Feeding FAQ: 0-8 weeks

My second baby is due any day and I am fretting over breast-feeding as I failed miserably with my first for various reasons, and ended up with bleeding nipples and a very poor milk supply. Having read some other people's suggestions about increasing milk supply, I'm a bit confused, so would love some clarification.

The advice seems to involve fenugreek, fennel, Weleda mother's milk tea and blessed thistle. I can't seem to find a UK company that makes Weleda's tea. Should fenugreek and fennel be taken together?
Fiona Hinton Response

My baby is three weeks old, weighs nearly 11 pounds and was feeding at 3am and 7am but has now back-tracked to wanting to be fed at 2am and 6am. Although I manage to express 7oz at 9.30pm he will only take 3-4oz when my husband feeds him at 10pm. Is he starting to wake earlier because he is not getting enough at the last feed, should he perhaps be having closer to what I am actually expressing at that time?

Team Response

I would like to follow the routines with my 4.5 week old daughter as I have done so with my first child, now aged 4, with great success. However, from day one it has been a real struggle. The main problem is that my daughter doesn't feed for very long. She will stay on the breast for a maximum of 15 minutes, before falling asleep or crying. She never ever empties the breast so I worry that she is not getting any hind milk. As a consequence she then wants to feed 2 hours later, or even earlier, which makes me concerned she might develop colic. I have tried to wake her up mid-feed by changing her nappy etc but feel that each feed takes so long and seems to blend with the next.

She never settles for her morning nap unless I feed her or wear her in a sling - in fact she seems to hate her cot. She will settle in her pushchair or a sling but the moment I put her in her cot she screams and becomes more and more hysterical. She has liked to be cuddled to sleep since birth. She tends to feed at 7 am but then falls asleep by 8.15am - then wakes if I put her in her cot and won't go back to sleep.

She does sleep well at lunchtime and in the afternoon but will not settle in the evening, sometimes staying awake till 10pm. She is very unsettled in the evening, crying and fussing. We thought she might have silent reflux as when she screams she arches her back and clutches at me or her chest and will wake suddenly screaming as if in pain. The doctor gave her Gaviscon which she spits out and then becomes hysterical so I have given up on that. Every day I try to follow the routine as I want it to work but every day by lunchtime the routine has gone pear-shaped. How do I get her to feed longer, go longer between feeds and settle in her cot? Another thing, she hates being swaddled and will scream if I restrict her arms, so I half-swaddle her.

My daughter feeds at the following times:
7.30am 15 minutes [takes 30mins to take this feed]
8.45am 5 minutes, sucked her self to sleep
9.15am woke and then sucked herself to sleep
10.30are 15minutes
11.30am 15minutes
2.30pm 15 minutes
4.00pm 5 minutes
6.00pm 15 minutes
7.00pm all evening wanted to suck, fell asleep at 10pm
10.30pm fed on and off until midnight
3.30am 10minutes

She weighed 9lbs 7ozs at birth and now weighs 10lbs 10ozs.

My daughter naps at 8.45-9.15am, 9.20-10.30am, 11.40-2.30pm and 4.15-5.15pm
Team Response

22.

We are giving my 4 week daughter the 10 pm feed as recommended in the Contented Little Baby book, as expressed milk in bottle. However this upsets her a lot (currently on 120-140 ml) and we end up with a whole sleepless night and her being in great discomfort. This happens also if we do half feed in bottle and half on breast.
She takes Infacol beforehand but that does not help either.

The only way she has a comfortable night is if she totally breastfeeds at night. I am worried as we are to start weaning her to formula starting in 2 weeks time, and if a bottle is upsetting her this much, what problems we will face? Do you recommend maybe that we give her the bottle during one of the day feeds?
Regarding the weaning to full formula feeds, the book does not tell whether the 3 am feed (if she is still waking up for it) should be formula or breast?

My daughter breast feeds throughout the day at 6.45am, 10am, 2.15pm, 5pm, 6.15pm, 10.30pm and 3.20am. She will take one breast for 20minutes at a feed, then 10minutes on the second side, although she does not always want this. The 5/6.15pm feed is given as a split feed, with one side at 5pm for 25-30mins. The same side is offered after her bath followed by the second if she stays awake.

If the 10.30pm is given as half and half she will be given 100mls in the bottle followed by 15-20minutes on the breast.

My daughter weighs 3.72kg [8.3.5lbs].

She naps at 8.45-10am, 11.30-2pm and 3.30-4.15pm.
Team Response

My 4 week son is feeding well at the 10pm feed, 3oz from the bottle then 15 minutes from the breast and a further 5 minutes from the second breast. He is only sleeping till about 1.30 am and taking a full feed from both breasts then waking at 4 ish when I give him one breast and then the other at 7am. How can I get him to sleep longer from the 10 pm feed and therefore only have him wake once?

