April 2012 Moms

Need help extending feed times

DD is almost 10 weeks and weighs 13lbs.  She's eating on average 4oz of breast milk from a bottle every two hours.  The dr said she should be eating every 3-4 hours at this point.  I feel like we're not even close to that during the day!  When she's awake, she does her hungry cry like clockwork every two hours.  And she just seems so miserable when she gets hungry that it's hard for me to find ways to distract her to get even an extra half hour in.  I know she can go longer because she sleeps in no less than 3 hour increments at night.  Anyone ever had this problem?  What's the best way to get her to at least 3 hours when she's awake?   
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Re: Need help extending feed times

  • eav2ceav2c member
    Colin is 3 months and eats like clockwork every 2 hours. He will go 9 hours at night. I feed on demand and plan to keep it that way. The pedi did say at his 2m appt that it should start getting longer between feedings but as of now it hasn't and I'm okay eith that.
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  • If she is truly hungry after 2 hours, then you should feed her at two hours.  Its not harmful to feed her that often if she is hungry.

     I don't think night sleep is necessarily indicative of how long baby should go between daytime feeds.  An adult can sleep for 8 hours at night but if I went 8 hours without eating during the day I would be starving!

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  • imageeav2c:
    Colin is 3 months and eats like clockwork every 2 hours. He will go 9 hours at night. I feed on demand and plan to keep it that way. The pedi did say at his 2m appt that it should start getting longer between feedings but as of now it hasn't and I'm okay eith that.

    I agree. DS its like clockwork every 2-3 hrs during the day. But at night he goes longer. Like last night, he was in bed at 9:45p & did not get a bottle till 6am. And I had to wake him up for the 6am feeding. Good Luck!


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  • imagePatella1129:

    If she is truly hungry after 2 hours, then you should feed her at two hours.  Its not harmful to feed her that often if she is hungry.

     I don't think night sleep is necessarily indicative of how long baby should go between daytime feeds.  An adult can sleep for 8 hours at night but if I went 8 hours without eating during the day I would be starving!

    Great advice, never thought of it that way...... Idea


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  • I'd feed her more, but only because to me this says she needs more food.  We just upped our boys to about 5oz every 3hrs.  They STTN.  Try 4.5 oz.

     

    And I agree, night sleep is not indicative.  She's able to go longer at night b/c she eats so much during the day.   

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  • We had a week where DD wanted to feed every hour, on the hour while she was awake.  I would nurse for 30 minutes, then 30 minutes later, she would start up again.  Like clockwork.

     

    I started waiting until it had been 1:15 since her last.  Then when she went a day or so going 1:15 without trouble, I made her wait 1:30.  I figured if she was hungrier, she would eat more and go longer.  It worked well and didn't seem to effect her night time sleep. She pushed herself to every 2 hours after that.

     

    I feed on demand now, just every hour was a little much and was starting to get painful. 

  • What would happen if you gave her more at each feeding?  Is she capable of taking 5 ounces and does that satisfy her for longer?  We're 10 weeks too and it seems like 1/2 of his feedings, he wants 5 ounces and the other of his feedings, 4 ounces is all that he wants.  He'll go 3 hours between feedings, but he also isn't sleeping through the night yet.  He'll do 7 hours in a row, but it starts at 6:00 PM!
  • I nurse on demand and she's hungry about every 1.5 hrs. Pedi wants me to go at least 2 hrs between sessions so I am there with you. We are doing what PP said and extending it by 10 min until she's ok with it and then going for 10 more. Good luck! 

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    Emerson Kate born 4/6/12, 5 lbs. 13 oz. 18 3/4 inches.

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    Happily expecting Baby Mac #2 around 4/13/14

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  • Lu24Lu24 member
    Agree with what most everyone has said. If she is truly hungry every 2 hrs, she should eat. Not every baby is the same, and the doctor should realize that..
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  • With my first, he started to go a longer during the day (he was like your daughter -- at the most every two hours) when he turned 3 months old. Hopefully your daughter is the same!
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  • Our pedi recommended that we try extending her feeding times because she's having no trouble gaining weight and it sounded like LO was snacking.  I give her 5oz bottles of breast milk.  She'll drink 4 and then spit the bottle out and refuse any more.  Sometimes, she'll want the last oz after a half hour.  I guess I just worry when I hear that most babies her age can go so much longer than her between feedings.  Of course I will never deprive her when she's hungry. 

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