sleep???

ufg8rgurl

My little bundle of joy is almost 3 months old. She is breastfed and I will occassionally give her a formula bottle at night. She seems to be very fussy during the day, wanting to just eat and sleep with very short play intervals in between. She also wakes up every hour to two hours at night. When I talk to my other mommy friends, they say that their babies are sleeping at least 5-6 hours at night. Anyone else experiencing my dilemma? Anyone have any suggestions?

Diva416

How long as she been doing this?  Sounds like a growth spurt, which I've been told can happen around 3 months (my LO is nearly 11 weeks, so I know it's coming...).  Also, my LO is only up for 1.5-2 hours at a time during the day (eats, plays, sleeps - sometimes only up for an hour). 

She does sleep 6-7 hours a night though.  She ONLY sleeps that much if we cluster feed at night (3 nursing sessions in 6 hours, right to bed after the last and a bath right before the last).  With this schedule, she will go 3-4 hours between feedings during the day (is fed a total of 7 times a day).  Gettig her on an actual schedule helped a lot, but when she is in a growth spurt, any schedule or "usual" patterns for her are completely out the window!  Everyone says this is too early for a schedule, but my LO took to it really well.  We followed her lead to see how often she was wanting to eat durnig the day after starting the evening cluster feeding, and we wake her for her first time to eat at a time that will allow the following feedings to work with us (so that my husband only has to give 2 pumped bottles before I get home to nurse again).  Maybe this would help you also.  I would try the evening cluster feeding before bed to see if that helps if this is not a growth spurt.

juliane2004

How long is your LO awake between naps? At 3 months, she should be awake for only about 80-90 minutes total (including eating, diapering, playing, and the time it takes to fall back asleep). So, try putting her down after 60 minutes or so (which allows for 20 minutes to fall asleep, which is typical for babies).

Guideline for Awake time for babies
Newborn 50-60 mins
1 month 60 mins-hour and 15
2 months 1 hour and 15 - 20 mins
3 months 1 hour and 20 - 30 mins
4 months 1 hour and 45 - 2 hours
5 months 2 hours - 2.25 hours
Late 5 months/early 6 months 2.25-2.5 hours
6.5 - 7 months 2.75-3 hours. Some are getting more.
8 - 10 months 3 - 4 hours. Some are getting more.
11 - 12 months 3.5 -4.5 hours. Some are getting more if moved early to 1 nap 

ufg8rgurl

I am not sure if it is a growth spurt or not. She has never really slept very long at night. I think she has slept for about 4 hours at first maybe a total of five times since she was born. She is always hungry. I am not sure if what I am doing could be considered cluster feeding. I still feed her on demand when she is awake, which is about once an hour. She is constantly nursing. I am not sure if I am just not producing enough milk or what. When I pump every 3 hours I usually can produce 3 ounces, 5-6 ounces first thing in the morning. I guess that at night when she is nursing every hour she is probably getting less than 2 ounces at a time. I am just getting so frustrated because of lack of sleep. I just want to be able to make sure content and happy but she is alway so fussy. I don't think that it could be termed colic though. She can be soothed but it requires constant work. She is not one of those babies that will be content by herself for any extended period.

Diva416

Babies can get more by nursing than you pump, so she may be getting more than that.  However, I would not be pumping during the times she is eating that close together to make sure she is getting enough.  The amount you are pumping sounds like your supply is good. 

Sometimes if you have pumped recently it may take a minute or so to get more as your LO is eating, and this can be frustrating and make her want to stop and try again later.  This is why I would not recommend pumping when she is eating so close together.  Also, try to stretch out the time more.  As long as she is gaining weight and having plenty of wet/poopy diapers, this is okay.  Try soothing her with a pacifier when she acts hungry if she just ate.  Use this to try to stretch her out for an extra half hour before actually nursing again.  Do this consistently until she is taking longer to act hungry at all, then try to stretch it by another half hour with the same technique.  It will take time, but if she is waiting longer to nurse, then she will eat more at 1 time which should help her stay full longer.  I would not try to stretch her out more than a half hour at a time though!

niknak7

My LO was doing that at night too for the first 6 weeks and sleeping all day it seemed like. Then I started using a white noise machine all night long with her and the same night I started using it she went from sleeping 60-90 minutes at a time to 7 hours. Every night since then she sleeps at least 5+ hours at a time as long as the white noise stays on all night. I was super skeptical but it has been a lifesaver for my sanity.