only waking once a night. That said he does have nights where he'll wake two or three times for a couple of nights in a row every two weeks or so. Perhaps you could try doing a "dream feed" at around 10 or 11pm before you go to bed to see if that will help cut down the night wakings. Basically this involves putting bub on the boob asleep for late night feed, you don't wake them up or change them or anything. Some babies will attach and go for this, others won't. Unfortunately mine won't,but I've heard it works for alot of people.

Bedding - have you tried wrapping her rather than putting her under blankets? My bub finds wrapping a bit harder to get out of. Or there are also sleeping bag things you can buy that have armholes the baby wears so they remain covered.

omg your mchn sounds very old fashioned. most breastfed babys feed anywhere from 2-3 hrly, it is perfectly normal. it is also normal for babys to night wake frequently for feeds. please just keep following for maternal instincts you know your baby and keep doing what is best for her not what the mchn says is 'normal', that is so outdated. i would be complaining to council about her honestly this is why mothers have difficulty sustaining their milk supply because of stupid mchn's that should know better. keep doing what your doing, it's the right thing!
beckles

God I'd love it if my DD who will be 4 months next week fed that far apart, what would your nurse say about me feeding every 2- 2.5hrs!
Jus remember all babies are different and if you try to hold out to the 4 hours you may end up with an upset hungry baby which will just make you stressed and upset also.
As for the nights, my DD goes down at 8ish and gets up at 8ish and in that 12hrs she will awaken 3 times for a feed.
As Beckles said follow your own maternal instincts.
With the blanket question, my DD did same thing so we got her a sleeping bag which helped her stop waking from being cold!

Hi Nay nay :-)
My bub is 3 months on monday and I set a time limit (as such) of 2.5 hours... I find that works really well for us... if he has a sleep it can go for 3-5 hours or if we go out its a bit longer and that works well cause then I am all full up and MILK BAR is fully stocked and ready to go :)

My little man was sleeping through from about 6 weeks old in doing that. He goes down about 8:30 and wakes up at about 5:30..... So i kinda figured I must be doing something right there!!
I have also just introduced a formula feed in the afternoons as I was loosing a bit too much weight for my liking.... i have found it helped heaps!! He is gaining a bit of weight now as he was a little underweight when he had his 2 month vacs.... but he is above average in height :) and HEAD circumfrance!! :lol: boofhead.. he he

So all in all I will only strech him out for 2.5 hours, no questions asked (as such)

Good luck with finding what works for your little one

xxoo

i went to one of those child health clinics that they have at chemists around the place and got similar advice which wasn't really advice but accusing, forceful, make me feel bad, make me feel i am doing something wrong and my baby isn't normal kinda advice and well i haven't gone back. my DD is eating solids and she still wants a booby feed an hour after a solid meal. also she wakes at night every 2 hours or so for a booby feed. she won't sleep by herself (we co-sleep) so this means i have to go to bed when she does around 8:30 and she will comfort feed quite frequently. so just know that all babies are different and don't let others tell you how to do your job when you and your baby are the ones who know what to do the best!!

Right on Hollo!! :)

Jasmine is 3 months and still feeds 3 hourly and is formula fed! Don't listen to the nurse as every bub is different. Jasmine goes down at about 7-8pm and wakes anywhere from 10pm and the longest shes slept is 7hours in a row till 2am. Every bub is different like every person is, and some days bub will be hungrier or more tired than others. Your doing a fantastic job hun! ;)

My DS is 5 months old and has only ever fed 2 hourly during the day. He still wakes 2-3 times a night for a feed and I just go with it. I tend to think if they want food, they must be hungry or need you for comfort and that's not a bad thing IMO.

I tend to think that if they are putting on weight, sleeping, and are generally happy then who cares how often they feed!
I told my MCN that Evie generally feeds 3 hourly but sometimes needs a bit more after an hour. She told me not to feed her cos she will get into the habit of snacking. Well, later that day Evie screamed the house down after an hour cos she was still hungry but i said to my husband 'well apparently, i'm not supposed to feed her! (can you feel that sarcasm? i was laying it on pretty thick) to which he replied 'who cares if she gets used to snacking!? whats the big deal?!' to which i agreed!
Just go with your gut. If baby's happy then you should be too.

my little hungry hippo feeds 2-3 hourly round the clock.... yes i have never slept more than 2 hrs in row in nearly 11 weeks. but now i have come to be calm that this is Eden's way, not some books or other mummy or silly health care nurse's way. As soon as i came to accept this i stopped being such a stress head, staring at the clock and stuff. She is so healthy and happy and a pro on the boob so i have nothing to winge about, ok perhaps i am a tad overtired lol.
But i agree with what everyone is saying, bubs are their own little people, all we have to do is keep them happy....
my god if i went 4 hours my boobs would explode!!!!
Also i went to the child health centre once, i felt like i was at school again, never again for me.

With our first, who is now 5 years old, we were made to feel like he wasn’t putting on enough weight and they made us put him on formula. This was around three months old. My DW has always regretted this and wished she’d feed him for longer.
We have now learnt to not take to much notice of what the MCN’s say and as long as they are looking healthy and are happy then go with what keeps them that way. Don’t worry too much if they aren’t putting on the weight as long as they are healthy and happy.
My new DD (7month old) has been sleeping all night since she was 6 weeks old (lucky us:D ), she still breast feed about every 3 hours during the day but would generally sleep from around 8pm until 4.30 and sometimes for 10 or 12 hours. She is now sleeping from about 8pm to 7-8am and has been on formula for about 3 weeks she would have around 4 bottles a day and is having Farex in the morning, pureed fruit for lunch and pureed meat and veggies for dinner.