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Feeding and sleeping advice needed.

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Bugglyboo
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Feeding and sleeping advice needed.

Postby Bugglyboo » Thu Jan 19, 2017 6:01 pm

Evening,

So sorry to be popping on for advice and not partaking in any chat etc. Time seems o be running away from me at the moment.

Anyway.....

Lizzie is still tiny and the HV's are getting twitchy.
She was 6lbs at birth. She's now 5lbs15oz at 4 weeks. She's happily following the 0.04th percentile.

The problem lies in that she is awake all evening and feeds regularly, probably hourly but she sleeps from about 11pm till 7am ish. She'll sometimes wake for a feed between 2-4am.

She has a very good latch and is definitely getting all the lovely fatty milk. She's wonderfully alert and really responsive during her awake times.

Should I do as the HV say and start waking her every 3 hours overnight or can I tell them to go away :giggle:

I should mention that I followed the 0.04th percentile (formula fed) as a baby and am still small now.

I'm not worried about Lizzie at all but the HV's are getting clucky about glucose levels overnight and getting her heart monitored. Is she really going to be in this much trouble from sleeping well overnight if she's feeding really well during the day and has lots of wet nappies. Poo's are a little less forthcoming but she tends to hold it in then do a big one every couple of days. Probably thanks to the infacol.

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clothmama
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Re: Feeding and sleeping advice needed.

Postby clothmama » Thu Jan 19, 2017 6:38 pm

Awww bless her, sounds like she is doing all the awesome newborn evening cluster feeding etc. If I were looking after you both I'd probably at this point also suggest that you wake her if she doesn't wake for the middle of the night feed as she is really dinky and 4 weeks is quite a long time to not be back at birth weight. This serves 2 purposes, first getting an extra feed in every night to help her gain weight and also that is when your body is triggered to make lots of lovely fatty milk so it is actually probably the most important feed of the day for such a little one. I wouldn't wake 3 hourly unless she is still not gaining but maybe try that one feed (so 4 hourly) and then in the day encourage 3 hourly feeds and making sure she is getting decent length feeds (strip her off / wake her up if she gets sleepy) - I'd suggest at least 10 minutes. What are her current day feeds looking like?

Bugglyboo wrote:So sorry to be popping on for advice and not partaking in any chat etc. Time seems o be running away from me at the moment.

Dont' be daft, we all understand, you have your pot very full and I'm sure you'll be back chatting when you can @Bugglyboo just lovely to hear from you :hug:

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clothmama
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Re: Feeding and sleeping advice needed.

Postby clothmama » Thu Jan 19, 2017 6:39 pm

Oh and we need pics :twisted:

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Bugglyboo
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Re: Feeding and sleeping advice needed.

Postby Bugglyboo » Thu Jan 19, 2017 6:45 pm

Thanks @clothmama.

Her daytime feeds are a variation of this:
7am
9.30am
12pm
2pm
5pm
7pm
8.30pm
10pm
Sometimes a 3am.

She also sometimes adds in some more evening feeds (normally on the days she doesn't wake in the night).
She feeds for between 10 and 20mins. Sometimes longer in the evenings.

She also hates being fed when she hasn't asked for it and often refuses or just fusses and takes in air making her super windy.

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Bugglyboo
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Re: Feeding and sleeping advice needed.

Postby Bugglyboo » Thu Jan 19, 2017 6:47 pm

Image

Image

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emmavmorgan
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Re: Feeding and sleeping advice needed.

Postby emmavmorgan » Thu Jan 19, 2017 6:51 pm

As a mum of 2 dinky babies ( 1 3lbs and 1 4lbs) I would say try and avoid the 3 hourly feeds as it's a killer but I would wake her once in the night as it is a very long time to go without feeds. I found setting the alarm for 2am worked best for me as I got a descent sleep before the alarm if I went to bed at 10 and a couple of hours after. And yes we need pictures :widesmile:

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Re: Feeding and sleeping advice needed.

Postby emmavmorgan » Thu Jan 19, 2017 6:52 pm

Oh so tiny! She is beautiful :widesmile:

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Bugglyboo
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Re: Feeding and sleeping advice needed.

Postby Bugglyboo » Thu Jan 19, 2017 7:26 pm

Imeant to also add that she doesn't really comfort feed. She will not latch unless she's actually hungry.

I'll set my alarm for 3am as that's when she wakes naturally if she does.

I think I've noticed a correlation between weight gain and warmth. It's only been in the last week that she has been able to keep her feet and hands warm and it's been the last week that she's done really well gaining weight.
My theory is that she was burning a lot of calories trying to warm herself up and will now continue to gain well.

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Bugglyboo
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Re: Feeding and sleeping advice needed.

Postby Bugglyboo » Fri Jan 20, 2017 8:18 am

Well she fed well but I think k she would have woken anyway as she did a massive poo and wee'd over everything :giggle:

The problem was that she then didn't settle properly. She wasn't awake but she wasn't properly asleep either. Just figeted around and random whimpers until I passed her to Mat this morning.

She's also now being really fussy with this feed when she normally latches and feeds really well :(

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