Switched from 3 to 4 hours and baby going nuts

amother

Pink

Wed, Jun 15 2016, 5:23 pm

My baby is almost 5 months. He doesn't nap more than 40 minutes, cannot fall asleep on his own, and wakes at least 3 times at night. He was eating every three hours. I read the baby whisperer and she says that at four months you need to switch to a four hour sched. Which I did and he seemed fine with [wasn't crying out of hunger before that]. BUT, he is SO cranky the entire day long. He seems to be spitting up more, having more tummy issues, and is not sleeping even less than before--maybe a half an hour 5 times a day, always after screaming his head off for almost 1.5 hours straight beforehand. I'm on day three of this. I am going out of my mind. He used to be happy on the floor playing, now he is crying and needs to be held the entire day. He is waking the same as he was before.

amother

Ivory

Wed, Jun 15 2016, 5:26 pm

You know your child and his needs the book doesn't just keep doing what you did to make him and yourself happy

asp40

Wed, Jun 15 2016, 5:45 pm

He is scared and doesnt understand a schedule. Throw that book out. Feed him when he is hungry and watch him for signs of sleepiness and schedule naptime then. DO not leave him to cry like that. Seriously. Your baby has not read that book.

tryinghard

Wed, Jun 15 2016, 6:09 pm

Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Kenneth (?) Weissbluth does things differently than Baby Whisperer but I found it very helpful. It helped me to learn how to identify my child's signals - when was she tired, when was she overtired. Because of this book, I was able to get my kid on a schedule when I was never able to before. I think if you can solve the sleep issue, the feeding thing will self-resolve.

simcha2

Wed, Jun 15 2016, 6:21 pm

Going from every 3 hours to every 4 hours means that your baby is going from 8 feeds a day to 6 feeds a day. That means your baby is only getting 75%. Of course he is hungry. If you want to spread out feeds you need to work up to it...3 hours and 10 minutes for Day, 3 hours 15 minutes that next day etc. If you are nursing you need to build up your supply and if you are bottle feeding the baby had to learn to be able to take more at feedings. But suddenly cutting his intake is not fair to your baby and potentially unhealthy.

mo5

Wed, Jun 15 2016, 6:22 pm

Also at 5 months some babies eat more frequently during the (or part of the) day and start to stretch out the night that way.
Also the best advice (don't know where from) that I got is to have them on an 'eat, play,sleep' schedule. So they wake up, eat, play etc, and then go nap. At 5 months 1.5-2 hours is enough time for some kids to be up (eat plus play) before getting tired (don't want to wait too long because then they are overtired).

redapple

Wed, Jun 15 2016, 6:24 pm

My baby is about that age. I stopped nursing for the reason of never knowing if my baby was getting enough even with giving bottles after nursing . I became much calmer wen I stopped nursing at 2 months. If ur baby is gaining and doc is happy then it's not hunger. I find after an 1 1/2 she is sleepy I put her in the crib and rock her a bit if she dsnt fall asleep I take her out for another 30 min and then she falls asleep no problem. About the spitting burping is very important. My baby def spits up less wen I burp her and keep her upright 30 min after feeding. Also I don't get the 4 hour thing every baby is diff. Mine eats less every 3 hours nighttime I give her a bit more will start the feeding at 900 giver her her normal amount and an hour or more later another 2 ounces. and she sleeps for at least 5 hours but during the day she takes very short naps throughout the day. Some days she'll take one long nap 2 hours but the rest is short naps al day. Watch out for baby's signals as previous poster recommended and good luck. Babies r unpredictable .

busydev

Wed, Jun 15 2016, 6:34 pm

I read the babywhisperer and I did not follow her exactly but rather followed the routine (eat activity sleep) and cuing into my baby's sleep cues. With all parenting books you take what works for you

Wed, Jun 15 2016, 6:43 pm

Ignore the book. Let your baby tell you when he needs to be fed.

anonymrs

Wed, Jun 15 2016, 9:14 pm

These threads make me so upset. Listen to your baby, not the book.

working hard

Wed, Jun 15 2016, 9:44 pm

I learned a lot from the Baby Whisperer but I still have all my kids on a 3 hour schedule. 4 hours is a long time.

the world's best mom

Wed, Jun 15 2016, 9:59 pm

I would also go nuts if I was forbidden to eat nearly as often as I was used to.

