Newborn advice please?

When the DW and I brought our DS home we were feeding him about every
3 hours, sometimes 4.

She'd feed him for about 15-20 on one side, he would be sleepy during
the feed and sometimes stop, and it was suggested to her (at the
hospital) to stimulate him to wake him up to continue to feed. He
gained his pound back in 3 days.

He's probably at the 8 pound mark now.

However, he no longer feeds for long 3 hour stretches. Here's the
latest scenario:

Last night his last feed was around 11/12PM, he slept until ~ 5:15AM.
DW fed him, then he fed again around 7:30. I went to work, he fussed
and she fed him again around 8:30ish.

he took a nap and had a snack around 10 then fussed and fed for 45
minutes around 11AM then wanted to eat again around 12:30.

He hasn't been sleeping much today maybe 30-45 minutes tops, and is
feeding more constantly.

As of this writing he is sleeping and it's almost 1 hour!

He's peeing and pooing fine, she did a rectal temperature around 3PM
which was 97 degrees and is currently (as of this writing) waiting for
a callback from the pediatrician. His underarm temp reading was 97.5.

We try to keep the apartment rooms (bedroom where he feeds and living
room) cool, around 66-70 degrees with air conditioners.

DW is frustrated as to why he's not sleeping longer and why he's
feeding every hour or less.

Is this a growth spurt? He was fine yesterday! He had some longer
periods of rest between feeds.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can share!
Paul (and Nancy)

Snugglemonster wrote:
He's peeing and pooing fine, she did a rectal temperature around 3PM
which was 97 degrees and is currently (as of this writing) waiting for
a callback from the pediatrician. His underarm temp reading was 97.5.

I ask this not having any kids of my own (until September), but I'm not sure
why you called the ped?

DW is frustrated as to why he's not sleeping longer and why he's
feeding every hour or less.

Is this a growth spurt? He was fine yesterday! He had some longer
periods of rest between feeds.

I would say, honestly, that he's still fine today. Again, not a parent
yet...but I fully expect to be frustrated when I have my baby because
newborns don't have schedules from day to day. They are still getting used
to being "outside". If he's peeing and pooping fine, his temp is normal, I
wouldn't worry. Infants are notorious for frustrating new parents by not
sleeping and eating constantly. I think the need to be close to his mama
and nurse will be in effect for awhile.

--Jodi

On May 31, 1:24 pm, Snugglemonster wrote:
When the DW and I brought our DS home we were feeding him about every
3 hours, sometimes 4.

She'd feed him for about 15-20 on one side, he would be sleepy during
the feed and sometimes stop, and it was suggested to her (at the
hospital) to stimulate him to wake him up to continue to feed. He
gained his pound back in 3 days.

He's probably at the 8 pound mark now.

However, he no longer feeds for long 3 hour stretches. Here's the
latest scenario:

Last night his last feed was around 11/12PM, he slept until ~ 5:15AM.
DW fed him, then he fed again around 7:30. I went to work, he fussed
and she fed him again around 8:30ish.

he took a nap and had a snack around 10 then fussed and fed for 45
minutes around 11AM then wanted to eat again around 12:30.

He hasn't been sleeping much today maybe 30-45 minutes tops, and is
feeding more constantly.

As of this writing he is sleeping and it's almost 1 hour!

He's peeing and pooing fine, she did a rectal temperature around 3PM
which was 97 degrees and is currently (as of this writing) waiting for
a callback from the pediatrician. His underarm temp reading was 97.5.

We try to keep the apartment rooms (bedroom where he feeds and living
room) cool, around 66-70 degrees with air conditioners.

DW is frustrated as to why he's not sleeping longer and why he's
feeding every hour or less.

Is this a growth spurt? He was fine yesterday! He had some longer
periods of rest between feeds.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can share!
Paul (and Nancy)

Hi there,

My advice to you is carry on doing what you're doing ... breastfeed
your baby on demand. It's absolutely the most wonderful thing you can
do for him. It's advice that I've stuck by since my baby was born 9
months ago. Yes, sometimes they feed every hour, sometimes more
frequently, sometimes a lot less frequently, and for varying lengths
of time too. When they're teeny tiny it doesn't hurt to wake them if
they go for more than a couple of hours without a feed and you're
worried they might not have had enough. Certainly though with all the
practice, both baby and mum will become experts in no time. Nowadays I
can feed my baby while asleep, while walking around (baby in a carrier/
on hip), etc etc.

In terms of sleep, generally you can rest assured that your baby will
regulate himself too. You'll get a real shock in the next few weeks
(or maybe not if you're prepared!) as he begins to be a lot more alert/
less drowsy. I'm not saying you should try and keep him up -
definitely look for and respond to sleepy signals - but if he's awake
and doesn't look tired, then he's doing just fine!

