Baby feeding and sleeping question?

Question

I have a almost 3 month baby. Who is still not sleeping through the night! I have to go back to work now and I am never going to make it if we have to keep getting up every 3 hours. She also spits up all the time! she is on Similac right now the doctor told me to change her formula. I am not really sure what I should go with sincce she is always spitting up! And could an upset beely be why she is not sleeping through the night> It seems that she is so hungry but sh wont take more than 4oz in her bottle? I think she should be eating more by now. My son was on 6oz's by now. I just dont know what to do with her. She never seems to be in pain. She just will spit up. They put her on zantac and that did not seem to help? Did anyone else have this happen?

Answer 1

first off i know its gonna seem a little strange a guy answering your question but please hear me out before you disregard me. I am a father of 4 children and my wife and i had a similar problem with our 2nd child. he was a preemie and had some complications shortly after birth that may have contributed to his issues but i think my info may still help. first off do you now or ever breast feed and if so do you switch between breast and bottle? some people say that won't make a difference but in my experience and also according to our pediatrician it can.the baby has to learn how to suckle differently with each feeding if you switch and you need to also look at weather the nipples you use are the best size for your baby for example if your daughter is a larger baby she may need a larger nipple with a larger opening or more openings on the nipple to allow her to better feed and also vise versa maybe its too big and is causing her to feed to quickly causing her to spit up and giving her a belly ache. if you are switching between breast and bottle you also need to look at the size difference between your nipples and the bottles nipples my oldest son had this problem when my wife tried to do both we found that she had to basically choose as to which method she would use and like yourself she was trying to go back to work so we chose the bottle now i would recommend expressing if you can if you choose this as i truly believe it helps the baby. if you do both you may be, as strange as it sounds, having the same problem as you would switching your pets food. you could in this case try to mix a little of both to help the transition. as far as formula that in its own could be causing most of the problem as i started out telling you my second child ended up having digestion problems that caused his discomfort and so we talked to our doctor and he suggested pagestimil (i think that's how its spelled) it has a benefit that its partially broke down so it makes digestion easier for the baby . its a bit more expensive ( or at least it was) but for us it was well worth it maybe it would be for you as well. Unfortunately when it comes to the sleeping through the night i don't think there is a sure way to fix that. but maybe you could help coach her in to sleeping through the night by keeping her awake during the day longer and maybe stretching her feeding schedule out a bit. it'll be hard and stressful on you for awhile but it will be worth it. but i will also say remember your daughter is only 3 mo old and its not unusual for her to have this type of sleeping schedule still. perhaps your son had was able to sleep through the night at this age but as hard as it is you need to remember that she is as different as anyone else is and you just cant rely on what your other children do or did to judge what she should be doing, its OK to use it as a guide but don't take it to be a black and white guide to how things should go

Answer 2

My twins had that problem. They would have really bad spit up to the point that it looked like they were throwing ALL there food up. Both my kids are on Zantac. I was haveing to feed them every 3 hours. I raised there amounts alittle every 2 weeks. One of the other things I tried to get them to sleep through the nite was, I fed them smalled amounts starting at 6 pm. It's called cluster feedings. 2 ounces at 6, 2 ounces at 7:30, 2 ounces at 8:30, and then 2 ounces at 9:30. You will find they will be soo full they will sleep longer through the night. Just make sure you give the Zantac 20 mins before the first feeding at 6pm. Good Luck!

Answer 3

My son was going through the same thing I switched formulas to Parents Choice (wal-mart brand) And added a little rice cereal now he sleep 9 hours and doesn't spit up at all. The rice keeps him full and the formula isn't as grainy. But ask your doctor if it's not acid reflux first.

Answer 4

Neither of my kids slept through the night until they were much older than that. It may just be something she's going to do for a while. I'd try switching the formula for the spit-up issue, but she may just need to grow a little bit before she sleeps longer. I know it's hard, hang in there.

Answer 5

Not sleeping through the night is not uncommon at 3 months. My son is 2 and he still gets up and wants juice. I would try a soy based formula if she is constantly spitting up. 2 of my kids had to drink it, it really helps, but it does stink. You could also try a little rice cereal at night before bed time.

Answer 6

My daughter was sleeping about 6 hours at that point. She ate about 5 or 6 ozs but she did have GERD and they put her on Zantac and Axid. She spit up quite a bit and was really gassy. That all stopped when she was put on similac alimentum. It's proteins are broken down more and makes it easier to digest. Ask your pedi about being switched.

Answer 7

The doctor should have told you what formula to try so you should call him and ask. Also you could try changing bottle. Maybe this one is giving her too much air and that would cause her to spit up and also to get annoyed with the bottle. Good luck and congrats on your new baby.

Answer 8

Try Nestle Good Start formula.