A question I posted on a local message board. I’m reproducing it here to see if I get any good advice from my friends. 🙂
Greetings,
I’m going back to work in a few weeks and I’m trying to get my nine-week old son Henry to sleep longer at nights (or through the night would be great!).
Here’s some info on his feeding habits.
I try not to feed him any sooner than 4 hours between feedings, but will feed him at 3 hours if he’s displaying hunger signs. He only eats around 2-3 ounces at a serving when bottlefed. I’m not sure how much he’s eating when he’s breastfeeding, but I can’t imagine it’s more than when he bottle feeds. When he bottle feeds, he is not a guzzler. He’s fooled me on more than one occasion when he sucked and sucked and made all this noise at the bottle for 10 minutes, 20 minutes or longer, only to discover he hadn’t actually drank anything. So, all of this to say that he’s not a big eater. But the doc says his weight (11+ pounds) is fine and if that’s what he eats, then fine. I guess part of me worries that he’s not eating enough to sleep long enough at night.
Now here’s his nighttime routine:
He usually gets fed around 8 PM (roughly 2 oz), then has a bath and goes down for the night in his crib. He falls asleep on his own and sleeps until around 1 AM. At that point he gets fed again. I’ve replaced nursing at night with a bottle. Sometimes he will just suck on the bottle without drinking but other times he’ll eat. Last night he ate 1.25 oz at 1 AM but it took 30 minutes or more to get him switching from the aimless sucking to actually drinking. Then, he goes back down to sleep easily.
He’ll awake again around 4 AM or 5 AM. Last night he drank 2 oz at that time but only after aimlessly sucking at the bottle for 10 minutes.
Finally, he wakes up between 6 and 7 AM. I think that’s his natural “wake-up” time even though he’s not technically due to be fed until around 8 AM.
So, I’d like to try to eliminate one of the feedings – maybe the 4 AM. Any suggestions on how to do this? I’ve tried offering the pacy before the bottle but he’s not having it. Would love your tips, hints and suggestions!
