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mountaingoat 
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Joined: 10 January 2008
Location: Canterbury
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 Topic: Frequent feeding! First solids?
Posted: 21 January 2009 at 6:06pm |
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My 4-month-old seems to have a 2-hour routine during the day, at least when we're at home. She'll wake up, have a feed, nappy change, play time, and then usually after an hour has passed she's already ready for a nap. Then when she wakes up, usually after an hour, she wants feeding again. So during the day she usually doesn't go much more than 2 or 2 1/2 hours, unless we are out and the routine is interrupted.
It seems awfully frequent to me. Is there any way of getting her to either lengthen the time between feeds, or else to stay awake for longer before a nap?
Also, she was sleeping through the night (from about 8 pm 'til 6 am) for a while, but now she is waking up once a night for a feed. This has been the case since New Year. Is it possible she is ready to introduce solids? She does show some signs, e.g. holding her head up well, showing interest in what I am eating and drinking, putting hands and everything else within sight in her mouth ... my MIL suggested that introducing a bit of veg. once a day might help her sleep through the night again.
Any thoughts?
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busyissy
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Joined: 16 January 2007
Location: Hamilton
Points: 675
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Posted: 21 January 2009 at 7:10pm |
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Hi,
She is either a very hungry girl or she has a bad habit of snacking. Snacking can lead to major sleep problems.
My boy snacked and only sleep for a little bit and then back up for a snack and it turned out that my milk supply was low. Does she have a good feed? You know lots of jaw movement and for a decent amount of time? You might want to try expressing after she has feed and see how much you get off. If you think that your milk supply is low there are a few things you can do to get it back up (expressing, lacta drops(natural remedy), and other prescribed medications)or there is formula.
If you think that she is feeding really well then she is old enough to start solids, they say from between 4 to 6 months. I would start with a little farex mixed with some expressed breastmilk. If she pushes the food out of her mouth with her tongue then she is not ready for solids yet. If you start solids I'd get in touch with your plunket nurse, she can give you a lot of information and helpful posters with what to give at what age and how much.
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mountaingoat
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Joined: 10 January 2008
Location: Canterbury
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Posted: 21 January 2009 at 7:32pm |
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Yes, I was wondering if she was snacking. Either that or she is a very efficient eater. She usually takes 10 minutes for a feed (both breasts). Yes, she does feed quite voraciously, but not for very long.
But if that is the case, how do you stop the snacking?
I hadn't thought about milk supply issues. Will look into that too.
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busymum
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Joined: 01 January 1900
Location: New Zealand
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Posted: 21 January 2009 at 8:55pm |
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There is usually a growth spurt at 3 to 3 1/2 mos and again one month later. I'd say it's probably one of those, unless she has been feeding two hourly consistently since she was born. Provided she wasn't born prem you can take this opportunity to introduce her to solids x1 per day to help fill up her tummy. You may well find that she will take to it but then drop it in a week or two's time, when the spurting is over. And then you can introduce it again when things go to frequent feeding again.
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mountaingoat
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Location: Canterbury
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Posted: 23 January 2009 at 3:36pm |
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Thanks for the input busymum and saffron!
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Frequent feeding! First solids?
