Hi :) I have a 5 week old son who I think is going through his 'wonder week' he already seems a lot more alert, but I have noticed he is eating a lot more (which I know is normal too. He seems to love his food, he is eating every 3 hours during the day and having anywhere between 4-6oz. During the night he wakes every 4 hours & drinks a lot less... Do you think this could mean he is starting to wean himself of night feeds? He slept a lot more before this wonder week, was doing 6-8hr stretches (I've been lucky) so I wonder if it will go back to that after this development week is over.
What are your experiences with formula feeding and wonder weeks?
Update:My doctor just said I was lucky :) She was breastfed too. Although I did end up switching to formula at 2 months. The doctor never mentioned any negatives? What is negative about it?
Update 3:I'll also add that I demand feed my son too so I wait for him to tell me he is hungry :) If he wakes up though the night I will feed him (and he does, sometimes twice)
:) I wont stop the feeds, I will wait for him to do that
Update 5:Fantastic, I definitely thought that if they slept through they weren't hungry :) He always tells me when he is hungry & I have about 2 seconds to get his food or I hear about it, little funny man!
He was doing an 8 hour sleep last week but it stopped this week & noticed he was going through the wonder week (only learnt about them when my daughter was 3 months) so this time I am aware they are there. He is having 2 extra bottles a day, although not drinking much, but he definitely wants them.
Thank you
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My daughter has been sleeping through since about a month old. from about 10pm -5/6am. Even if i did wakke her up to have a bottle (formula fed) she would drink nothing. So paediatrician suggested to leave her. I was very lucky. She is still a great sleeper sleeps usually from about 830-9 until about 8am. She is ten months old.
A five week old does not NEED a night time feeding as long as your ensuring he drinks the reccomended (close to) amount of milk a day. My daughter slept from 11pm until 430am the very first night of her life in hospital. i had no idea if this was good or bad, and the midwive freaked out when i asked "should i wake her up" LOL. what can i say - she likes her sleep. She is so smart, and developing into a intelligent little baby. She has reached ALL her milestones so far and then some.
I would definately say he is leaning towards weaning himself of nigth feeds. i dont remember EXACTLY when elissa stopped having night feeds but it would have been between a month- 6weeks maximum. I knew nothing about wonder weeks then. only learned about them when she was about 6 months old and so far everything to date can match up with the guidelines of those wonderweeks. They are truely amazing and so predictable. i admit i was skeptical about them at first.
BTW - i too demand fed. I still do, although she is pretty routined now.
*ah yes, the extra bottles but more wastage of formula LOL. When she goes through a wonder week stage now, she does the same thing. I usually just make her bottles 3scoops of powder instead of four (the scoop sizes may be different to wher you live) Sometimes i even do 2 scoops instead of 4 and she would be lucky to drink one whole scoop.
So i suggest trying that. I mean, if he finished it you only make up one more bottle instead of wasting so much!!
And i know what you mean, if they get any where close to their hungry threshold - you hear about it!! lol one minute i hhave a giggling baby, next minute she is crying so much i basically have to run to get her a bottle lol (possible slight exxagerration :P
He's a bit too young to have his night feeds stopped. It's reccomended that they get weaned off at around 6 months as they're intake of food should be through the day. My son is 7 months and still has a 2am feed and you'll find that he's maybe just going through a growth spurt. Like you said he's eating more which means he still needs his night feed. I've found that my son did the same and I was so happy because he'd go to sleep at 6pm and wake at 4:30am for a feed then go back to sleep, but they're sleeping pattern changes ALL the time! Just when you htink you've got it down pat..they go and change it on you lol
Your prob best to talk to your dr though and go through all the pro's and cons of stopping night feeds early, I don't think there are any pro's though unfortunatly :(
Good Luck though and I hope it works out for you :)
If he NEEDS his nighttime feeding, he WILL wake up!
My daughter started sleeping through the night at about 2-3 months also (doctor said it was fine!). But at arund 5 months she started to wake up again around 3am so I continued feeding her through the night when she woke up. She is now 7 months old and just started to sleep through the night again for the most part.
I think your son is getting a good amount of food during the day. And again, if he'd need more at night, he'd wake up and wanted to be fed!!! :)