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Hi All!
I am currently still feeding Amelia every 3 hours, and have done so since birth. It is really getting exhausting! I decided to continue feeding so often because her Ped Gastro said that it would help her reflux (she would eat less, but more often). He also recommended that I wake her in the middle of the night to feed her to help her reflux (can you believe that???
She has a hard enough time getting enough sleep!) Needless to say, I didn’t take that advice!Just wondering any thoughts on frequent feeding vs. spacing every 3.5 to 4 hours. I know she can go that long without feeding, I just want to do what’s best for her reflux.
Also, I just read in a book by The American Academy of Pediatrics that if a baby is exclusively breastfed, that they should get a vitamin D supplement. Are any of you doing that? My Ped never mentioned it!
ok…my opinion, the bit about the vitamin d….total bs….Breast milk is complete and the best thing for your babe.
breastmilk does contain vit d, however a baby is meant to get some vit d from mom and some from sunlight. all baby needs is a few minutes of sunlight 2-3 days a week. also…There have been studies done that have shown that it is possible to increase a breastfed baby’s vit d level by supplementing the mom. The link below has some good info on vit d and the breastfed baby:
http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/vi…vitamin-d.html
good threads about vitamin d:
http://www.mothering.com/discussions/showthread.php?t=652465 &highlight=vitamin+d
http://www.mothering.com/discussions/showthread.php?t=667964 &highlight=vitamin+d
as for your babe….i would not try to change anything up with her feeding schedule in hopes to help the reflux….in my experience, i have found that it makes little difference whether i feed my son every 2,3,or 4 hours. i would also not wake her to eat….cherish the time you get some sleep!!
its so hard to even get reflux babies to sleep!
Mary,
my thoughts
: try feeding her on her schedule, rather than what the doctor tells you…as they grow, their eating patterns change…she might not want/need to eat as often…if she’s happy and distracted/playing then just let her be- she’ll eventually realize “hey! I’m hungry!” and let you know, lol.
now, if weight gain or feeding aversions are issues, that’s entirely different.
as for feeding at night- I was able w/ both babies to go to them before I go to bed, about 11:00pm & take them out of their crib, lie down w/ them (there’s a bed in the nursery) & nurse them & put them back in the crib, w/o them waking up- I tried this as a way to tank them up so I could get a stretch of sleep from 11-4
. it worked better with jonah I think, but my memory fails me…it worked ok with Ari- I mean he doesn’t wake up when i feed him but it wasn’t always a sure thing that he’d go a full ‘stretch’what I have found is what works best for me & them is to just follow them…crossing fingers & toes here not to jinx things
but just in the past 2 weeks Ari has been sleeping from 7:30 to 4 or 4:30 or even 5(!)
…he’s just about 11months old though, and no reflux, so I’m just using this as an example…I don’t have the heart to have him CIO bcse well, I’m a softie, I’m home with him, I think he’s my last baby and well I go to work in 2 months so we’ll see how soft I am then, LOL ( but I think he’s done it on his own, yay!)not sure my rambling helped you…
oh & I’ve never heard of vitamin D or anything? maybe bcse we’re in the sunshine state
?Thanks Laura and Natalia! Natalia, I appreciate the links! And Laura, so happy to hear Ari (and you!) are getting good sleep! It’s a wonderful thing! Amelia has been sleeping really well at night (also crossing fingers and toes not to jinx anything
)! She goes down around 7 and sleeps until at least 4! As of late she’s been waking at 2 or 3 but I can usually get her back to sleep. I probably don’t need to feed her when I do… she wakes and plays in her crib, but I hear her in the monitor and figure if I feed her she’ll go back to sleep and I can get more rest! This has worked well for now 
. Perhaps she does better at night because she is a terrible napper! Usually only 30 minutes at a pop. I just ran into my neighbor today who said her son has reflux and she let him “cry it out” for naps and now he naps well! UGH! I don’t know if I can do that… I just wouldn’t know for sure if Amelia was in pain or if she is just resisting… that may be a good subject for another post…
As for the vitamin D, I will bring it up at my next Ped appointment, but as Natalia said, I think Amelia is getting everything from my breast milk.
Alright on the vitamin D thing I have to agree with Natalia on this one it is a bunch of crap. They tried to push the vitamins on me with at my very first appointment with Evie. I don’t understand it because if I am getting enough vitamin D so should she.
As for the feeding thing well Iam not one for schedules. Both of my girls are comfort nursers and I let them eat whenever they want. Now I would NEVER wake them up to feed them. Like you said they hardly get enough sleep with the reflux anyway. As I remember my oldest Bella was eating fairly often and still waking at night to eat until she was weaned at a little over a year. With my newborn Evie she seems to think if she is awake needs to eat. And with her reflux that is alot! You just need to do what works for you and Amelia (I love her name). To me there is only so much a Dr. can tell you to do. But then I do alot of things they say not to like letting my girls sleep on their tummys and co-sleep!
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