You said on the other thread:
"Babies are aware of how much they need to eat, so upping the calories in their bottle by adding cereal, you can cause them to overfeed and become overweight. Also, studies show that adding cereal to a bottle, does not help you baby sleep any longer than they normally would. My 2 month old has starting sleeping about 10 hours a night with no needed cereal. My first 2 children woke every 2 hours. You seem to have a good sleeper. If your baby is old enough to actually digest solids (4-6 months), they would not be getting them through the bottle."

Just need advice and about SLEEPING for infants. I have a 3 week and 5 day old baby. She is mostly breastfed and I supplement with formula only when needed. You mentioned above that you have a 2 month old that sleeps for 10 hours a night! That is amazing. Is there any routine that you can teach me to achieve this? My baby has been sleeping for 4 hours starting from either 12AM or 1AM until 4-5AM for the last 3 days. She sleeps longer when I take her for ride in the car or if we are visiting grandma or in other people's houses. So this is her schedule to eat, she awakes around 4-5am breastfeed, sleeps and wakes up either 2-3 hours throughout the day and then at night, she eats at 9PM and then again at 12AM ... I am lucky if she sleeps through the night from w/c they describe that as having 5 hours plus sleep... Can you please share your pattern of sleep with your three children? Are they all the same or different? Thank you so much. I am a new mom and feel overwhelmed by all these. :)

I'm not who you asked for but I thought I would chime in a little bit if you don't mind.

Your baby is nearly 4 weeks old and pretty much exclusively breastfed. There is no way you are going to be able to establish a routine with your daughter to acheive her to sleep longer right now. She is too young and she needs to eat when she is hungry and you need her to do so to keep up your milk supply. Every baby is different and that goes the same for their sleeping patterns and how much they eat at each feeding.

I promise you it will get better. All your sleep deprovation goes with the territory. If you are overwhelmed or over tired sleep when the baby sleeps. The stuff will get done around the house eventually. You're main focus needs to be on your baby and yourself. In a few months all of this will be a memory. Enjoy it while you can.

HPPPYMOM,
Thank you sooooo much for the advise. I welcome anyone to give me any advice there is. I really really appreciate it. I don't want to give up on my breastfeeding but it's hard. Sometimes I wonder she's been eating like crazy! Afraid I will overfeed her. But I've read that she is also in a growth spurt at 3 weeks. So 1.5 hours is also normal. Thanks again. And keep the advice coming.

Hang in there. Things should get better soon. You just have to chalk this up to having a newborn. They normally don't sleep well and they do eat a lot. I know I used to be sooooo worried that my son was going to overeat. I was more worried about keeping my baby on a schedule than feeding him when he was hungry.

My MIL gave me the WORST advice concering feedings b/c my hubby was a FAT baby (she put rice in his bottle at an early age which was why he was so fat). MIL told me not to feed my baby until the clock said so....(like, 3 oz. every 3 hours) even though he was hungry every 2-2.5 hours. I would try to hold off the bottle on my son and it made him miserable! Looking back, I should have just fed him when he was hungry. Don't know why I was so worried about him getting fat.

Don't worry about schedules and sleeping at this point. I never really got my son on a decent nap/sleep/eat schedule until he was 4 months. And now at 8 months, he is not sleeping well again. :(

Hiya Arch!! :wave:

Another June momma!! :)

I am also exclusively BF'ing and have with my other 2 as you already know....and none of the 3 have ever really been on much of a schedule. Mason gets "about" 2.5 - 3 hours of sleep at a time, less last night of course when he was up every hour and a half. :dizzy: Anyways, while I know how much you wanna sleep, it gets better I promise!! :) Altho it sounds like your LO is on a great schedule and getting some good sleep!

So - keep up the good work with the BF'ing!! :) You're doing a wonderful job with the way it all sounds!! :)

:wave:

Kat

All 3 of my kids were different. My first who is now 3, slept a lot like yours does now. I started breastfeeding him, but he had jaundice badly and I wasn't producing enough milk for him to help get rid of the jaundice. I gave up after 2 months and went to formula. My second, who is now 2, had colic. He, along with his brother woke every 2-4 hours for something to eat. I breastfed him for about 2 months as well and still was not producing enough, so I switched to formula. My biggest mistake with the first 2 was rocking. I rocked them to sleep every night. As they got older, they still needed it. I have to sit with them every night until they fall asleep, so I swore I would not do it with my newest one. Here's what works for us:

I allow her to sleep on and off throughout the day. Around 8 or 9 pm I bathe her and then we snuggle a bit while she has a small bottle. I then put her down drowsy. She will sleep until 11:30 when I wake her. I feed her about another 2 ounces and put her back in her crib. She will then sleep all night. Occasionally she will wake at 4 am for a quick snack, but that's rare. I just do the same thing every night with her. For her, it's become a habit as much as it has for me.