My son is fully breast fed. He weighs 8lbs 6ozs.

He feeds at 7am 15mins,breast 1, 10mins breast2, 10am 15mins breast 1, 11.30am 15mins breast 2, 2pm 15mins breast 1, 10mins breast 2, 5pm 15mins breast 1, 6.15pm 15mins breast 2, 10pm 3ozs expressed feed, 15mins breast 1, 5mins breast 2, 1.30am 15mins breast 1, 15mins breast 2, 4am 15mins breast 1.

He naps at 8.30-10am, 11.15-2pm and 3-4pm. He settles at 6.30pm.
Team Response

My son is 5 weeks old and weighs 10lbs 5ozs. He had gradually begun to wake nearer to 3am for his feed, and then again between 6-7am. However, in the last few days he has been waking more frequently at night, despite having a split feed at 10pm, and staying awake for an hour. Could this be due to a growth spurt and how do I begin to encourage him to sleep for longer again?Last night I gave him a 4oz feed at 2am since he seems to need this feed. I have tried to offer him less milk, or a more diluted feed, but he will not settle. He woke again at 4am and would only settle back to sleep when given 1oz at 5am.

I have increased some of the daytime feeds, but this does not seem to have had any effect on his nights.
Team Response

17.

I have a very sucky, hungry 7 week old big baby who does not want to sleep longer in the night. My son is struggling to get past 3.30am in the night- it has been like this on and off for the past 4 weeks. He has 6 oz of SMA white at about 10.45pm, having been woken at 10pm. He then wakes at 3.30/3.45am and sometimes will settle with a dummy for half an hour or so but then wakes again screaming for a feed. He is taking slightly more than the amount of formula for his weight during the day, and does not seem to want more during the day. I see that you advise that not more than 6oz should be given at the 10pm feed - but should I increase this to make him go longer? When he does feed in the night he is currently taking about 3oz. I have just started to decrease it from 4 oz and he then wakes again at 7am for a feed. He is much more settled during the day and will generally take all his naps. Should I keep increasing his day feeds and the 10pm feed? As he is so big I do not want to overfeed him.

My son feeds at 7am 6ozs, 10.30am 6ozs, 11.45am 1oz top up, 2.30pm 5ozs, 5.15pm 3ozs, 6.30pm 4/5ozs, 10.45pm 6ozs, 3.30am 3ozs.

He weighs 13lbs.

He naps at 8.50-9.30am, 11.45-2.15pm and 4.15-4.45pm. He is settled by 6.50pm.
Team Response

I am having problems working out how to split the amount of formula my 5 week son is due over his feeds during the day as his weight increases. Can you provide a table for weights 11lb and onwards like the one in your CLBB on page 63.

He weighs 11lbs at present.

He feeds at 7am 5ozs, 10.30am 5ozs, 2.30pm 4ozs, 5.00pm 3ozs, 6.15pm 3ozs, 10.30pm 5ozs, 2.30am 3ozs.

He naps at 8.15-10am, 11.30-2.15pm and 3.30-5pm.
Team Response

As you can see my son was a big baby. He is a very hungry baby and has been since birth, which is why I have changed to complete formula feeding. I am unable to stretch out any of the feeding times and he cries for a bottle the minute that he wakes during the day and has to be full of food to sit happily or lie on his gym, so I feel that I constantly have to have a bottle at the ready. I have tried a dummy but he spits it out every time. The main problem that we have is that he seems unable to go longer than 2am at night. My husband does the 10pm feed and, as you have suggested elsewhere, we have been keeping him up for longer than one hour - waking him at 9.45 and putting him back down at 11.15pm. This is a really difficult time to keep him awake even lying on the floor in just his vest. The first time we did this he didn't wake until 4.30, but this has got earlier again every night so that after only five days we are now back to 1.30 - 2am waking and then again at 5.30am. I have tried leaving him as he doesn't really cry but is awake and fidgeting, but he is very hungry when I go in and usually drinks between 140 and 180ml. He then has about 100ml at 5.30am, he won't settle with any less. I followed the same routines and had very similar problems during the day with his brother who was a similar birth weight, but was better at night and slept 10.30pm to 7am at 10 weeks.

He weighs 12lbs. My son feeds at 7.30am 120mls, 10am 180mls, 2pm 150mls, 5pm 60mls, 6.30pm 180mls, 10.30pm 180mls, 2am 160mls, and 5 am 100mls.

He naps at 9-9.45am, 12-2.30pm, 3.30-3.45pm and 4.30-4.45pm. He is settled by 7pm.
Team Response