Your baby sounds very normal to me. My 8 month old also wakes up to nurse 2 or 3 times a night. That's what he's supposed to do. He's a baby. If he was still doing that as an adult (or as a 2+ year old), then we'd have a problem.

amother

Seashell

Thu, Jun 16 2016, 5:10 am

anonymrs wrote:

These threads make me so upset. Listen to your baby, not the book.

Agreed. I have a very active six-month old who still needs to eat every two hours during the day. Don't need a book to tell me to feed him....

Shuly

Thu, Jun 16 2016, 7:41 am

My kids nurse every 2-3 hours by day until around 8 months. One was even longer.
You can try nursing less at night, but no reason to cut out day feedings.

If anything, nursing more by day helped my kids eat less at night since they were fuller.

I also follow the Baby Whisperer's schedule, but not her advice about feeding.

FranticFrummie

Thu, Jun 16 2016, 8:49 am

If he is going through a growth spurt, you many need to nurse even more often than you have been. A sudden surge in calorie needs is to be expected, and will level off on it's own.

Please listen to your baby! Hashem knew what He was doing when He designed them.

wiki

Thu, Jun 16 2016, 9:46 am

Definitely try to cut out a night feed or two by now, but don't diminish the total number of daily feeds by more than one, or any at all. This means that you might have to space some evening feeds two hours apart just get to a total of 7-8 feeds over the 24 hour day. Baby is going nuts and having trouble sleeping because you reduced his food intake significantly.

lucky14

Fri, Jun 17 2016, 10:12 am

You don't NEED to put your baby on a 4 hour day. As others say, do what works for you. I tried the baby whisperer. Some things I follow, and others we decided to just not listen to.
My baby is a "snacker". I think his stomach is an endless pit. No, wait, it isn't. But I think HE thinks it is. He'll eat and eat and I'm sure his stomach has no room for any more food and he'll be spitting up and wanting to eat more. When I fed him every 3 hours he'd almost always doze off while eating. Meal times lasted for around an hour at least on average.
Then I switched to feeding him every 4 hours. He's legit hungry by then so he doesn't fall asleep while eating so meal times now only last like 20 minutes.

The prob is he only naps around 40-45 minutes which messes with the whole EASY 4 hour plan. He's still used to eating right when he wakes up. I can't delay putting him down for a nap. So according to the baby whisperer schedule I put him down for his AM nap at around 9:00. He wakes up around 9:45. Next meal time isn't until 11 though and he's used to eating when waking up so he gets fussy. Then I have to spend the next hour keeping him entertained. If he's busy with something he's not so fussy. But he's too young to keep himself entertained. I found he loves going outside so we do walks usually between nap and feeding times. Not the most practical thing, especially if you have other kids at home (which I don't). But this is what's working best for us right now. He also just started solids so he gets some solid "snacks" in between meals which is helping make his appetite happier.

He dream feeds around 11. If he wakes up during the night I give him his paci, a kiss on the head, and tell him it's time to go back to sleep. This almost always helps him fall back asleep thank G-d. Our mornings begin around 6:30.

I tried her whole shush pat thing to get naps to go longer, but after a week or two of so much screaming we decided it was not worth it. Maybe when he gets older he'll nap longer, but for now he really seems awake after those shorter naps.

Anyway that's my saga. I wrote it all out because I was curious what other people did and if everyone else followed her book exactly as she wrote it or if there were others who modified as well. My point is that you do what you feel works for you. Don't make yourself or your baby crazy and upset. Smile

(oh btw I'm not sure if I agree that fewer feeds reduces the amount being eaten necessarily. Since my baby is eating more efficiently at each "meal" now I feel like he's prob getting just as much milk as when I was feeding him more often).

observer

Fri, Jun 17 2016, 10:33 am

You know your baby, obviously he is getting less milk now, and clearly it's not enough for him.

Common sense has to override books.

amother

Pink

Fri, Jun 17 2016, 1:49 pm

OP Thanks guys. Yesterday was much better. The baby is fine going four hours between feeds. He doesn't like sleeping for two hour periods though, he rather have more naps during the day. Last night he only woke up twice in the 7-7 period [feeds were 7, 10, 3, 7] so that is much better than it's been in a while. I guess we'll give it a few more days and see how it goes

amother

Powderblue

Fri, Jun 17 2016, 3:29 pm

Poor baby.
4 hour breaks for a growing 5 month old who is only breastfeeding is mean.