EVERY BABY IS DIFFERENT! My first 2 nearly killed me:) I also read that breastfed babies don't sleep "as well" as bottle fed babies. For me that was true, but on a whole I'm not sure. I strictly bottle fed my newest one. Who knows! Just when you think you've got it under control, something happens to screw it all up again! Ha Ha.

Good luck!

I agree!!

All 3 of mine (the youngest 5 wks) are/were exclusively breastfed until they were 10 mths old, or so.....and none of them including the littlest one sleep/slept for any lengthy period of time. I read somewhere that the breast milk is digested and processed faster making their little bellies emptier in less time than a bottlefed baby - allowing them less sleep per sitting as it were.....

I, too, bathe right before night-night time, I love the smell and it rekaxes them!! I feed him once more and hes usually asleep by then.....up after 2-3 hours after that - maintaining that 2-3 hour schedule for the rest of the night.

Good luck my friend!! :wave:

KeltoKel,
Thank you soooo much for the advice. I need it badly. There are days that my spirits are up, last night she wasn't sleeping good again so I laid her on my chest on her stomach and she slept for a good 3 hours. And I put her to her bassinet and slept for 1.5 hours. I didn't get any sleep at all yesterday nor a 10 min. power nap so I was soooooo miserable. Ever get that feeling of giving up?? But can't bec. you are dealing with a baby?? I feel like such a rookie! But I just love her so much and she keeps me fighting that it will get better soon. I am so sorry to hear that your 8 mo. old is not sleeping again.

As for Kat (klrk2),
Thanks sooooo much for all the advice on the June Mommies board, you guys have been soo helpful. I am taking my time to email back right now before she wakes up. :) to thank everyone for all the support. Esp. you you are the most active one there. With three kids I am so amazed that you sound like a very calm and altogether MOM. I admire you. You seem to just shrug your shoulders and deal with the fussiness, etc. Who takes care of the other two when ur hands are full with Mason? BTW, do you substitute with formula, if so when do u give it at night? They told me they hold the formula more in their stomach. So more sleep is possible. Also, do you pump after you feed 10 mins. at each breasts or you just let Mason go all the way on one breasts for more than 10 mins. My breasts tends to be sensitive and it's been 3 weeks! I make about 4 ounces on each breasts now when I pump. How much do u yield in breastmilk when pumping? Sorry for lots of questions.

Dear new mommy i promise too it will get better.

Actually I found that although I was nursing at night it was so much easier to nurse than to get a bottle ready. LOL I just put baby in my bed with me and lay there till morning, usually she fell asleep again because i was warm.

I have 4 and each one is different as someone did mention. My 3rd child(1st girl) is my terror. Screamed the day she was born and hasnt shut up since. she could have been the death of me. Each child I had post pardum depression. It is very typical. and although we knew it would come just talking about it once i stareted to panic was all i needed to get over it by the 4th kid.

3-4 is also a time for a growth spurt so make sure you feed on demand. The more baby demands it the better your supply will be. sleep when the baby does. stop thinking about the dang dirty house and those dishes. LOL you will never have these moments again with this little one even if you have more this one wont be a baby forever. So relax a little and sleep when she does, it is well worth it. DO NOT mop or sweep your floors. It only hurts the muscles in your tummy and that can effect your sleep as well and your well being at this point. We say here that a mother does NOT do those two things for 30 days. Passed down from generation to generation, let me tell ya it was good advice, i did mop with my 3rd and how wrong i was to do it before 5 weeks. Yes it might be dirty but dh can do it for now. OR spot clean when you can.

The nights eventually get better. Try to relax and smile while baby is in your arms. Smell baby's hair as well, all of these things help release milk and also help relax you as well. therefore baby is more comfortable as well since they sense what we feel.

good luck dear.

I cried A LOT the first 1-3 months that my son was born. When I got sleep deprived, I felt like an awful mom. It is so important to rest when you can.