Hope you enjoy your experiences as much as we've done

When Sam was that age he was nursing pretty much non stop. 30 min left,
30min right, 30min left 30min sleep, repeat.
Sometimes all he wanted to do was suck, but pacifiers made him gag (I
tried every pacifier I could find, even my midwife was at a loss as
she'd never seen a baby so plainly refuse a pacifier when clearly he
needed the sucking. And she's one to not recommend pacifiers and she did
recommend one for us, but Sam had other plans...).
Sam also screamed for the first 6months. He had a lot of gas and we
also tried a lot to get that under control and nothing really helped.
There's easy babies and there's not so easy babies. But they're all
going to grow out of it ;-)

There are babies who will have a "3hour scedule" right from the start,
and there are babies who just don't. Go with the flow, sleep when the
baby sleeps, don't stress the household chores, try to keep calm, keep
snuggling and nursing on demand. He'll be just fine and _this won't last
for ever_! I remember sitting on my bed, facing my washing machine and
thinking "Now the washer's done. I could be transfering the laundry to
the dryer, but if I get up now he'll start screming. I'll still be
sitting here in 80 years, still nursing." And it's "only" been 6 years
and I'm quite obviously not still sitting there ;-) The time passes so
slow while you're in the middle of it and then all of a sudden it speeds
up and you have this 1st grader who's growing like a weed and you look
at the baby pictures and think "But you were this small just a few days
ago! How did all this growing up happen?!"

take care
nicole

He's peeing and pooing fine, she did a rectal temperature around 3PM
which was 97 degrees and is currently (as of this writing) waiting for
a callback from the pediatrician. His underarm temp reading was 97.5.

We try to keep the apartment rooms (bedroom where he feeds and living
room) cool, around 66-70 degrees with air conditioners.



I find that temperature in our house to be too cold for all of my kids
- 9, 7, and 19 months. We aim for 72-74 with air conditioners in the
summer and the lowest to be 68 in the winter with heat. We dress them
appropriately considering they kick off blankets in the middle of the
night just by moving.

"Snugglemonster" wrote in message
oups.com...

DW is frustrated as to why he's not sleeping longer and why he's
feeding every hour or less.

Is this a growth spurt? He was fine yesterday! He had some longer
periods of rest between feeds.

He sounds normal to me. It is probably a growth spurt. He is very little.
As long as he has plenty of wet diapers just feed him whenever he wants, as
much as he wants Don't get stressed out about schedules and what not.
When he gets to be around 3-4mos he'll probably fall into one of his own
making or you can work towards one of your own making. Right now just feed
and cuddle him.


--
Nikki, mama to
Hunter 4/99
Luke 4/01
Brock 4/06
Ben 4/06

combination of a growth spurt and classic newborn behaviour!

Anne

Snugglemonster wrote:

Last night his last feed was around 11/12PM, he slept until ~ 5:15AM.
DW fed him, then he fed again around 7:30. I went to work, he fussed
and she fed him again around 8:30ish.

he took a nap and had a snack around 10 then fussed and fed for 45
minutes around 11AM then wanted to eat again around 12:30.

Normal. Nurse on demand is the right thing
to do. Both of my kids stayed latched on
almost non-stop (that's what it felt like)
for the first couple of months. Tell DW
to let the housework go for this time, bring
food home after work, and just nurse nurse
nurse. (This is part of the "village" they
talk about... back in the old days, everyone
would help out by bringing food.)

-- Anita --

In article .com,
says...
When the DW and I brought our DS home we were feeding him about every
3 hours, sometimes 4.

She'd feed him for about 15-20 on one side, he would be sleepy during
the feed and sometimes stop, and it was suggested to her (at the
hospital) to stimulate him to wake him up to continue to feed. He
gained his pound back in 3 days.

He's probably at the 8 pound mark now.

However, he no longer feeds for long 3 hour stretches. Here's the
latest scenario:

Last night his last feed was around 11/12PM, he slept until ~ 5:15AM.
DW fed him, then he fed again around 7:30. I went to work, he fussed
and she fed him again around 8:30ish.

he took a nap and had a snack around 10 then fussed and fed for 45
minutes around 11AM then wanted to eat again around 12:30.

He hasn't been sleeping much today maybe 30-45 minutes tops, and is
feeding more constantly.

As of this writing he is sleeping and it's almost 1 hour!

He's peeing and pooing fine, she did a rectal temperature around 3PM
which was 97 degrees and is currently (as of this writing) waiting for
a callback from the pediatrician. His underarm temp reading was 97.5.

We try to keep the apartment rooms (bedroom where he feeds and living
room) cool, around 66-70 degrees with air conditioners.

DW is frustrated as to why he's not sleeping longer and why he's
feeding every hour or less.

Is this a growth spurt? He was fine yesterday! He had some longer
periods of rest between feeds.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can share!
Paul (and Nancy)

Whoa, Paul,

I understand you are new parents, but you are WAY overthinking this.
All of this is within the range of normal behavior. Give your ped a
rest and just go with the flow.

Good luck,
Larry

Well thanks for all of your input! I think we were overthinking
things.

He's ok now.. he feeds about every 2 hours, sometimes 3... no
consistency but we try not to look at the clock that much anymore.

The DW enjoys feeding him on demand because at night they sleep
together, he sleeps right up against her. I am jealous!