Sleeping and feeding - how long?

Hi all,
My little one is on nursing strike - has been for at least 2 weeks now. It is a struggle to BF her and so I have started the weaning process to transition her to be a fully FF baby (can't express as it takes too much time and I'm already back at work part time)

So here is my question:
How often do you feed a 3 month old baby?
I ask as maybe the reason she is not feeding is that she is not hungry and I'm trying to feed her too often.

I feed her (or at least try) every 3 hrs. Then I try and get her to sleep for 2hrs. The routine that Plunket told me - up for an hour, down for two.

Right now her day looks a bit like this:

wake at 6am - feed - play back in bed by 7ish
Hopefully she sleeps from 7-9
8:30/9am feed - play - back in bed by 10ish
Hopefully sleep until midday
12 - feed - play - back in bed by 1ish
Hopefully sleep until 3pm
3pm - feed - play - back in bed (or out in the pram for a walk) around 4ish
Hopefully sleep until 6ish
6pm feed - play - back in bed by 7ish

Sometimes I just let her sleep and she'll sleep for 12hrs straight - other times I worry if she hasn't fed much at the 6pm feed, so I'll wake her around 10pm if she hasn't already woken up.

Often she sleep through the night (until 5 or 6am)

Am I trying to get her to sleep too much during the day? She normally only sleeps for 45mins to an hour rather than the full 2hrs.

Also am I trying to feed her too often? I don't wait for hungry signs I just offer the boob (or bottle) and see if she will drink.

Any help with this would be ace! I've searched the net and Kellymom, but haven't got any real info I could use. Would love to know what you ladies have done.

Thanks heaps,

N00b

I agree with newme. I very much let my baby guide me. If you can, let go of the need to strictly apply a routine. Yes, maybe base what you do around a routine (feed, wake sleep etc or whatever) but babies all grow and develop at different rates so applying one strict routine for all of them doesn't make much sense to me.

I'd offer my daughter breast/bottle every 3 hours during the day but if she didn't want it then she obviously wasn't hungry. I definitely didn't wake her at night, same reason. She'd wake if she was hungry - enjoy it! Kiara was sleeping through from 7pm to 7pm at about 14 weeks and was still chucking on the weight so obviously not short of food (obviously all babies are different though).

My gal also went through a long phase of only sleeping for 45 mins each nap during the day. It definitely got better (as she slept longer she'd have less naps) but again, I just let her sort it out herself. I did let her grizzle a little after the 45 mins to see if she'd self settle, which I think is how she eventually got past it.

Sounds like you're doing a good job, just relax a little and let your baby tell you what she needs (haha I can say that now in hindsight - I remember what it was like at the time though!).

how much does your DD weigh?
my dd was 10lb at 10weeks, 11lb at 14wks, she was feed 3hourly by 12wks I had droped the dream feed at 9.30 and last feed was 7pm (she slept 7-7 so just like yours 12hours just an hour out) So yep I would feed approx 7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm, 6.30pm down for night at 7pm

I changed to mix feeding at 8months and found she didnt drink what she was "supposed to" like at that stage was meant to have 200ml, she was having 100-150ml on her FF and normal 10mins 1 side only on BF at 7am & 7pm (days were FF)

The best thing about waking them and keeping feeds 3hourly during the day is that they learn the diff between night and day and there body clock/digestive system ajusts to know night & day and hence sleep thru the night knowing when their next feed is. Id say at this stage keep her on 3hourly during the day and certainly dont wake her at night time.

With my DD I didnt go onto 4hourly feeding until they were on solids

As long as baby has wet/ dirty nappies, meets milestones and is in good health I would try not to let the 'experts' get to you.   I'd relax and go with tne flow too as bubs is a slow gainer I'd go with feeding her to her cues rather than a strict feeding regime.

I would also research babywie before implementing any of the techniques. So you make a fully informed decision

Mine certainly never did 1 up 2 down in his life and it'd be more trouble then its worth to force him. My advice would be to stress less about what she 'should' be doing and just go with the flow. I would take a long hard look at babywise before getting into their routines, they are linked to babies becoming seriously dehydrated and failing to thrive which sounds like the last thing you need.