Feeding FAQ: 3-4 months – Breast Feeding

My son of 15 weeks is still waking two or three times in the night

I have a 3 year old son who was introduced to Gina’s routines after an awful first 2 months. It took 6 days of the routines until he slept through the night and he has been a contented child ever since – we never looked back and it was the best thing we ever did. So I know that Gina’s routines do work because I know that my eldest son was simply hideous before I put him into the routine but I am beginning to think that maybe it was a case of beginners luck because my second son (aged 15 weeks) seems to be all over the place.

There are 3 main issues:
1 He still wakes up 2 – 3 times a night
2 Although he takes a bottle with no problem at 10pm he will only take a couple of ounces at any other time before screaming his head off
3 He rarely takes a full feed and seems to prefer to snack – in particular he does not seem to take much between 7am and his lunchtime nap at all

My son sleeps well during day and in line with Gina’s routines. He goes down well at 6.45-7pm and can settle himself. We wake him for the last feed when he takes 5 – 6 oz of formula. However, he still wakes twice, sometimes three times a night – first waking is around 2.30am. I have left him to cry but he does not go back to sleep and seems genuinely hungry. He does not seem able to go more that 4 hours between feeds. When he does wake, he feeds and goes back to sleep – so when I am up it is only for 20 – 30 minutes at the most. I can cope with getting up once but 2 or 3 times seems excessive

Another related problem is that he seems to snack rather than take a full feed. He will be breast fed for 10 minutes or so and then sometimes want feeding an hour later. I have tried feeding him expressed milk from a bottle so that I know how much he is getting and this week I have dropped one of his breast feeds and have introduced formula at 11am (which he often has to have early) but he only takes an ounce or two and then has a fit! He screams and won’t take the milk – I have even tried splitting the feed and giving him some 45 minutes or so later to no avail. I am worried that he will not feed from a bottle (even though this has never been a problem at the last feed at 10pm). If I offer him the breast, he calms down straight away and feeds. I want to deal with this as I plan to breast feed until he is 6 months and aim to drop another feed in another month so that by then he will be having breast milk just in the morning and before bed.

Finally, he seems to drink little between waking in the morning and going to sleep at lunchtime. How can I change this? I am sure that if he drank more he would not wake up so often in the night.

He feeds at present at 7am 10mins breast, 8.45am 5mins breast, 10.30am try to give formula, 2ozs maximum taken at present, 2.15pm 15mins breast, 5pm 10mins breast, 6.30pm 10-15mins breast, 10.15pm 5-6ozs of formula, 2-3am 10-15mins breast, 5am 10-15mins breast.

He weighs approx. 13.5lbs

My son naps at 9-9.45pm, 12-2pm and 4.30-4.45pm. He is settled at 10pm

As your son is feeding twice in the night, and he does not feed well at the early morning feeds, it would be worth checking your milk supply. Another reason for his less than enthusiastic feed at 7am could be that he is not hungry, having been fed at 5am.

See if he will wait until 7.30am for his morning feed and, if so, whether he increases his milk intake at this feed. At his age it is not unusual for feeds to only take ten minutes. Providing your supply is good, and your son manages to reach the hind milk during a ten-minute feed, he should be able to satisfy himself in this time. Does he seem genuinely hungry again at 8.45am or is he feeding simply to settle himself for his morning nap?

Try waiting until nearer 11am, if you son is able to wait that long, before offering him a formula feed. The hungrier he is the more likely he is to accept a bottle during the day. The fact that he takes 5-6ozs at 10pm is probably due both to hunger and being relaxed and sleepy at this feed. Keep trying with the bottle feed at this time.

If he is really hungry at 10.30am try offering him 5 minutes on the breast then top him up with a bottle feed. You can gradually cut down the time allowed on the breast and increase the bottle amount if he accepts it better this way round. See The Contented Little Baby Book, page 56, for a full description of weaning your baby from breast to bottle.

To help your son sleep for a longer stretch in the night use a split feed at 10pm. Look on page 138 of The Contented Little Baby Book to see how to do this. There is also a question and answer on page 86 [bottom] which shows that, by splitting this feed and keeping your baby up for over an hour, you may be able to get him to sleep to nearer 3am before needing a feed.

If you feel that your son is losing interest in his feed at 7am then begin to cut back very gradually on the time you allow him to feed when he wakes in the night. Using the “core night” method, which is described on page 148 of The Contented Little Baby Book, you should be able to increase the period of time your son sleeps during the night. This can take a while if a baby has grown used to having a feed to help him settle himself back to sleep. Look at the notes, on page 164 of the same book, which describe the routines for three to four months. These notes explain why some breast fed babies may still genuinely need to feed at 5/6am.