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Tricia 
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 Topic: How do I extend his sleep time?
Posted: 18 July 2007 at 9:42am |
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Hello,
Our little boy Rohan is 7 weeks old and is very good most of the time but insists on waking every three hours for a feed. This means that at night he's 11pm 2am 5am which may be normal but is hard work. Any tips on how to get the time in between feeds to extend?
He's bottle fed now and falls asleep well after each feed but must have a timer hidden somewhere as he knows when it's 2am every morning!
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mamanee
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Posted: 18 July 2007 at 10:34am |
I just stick the dummy back in Sams mouth and he goes back off to sleep. After doing that for a week or two, he is now sleeping 8+ hours. 
Do you find that when he wakes every three hours during the night that he takes the whole bottle?
How well does he sleep during the day?
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jack_&_charli
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Posted: 18 July 2007 at 10:37am |
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charli did the same routine til she was about 9wks and then she started sleeping right through.
sorry not much help, maybe try using a dummy before giving him a bottle and see what happens
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Tricia
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Posted: 18 July 2007 at 10:37am |
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He doesn't take the full bottle so maybe the dummy is worth a try. Wow! I can't imagine 8 hours sleep that would be soooooo cool!
Do you find that Sam can cope without the dummy as I don't want to get too attached to one.
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mamanee
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Posted: 18 July 2007 at 10:42am |
Definitely. I try not to give it to him during the day and he usually spits it out after 10 minutes of sleep, so in the morning it's never in his mouth.
I don't really want Sam to get really attached to the dummy either but I think he just needs the comfort of sucking.
Have you noticed Rohans sleep improving over the last couple of weeks?
Sam has only started sleeping longer since 6-7 weeks so as the previous post said, you may find that he starts sleeping longer without you having to do much.
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Tricia
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Posted: 18 July 2007 at 10:49am |
thanks for the advise - I'll have a go tonight and let you know how he gets on.
His daytime feeds are 3 hours apart as well with a bit more cramming in the evening to see if that will help him sleep.
Fingers crossed for tonight! 
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FionaS
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Posted: 18 July 2007 at 11:19am |
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A couple of other things to consider (though you may be already) is ensuring you have a consistent bedtime routine. Does he take a dreamfeed?
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Mummy to Gabrielle and Ashley
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Tricia
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Posted: 18 July 2007 at 11:52am |
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DH looks after Rohan from 7pm to midnight. he feeds him at 7pm when he goes to bed after his bath, then a top up at 9pm and a final one at midnight. All of these are with the lights out and no conversation. Is that what you mean by dream feed?
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busymum
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Posted: 18 July 2007 at 12:49pm |
He's only a few weeks old, IMO he probably still needs 3 hourly feeding. His tummy probably just hasn't got the capacity to fill up enough to last longer than that. It won't last forever!
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Tricia
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Posted: 18 July 2007 at 1:22pm |
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I don't want to cause him any discomfort by making him go longer between feeds then he should so maybe I grin and bare it and wait for Rohan to extend the times then?
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ooEvaoo
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Posted: 18 July 2007 at 3:34pm |
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Yup I'm with Busymum on this one. Up until babies are around 12 weeks old they require feeds roughly every 3 hours as their tummies can only hold a small amount hence why they wake up at regular intervals as they're hungry. So I'd suggest that you keep things as they are, cos at that age they require their feeds during the night. In a few weeks time, if baby is at a health weight then you could look at ways of possible prolonging sleep, but not any time earlier. The first three months of baby's life involves a lot of growing. My son was the same, though every once and a while I'd get a surprise and he'd sleep longer than usual. So just persevere for now. Can't remember when he started sleeping longer but it does happen, however he still wakes once or twice in the night...oh well can't win them all lol.
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mamanee
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Posted: 18 July 2007 at 5:07pm |
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I too agree with busymum, and I probably should have mentioned that if Sam is hungry after three hours I definitely feed him.
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Bombshell
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Posted: 18 July 2007 at 8:08pm |
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we dont use a dummy either. Ella sleeps for 12 hours at night (from @6pm) and has a VERY set routine - when i mess it up (eg dinner out etc) she wakes in night.
