Why is my four month old baby still nursing every 2 hours?

Question

I have a four-month-old daughter. With the exception of rice cereal at night, she is exclusively breast-fed. She went from only getting up twice during the night to nurse to now waking four to five times during the last three weeks. Needless to say I am exhausted trying to keep up with this. I asked our family doctor what happened. She said to wait a couple weeks and if this routine doesn’t subside to start feeding her rice cereal before bed. I started her on cereal one week ago and no change. Our little girl has no problems going to sleep it’s just staying asleep. She takes two three-hour naps during the day. I’ve tried not letting her sleep for longer than two hours during her naps, no change. I’ve tried putting a shirt I’ve worn that has my sent in her bassinette while she sleeps, no change. I am running out of ideas. The only thing I haven’t tried is letting her cry herself back to sleep when she wakes up. I’ve been told this works- but I really really hesitate to try this.

Answer 1

If your baby is steadily gaining weight, I doubt it's a milk production problem, also I think your doctor would have said something if he was concerned. Babies definitely go through growth spurts, and of course a baby who is doing a lot of growing is going to be eating more. One day you'll think she hasn't eaten enough to stay alive and the next she'll want to eat all day long. The problem with a four month old baby eating every two hours is that instead of eating a nice size meal, she's "snacking" and the snacks are not lasting her through the night. Have you tried a pacifier? Babies have a tremendous "sucking" instinct and it just may be that she is using you as a pacifier. Try giving her the pacifier in the night and see if that will satisfy her for an hour or two. Then when you do feed her try and get her to nurse you dry, this should fill her up better and help her to sleep longer. :)

Answer 2

In al likelihood a growth spurt. I breast-fed all 4 of mine exclusively for 6 monnths, then added cereal. I absolutely could not let them cry at that age. Some moms can do it, but I just couldn't...I'd end up in tears, the baby would be upset, the whole nine yards. Except for the youngest, all mine did use the mam pacifiers. 3 of mine are now teens or older and the youngest is elementary school.

Are you able to nurse in bed? I finally figured this out with our youngest, but I'd sleep on my back, propped up slightly and a pillow under her. If it makes you feel better, I slept for the first 6 months of my youngest's life in the big chair in the LR...the arms helped keep her cuddled up close. The hospital we had her at had an overflowing nursery and I had to stay a little longer than usual, so they just left her to us and came in around 3 for her bath and weight...she got into that habit pattern and it took ages to break....but we eventually progressed to the bed every night.

It's easier to say than do, but sleep when she does during the day. I promise, the laundry will still be there the next day and so will the dishes.

And Jenni--it's not 'crap', it's a baby and they are learning just like you are.

Answer 3

All the things that you have tried are excellent, and things that I tried myself. I had to ween my children off the 2 hour routine by forcing myself to let them cry for that 20 min. before going to get them for a feeding. Then when I picked them up I held them for another 20 min. just to comfort them before I fed them. This changes their cycle up so that their body does not set like a clock. Then I added more cereal to their diet. Ultimately they are hungry if they are eating well every 2 hours, and mine were. This meant they were not getting enough of just the milk and cereal once a day. Each child is different, and there are reasons not to force a child to eat too much too early on in life, however if a child is showing obvious signs of hunger like yours is, you need to feed them. I say try some more cereal at breakfast and try to keep their naps to 2 hours tops. Good luck.

Answer 4

My 5 month old is doing the same thing. I completely understand what you are going through. For all those who say to keep doing it- I disagree. How can our children be heatlhy if they aren't sleeping? How can we be wonderful parents is we are so tired? When he was sleeping 9 hours a night (a month ago), I had so much energy! I played with him all day long. Now, I nap with him all day long. :( He naps more often, too, since he isn't sleeping as well. I just feel awful for him. He needs sleep just like we do. Anyways- I called the Dr. (he had an ear infection a few weeks ago, but I went in last week & he is better) who said that since he isn't sick, he is just nursing for comfort, which is what he did when he WAS sick & is not used to that. She said to use a pacifier dipped in Karo syrup (?) and to keep the syrup in the fridge to avoid germs. She said this has to be a short term thing & to only use the Karo at night. When he cries the first time (around 11), she said to feed him formula (he has never had this before & can't take a bottle yet, but we will try). The formula they suggested was already pre-mixed with rice cereal (he isn't eating solids yet). They said to give it to him at the first wake up if it is under 5 hours. Then, if he continues to cry every 2 hours, give him the pacifier and stay by his crib, but don't pick him up. Let him know that you are there & you love him by patting him, touching his head, holding his hands, ect... until he falls asleep. They told me to do this for 5 days & it should be better by then. I am going to try tonight & tomorrow I am going to ask my husband to try it. I am also going to sleep in his room on the floor to make this easier on all of us. (quick to the rescue!) I know it is hard, but once I heard "If someone woke you up every 2 hours for a steak, coke & cookie, wouldn't you learn to wake up yourself to eat every 2 hours?" Just think- when you are used to getting up at a certain time (like when I was working), you body gets used to that and you start to wake up without an alarm. Your baby is doing this (mine, too!) and we need to help them. (It's not mean- it's doing what is best for them developmentally).
Good luck. Contact me anytime. I understand!
Tonight is day 1. :(

Answer 5

My son was like that too and I totally know how you feel. Breastfed babies have a tendency to do that.
All you can do at this point is to sleeptrain her and make it clear that she cant eat that often at night... at this stage she doesnt need the food every 2 hours at night anymore.. she just wants the comfort.

If she gets up, dont nurse her everytime. Start out to only feed her every other time she wakes and the times that you dont feed her only go to her bedside without picking her up so she knows you are there, make sure she is fine and go back to sleep. If she cries, let her cry for 5-10 minutes then check on her again without picking up until she goes to sleep. You need to check so she knows she is safe ... she just needs to learn that she wont be picked up at night.. or at this point at least not as often.

I made the mistake with my son to feed him everytime... he did this crap until he was a year old and I was desperate.. I quit nursing then completely and did strict sleeptraining.

With my next I wont let it come that far! I know now that by 4 month they dont need the food every two hours, as a matter of fact they dont need to eat at all at night if they fed well before bedtime.

Good Luck!

Answer 6

Maybe the milk your producing is no longer strong enough to sustain her. My advice is talk to her pediatrician about trying formula. I did the same thing with my first child, I would breast-feed one time and then the next time I gave him a bottle. It worked and it was easier to get him off the breast that way. But, before you try this consult the pediatrician first.

Answer 7

Maybe she is going through a growth spurt and is building up your supply, or is she not nursing as much during the day because she is too busy looking around and playing and therefore makes up for it at night. Either way, you need to go with it if you want to keep your supply up to her demands.

Answer 8

It might be because you're not producing enough milk for the baby or the baby needs more. My second child was nursing for long periods of time and still was hungry, the pediatrician had suggested some formula as well as breast milk. And that seemed to do the trick. It seemed like he always was nursing.

Answer 9

It sounds like she is not getting enough to eat. She needs more food. You might want to try giving her rice cereal in the morning too...
That is what I had to do with my daughter.
You also might want to talk to your DR and she what they say?
Good luck

Answer 10

She isn't getting enough milk try pumping then see how much she gets she should get 6-8oz per feeding