A few questions..

Snowbunny13

Posted this on my 3 - 6 month board, but meant to post here... 

Hi All!! A few questions on what you guys do...most breastfeeding related some not - I just really like this board We have 3 month old little angel.

1) Do you use the Vitamin D Supplement drops? Our Ped recommends it and we have used for 3 months, but think it would be fine to not use - just wondering what other's do.

2) We have bassinet in out room and DD sleeps in that half the night and in the bed with us the other half. I never thought I would have DD in bed with us, but WE LOVE it. I feel it is safe to co-sleep, but so many places say not to! How often do you nurse a 3 month old at night? Also, do you/did you have your 3 month old on a schedule? I think we are doing good until I read about other 3 month old's and they are sleeping through the night feeding maybe only once. We usually go to bed around 9 and sleep until 9 or 10 the next morning and feed between 3 and 4 times a night in bed. This seems normal to me, but then when you read that others already have their baby in their crib and they go to bed at 7 and only wake up once to feed - it makes me feel like i'm doing something wrong I try to have a loose schedule, and let DD and how she is feeling decide our day. Sometime we still nurse for hours at a time on the couch, and I do love it, but now sure if she should have grown out of that by now.

3) Lastly DD still nurses every 2 hours and about every 3 hours at night, at this point I thought she would go for longer periods - is this normal and at what age do you see more spaced out feedings?

TJ1979

1) Yes I use the D drops

2) We do basically the exact same thing.  She's in her PNP till she wakes up the first time, then it's into bed with me.  I have to get up at 5 to get ready for work, so to me every little bit of extra sleep I can get is worth it.  I do think she eats more often when she's in bed with me than she would in her PNP.  I think it's partly a convenience thing.  But as someone on this board always says, it's not a problem unless it's a problem.  If you are okay with sleeping with your LO and letting her nurse whenever she feels like it, there's nothing wrong with that.  I never thought I would have my LO in bed with me either.  But it's what works for us right now.  Ideally, around 6 months I might try sleep training and putting her in her own room.  But for now?  I love having her with me, and I get more sleep that way.

3) Right now, LO eats every 3 hours at DC, and about 3 times from when I get home at 5:30 until she goes to bed at 8.  I don't think there is any specific "normal."  Feed baby when she's hungry.  That's my opinion at least.  I found the more laid back I got, the easier things became.  Watching a clock was stressing me out.  On weekends, she eats any time she fusses, and before and after naps.  Basically, whenever she wants to.  That works for us.  And yet she is totally fine at DC eating on an every 3 hour schedule.

telyn

1) We don't supplement. If you are concerned you can get blood levels drawn, but our pedi said they were unnecessary unless LO had a deficiency.

 

2) Co-sleeping works for some people. My LO really doesn't like it, so we never pushed it on her.Every baby is different. Mine started to sleep 6 hours at night at 6 weeks. That's STTN for me. Seriously though, every baby is different and every week with a baby is different than the last. For the first few weeks, she only slept in a carrier, then we could rock her down and she could sleep first 3 than 6 hours at a shot. Then she would sleep for part of the night in her bassinet and then wake up to eat/sleep in bed with me. Then she turn five months old and stopped sleeping all together. Then we sleep trained. then she went 10 hours. Then we moved her to her room and she sleeps 12. You have to do what works for your family.

3) I don't think anyone can tell you what your LO needs to eat. If you want to move to scheduled feedings, that's up to you. I still feed on demand and during the day, I'm still feeding every 2-3 hours. More in the late evenings before bed. Sometimes she gets distracted and goes 31/2 but then she is starving. I think it will get better as solids become more regular.