She goes down - after a bath into pjs, then a short 5 min play / cuddle (if awake and happy), says goodnight to all, up to bed room, night light on in ensuite, turn on her ocean wonders or other music cot thingey, put her on me to feed sitting in chair (nursery is dark with only nightlight peep from ensuite), when she has fed i burp her, kiss her put her down, cover her up, say nothing else, turn on oceans and mobile, turn on monitor and turn off night light and leave....
she KOs and is so relaxed by time she is put down - and she goes all through the night and i think we started this when she wasabout 8 weeks old and have had joy ever since (90% of the time!!!)
try a relaxing routine like this and see if it works....wwt for everyone but has been bliss for us
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Tricia
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Posted: 19 July 2007 at 9:15am |
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we have a set routine of bathtime, feed, lullabies etc and he goes to be no problem at all since we started being regimented about the bedtime routine.
I just get very confused by every book or person giving different advice - I have no family or support here apart from my wonderful DH s it would be good to know that what we are doing is OK. Sorry if it sounds like I am expecting too much from him - I'm just unsure of what I am doing with him still.
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littlejo
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Posted: 19 July 2007 at 10:30am |
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It is hard, Tricia - and our bubbas are all a bit different, so what works for some, may not work for you.
What really helped for me, and sounds like you are already doing is making sure night time feeds are "boring" - no lights (well, just a night light), no talking etc. If I do have to get up, it's strictly business and he goes back to sleep really well. So even if I do have to get up, I know I won't be up all night!
At around 8 or 9 weeks, Anton started sleeping 7-8 hours in one stretch at night, then a feed, then another 3 hours.
Although I have to confess that in the last week, he's waking after about 5 hours sleep, but seems to be STARVING then, so maybe it's a growth spurt or something. And he still goes back to sleep well for another 3-4hrs.
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Tricia
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Posted: 19 July 2007 at 10:40am |
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Rohan is excellent at going back to sleep after his night feeds (mind you I've probably tempted fate by putting that in writing!)
Sounds like he will sort himself out in a few weeks so fingers crossed! Just seems weird that no matter how much he feeds, or what time he finishes, he knows when it is 2am and 5am every day! During the day he can alter his feed times by an hour or so each way.
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mamanee
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Posted: 19 July 2007 at 11:17am |
I think it just depends on the baby really.
I will admit that Sam has no routine. We just go with whatever and it's probably because I loathe routine myself. Sometimes he goes to bed at 8PM, sometimes he goes to bed at 10PM and sometimes it's later. He sleeps well at any time of the day and for some reason his night time sleeps have gotten quite long. I didn't really do anything to promote this, I just went with whatever he wanted so maybe he got himself into it?
Who knows.
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S Brochocka
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Posted: 24 July 2007 at 5:46pm |
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Hi Tricia,
It sounds like you are doing all the right things, you just have a hungry baby (the books don't talk about that do they!). its frustrating as there is a lot of focus on getting your baby to go to sleep by themselves its as if thats the answer to everything, so when you do all that, and they do go to sleep by themselves but don't dutifully sleep through the night etc you think you must have done something wrong! Anyway, bit of a rant there. I'm sure in a few weeks Rohan will start sleeping more, a friend in my ante natal group has the same thing, having to feed often but he is almost 5 months now and usually once a night. i guess its possible your milk supply lessens at night to so Rohan isn't getting as much so has to keep feeding at regular intervals to get thorugh the night, rather than using a full drink to take him longer. Sounds like you are doing everything right so just keep on keeping on for a few weeks. Bfed babies are likely to need at least one feed in the night right up until six months...i know, dreadful!
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S Brochocka
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Posted: 24 July 2007 at 5:48pm |
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PS - if you were going to try the dummy, try the 5am one, as then you might get your day to start a bit later and he will take a good first feed?
also, if you are up three times anyway woudl you maybe feed him at 10pm, 1am, 4am and then you start again at 7 which at some point will be close to when you want him waking? i.e. rather than a 5am and then waking at 8, he might end up thinking the 5am is his wake up time? just a thought.
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Tricia
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Posted: 25 July 2007 at 4:23pm |
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Thanks for the possitive words - you really start to doubt whether you are doing teh right things sometimes!
So last night - 6.30pm feed after bath and to bed no problem.
Wake up for a feed of 120ml at 11.30 and back to sleep
Wake at 2.30 and drank 100ml
Wake at 4.30 and would only have 50ml
Wake at 5.30 - tried dummy but gave up after 30 minutes as he clearly wasn't settling so fed him and he only took 50ml again!
I suppose he will work it out but the formula suggests that he should be on 5 feeds of 200ml each - fat chance! It seems such a waste to continually make up 150ml in the thought that he might take it, but if I make a smaller one up, he would fall asleep while I made a top up if he finished it.
Oh well - will continue what we are doing and see if he settles down. Would the amount of daytime sleep he has have any effect as he dopes sleep a lot during the day?
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How do I extend his sleep time?
