5 month old advice needed... - Pregnancy and Par...

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5 month old advice needed...

Nochok profile image
3 Replies

Morning ladies.. I haven't posted for a while but I am really in need of your advice...

Quick overview - My son was born at 36 weeks (by emergency c section) I was getting pre eclampsia, we where then in hospital for a couple of weeks with him having jaundice (under the bilirubin lamps) and severe weight loss (born at 5 lb 5oz but lost 11% in first 3 days ). I breast fed for 6 weeks then expressed and combination fed for 2 weeks before going on to comfort formula due to colic. He also had an umbilical hernia and hydrocele..

So we have kind of been through the mill a bit but both myself and my husband are totally in love with him and feel very very lucky to have him.

I have now got him onto normal number one formula and thankfully in the last month his colic has subsided and hernia is becoming a cute little belly button and his hydrocele is nearly gone... All great news and such a relief.

It's the sleep deprivation which is getting to me. .. last night I got really upset with one of his feeds as I was so tired !! He is still feeding every 2-3 hours and only takes between 3 and 5 oz. We have a great bedtime routine of quiet time/bath/feed with white noise etc... my husband does this 7pm feed to give me a break and he goes down great, then wakes about 10pm when we go to bed (still with us in his moses basket) has a feed again about 1am / 3.30am / 5 am then 7am.... I have given him tentatively a bit of baby rice /porridge this week which he ate no problem.... With all his problems I am worried to ween early as he is only 21 weeks....

Also not sure about his day naps which are usually one in the morning and unfortunately one at bout 4.30pm which I could do with bringing forward.

Ladies please help I'm at my whitts end xxx

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Nochok profile image
Nochok
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3 Replies

Hi. My 5mo is the same. We've had a bedtime routine since 2mo but sleep is still inconsistent at times. I'm ebf so I expect my boy to wake through the night. Others who ebf have said their lo doesn't. It's all down to the baby really. I think to get a routine in place you might need to sleep train but I'm not going to as my baby has slowly but surely worked out a routine of sorts for himself. Sorry this isn't advice but I got myself so stressed over baby sleep because of what the world and his wife was telling me that I decided to go with the flow and listen to baby!

As for weaning, a girl in my antenatal group was advised not to wean early as her baby was also born early. I would ask your HV before you go for full weaning or do a wee bit of research just to check.

As for naps, can you take him for an early afternoon stroll or activity so that he falls asleep a bit earlier? I did that and now lo sleeps much earlier in the day with a power nap around 4-5ish and in bed at half 7.

Good luck any way. You've been through a tough old time and I hope things continue to get easier! :)

mummymummy profile image
mummymummy

How many feeds does he have in 24 hours? Sounds like he is feeding little and often...u could try making him go longer without a feed during the day by taking him for a walk to try amd keep him asleep or a long car drive so he may take more on the next feed. ... have u had a chat with ur health visitor ask them to go thru it with u so u can hopefully get him to go longer... The guidelines are from 6 months but they are guidelines and ultimately it hogs mum so if u want to feed him then it's ur choice. .. have u tried the hungrier baby formula? It is very hard having distrubed sleep. ... my little one is up every 2 hours is always blocked up amd chokes in his sleep which is frightening and refuses a bottle but I keep trying, go to bed when u put little man to bed that's the only way I get to feel half human the next day! Hope he sleeps thru for u soon xx

Wigwam profile image
Wigwam

My son was born at 34 weeks and we were actually advised to wean early because he needed the extra nutrition due to being prem. I think you can see flaws in the logic either way, to be honest, but if he's happy to wean then I'd carry on. I do agree that it sounds like he may have got himself into a habit of waking when he doesn't really need to; have you tried giving him a bit of water to see if he'll settle until the next "real" feed time? If he does then he might then take more milk at the next feed because he'll be hungrier and you'll start to shift the routine to more milk at longer intervals. Either way, talk to a HV or ideally, more than one to get a couple of views, and good luck!

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