I can totally relate though. I used to sleep all night on the couch with my son b/c he would not sleep in a bassinet for more than a half hour. He slept on me for 3 hour stretches. After two weeks, I couldn't do it anymore. We finally figured out that he needed to be swaddled. My lactation consultant told me to purchase a "miracle blanket". They work great! My son finally slept on his own once he was swaddled. Have you tried doing this? Ad I mean a tight swaddle, not a loose one. It can make a big difference. If you are worried about the heat, just put a diaper on him and nothing else.

It will get better. The beginning is so hard. You will soon feel like a pro though.

there is a book about the Five S's (sucking, swaddling, shhhing, swinging, and the fifth that I always forget -- lol!) by a doctor named Karp that will help you alot. It talks about how the first three months of a baby's life are really the "fourth trimester" and how mimicing the womb really helps babies adjust to life on the outside, so to speak.

Also, at 6 weeks babies get melatonin in their systems and start to sleep longer. Not long now...

The name of the book is The Happiest Baby on the Block by Dr. Karp.

THANK YOU SOO MUCH to all for the advice and letting me feel that all of these are expected and normal :) you gals have been so helpful and it makes me feel good inside getting all this support. I have great admiration to all of you after going through all of this, you still have more kids :) and go through it all over again not knowing what to expect. But just be the best Mom you can be. Makes me wanna have another one in 2-3 years, who knows. I am not getting any younger, I want lil' Isabella to have a sibling, it's lonely to be the only child and I don't to be blame by her someday for not giving her a sibling.
Again, thanks to all from the bottom of my heart. I love you guys.

KeltoKel,
As for Kat (klrk2),
Thanks sooooo much for all the advice on the June Mommies board, you guys have been soo helpful. I am taking my time to email back right now before she wakes up. :) to thank everyone for all the support. Esp. you you are the most active one there. With three kids I am so amazed that you sound like a very calm and altogether MOM. I admire you. You seem to just shrug your shoulders and deal with the fussiness, etc. Who takes care of the other two when ur hands are full with Mason? BTW, do you substitute with formula, if so when do u give it at night? They told me they hold the formula more in their stomach. So more sleep is possible. Also, do you pump after you feed 10 mins. at each breasts or you just let Mason go all the way on one breasts for more than 10 mins. My breasts tends to be sensitive and it's been 3 weeks! I make about 4 ounces on each breasts now when I pump. How much do u yield in breastmilk when pumping? Sorry for lots of questions.

Awww sweetie Im glad I could help! I was glad to have found this board and all my other June mommies. ;) It was good going thru it all with you knowing I wasnt alone!

As for the other 2...DH helps out a little, not alot, lol....otherwise I do what I can when I can. I finally came to the realization not more than a week ago or so that if everything doesnt get done, it'll most likely still be there tomorrow! :) The laundry, the vacuuming etc.....I make all 3 kids my first and foremost priority for the day and go from there. Is it overwhelming? Yep! LOL!! In fact going from 2 to 3 kids seems much harder than it was going from 1 to 2 for some reason. Just take it all in stride. ;) I know its hard sometimes to see the end of the day while your LO is fussing and you're surviving on little to no sleep....but soon enough you'll have yourself a toddler or school ager that you look and wish were still a baby. :)

I dont supplement with formula and only pumped for a short period of time when I had a cracked nipple and couldnt nurse on that side. Mason like his brothers is an excellent eater and eats well on both sides so basically there isnt much of anything left over to pump out. I let him go about 10 - 15 minutes each side....sometimes he falls asleep while eating, others he eats and stays alert/awake for a short period of time afterwards. :) I wasnt certain I was producing enough althogh I could see him growing...HOWEVER, we went to the doctor yesterday and hes already 12lbs! :eek: Yep....up to 12lbs from 7 - nearly 6 weeks ago! LOL!! I guess that answers my questions. :D Hes getting plenty to eat, lol!

As for the sleep thing - I guess I dont know what its like to feed, supplement outside of bf'ing. All 3 of the boys have been breastfed and have really shared alot of the same sleeping patterns. All ate around 8 - 9 or so, sometimes as late as 10 for the night feeding.....then they are up around 12 or 12:30 for a dipey change and another feeding. Some nights I can get him to go 3 hours between feeds, which is lovely! Otherwise its more likely to be around 2 - 2.5 hours.

You're doing a wonderful job sweetie! Keep it up and seriously - Fire away on your questions, Im glad I can help you out my friend!! :wave: