Routine/Feeding Help

Ok, apologies in advance - I know this is going to be a bit long winded.

We are trying the Gina Ford routine. For a while it was working and now it's not. I am not hung up on it, and am happy to go with the flow. But even if I were following a simple 3 hour feed-play-sleep routine, it wouldn't be working at the moment.

Firstly, Jackson is starting to be awake a lot longer and wanting to play more. I am not forcing this on him, he is just naturally wanting to be awake for 1.5 - 2 hours at a time. I am not adverse to this. Under normal circumstances, I would happily just let him be awake and then let him sleep longer to balance it. But, because he is a slow weight gainer, if I do that somewhere along the line he will drop a feed during the day, and we can't allow that to happen at the moment. And that won't work with a three hourly cycle either as he will just end up not getting enough sleep.

Secondly, Jackson is feeding better but I think he stops when he is not hungry any more, as opposed to when he is actually full. What this means is that he will feed, then play, then go down to sleep but wake up half an hour later being hungry. And half an hour is not enough sleep, so everything is thrown out of kilter.

For instance, today he got up at 6:30am. Fed for about 40 minutes and then was awake and playing (I was trying to wind him down but he was just grinning and cooing at me). He went to sleep at 8:30am. Then woke at 9am hungry! I gave him a little feed and put him back to bed, but this will throw out our cycle for the whole day as next time I wake him he will not be hungry enough to feed properly.

So... here are some questions!

1) How do I make him eat enough at his proper feed, so that he goes to sleep and doesn't wake up hungry?

2) Any routine tips and ways I can make this work without having to drop a feed during the day?

3) Could this be just a growth spurt throwing us out of kilter? He is 6.5 weeks, so potentially he IS getting enough at his main feed but is just generally hungrier?

Any tips would be greatly appreciated! As it is... I am tired too! I am trying to nap when he does, but it doesn't work if he wakes after half an hour. I wake up and then can't go back to sleep!


ETA: I have tried giving him a top up before putting him back down to bed, but he refuses it, so that isn't solving the problem. Also, during his proper feed I am trying a billion tricks to keep him eating - pumping his arm, tickling his face or feet, doing circles in his palm, putting a cold cloth on the back of his neck. It definately helps,but doesn't keep him going past the point where he has fully decided enough is enough.

Edited by kiwilaurie

oops, just read your edited post...hmm, I see you are doing all the tricks to encourage him to feed

Have you been to a Family Centre? They really, really helped us get sorted re: routines and feeding, which then helped with sleeping and DD's weight gain.

ETA: The local Karitane nurse was also a great help. I accessed her through Plunket and she was the one who got me to put DD down in bed awake so she would learn to self-settle (it did take a few days) .



Edited by aussiegirl