1. Elliott is 'snacking' instead of having full feeds which perhaps means that he's not getting really hungry at all (and thus not feeding well or for more than 5 minutes at a time on some days);
2. Because of the snacking Elliott may also be getting a lot of fore milk (which means he could be getting too much lactose) which may account for the increase in the number and amount of 'possits' he has lately;
3. Elliott's poor sleeping habits (day time, and recently at night) are likely due to him not feeding well and vise-versa.
4. She doesn't think he has reflux because he didn;t possit when lying on his tummy (apparently he would after 10 seconds if he had reflux).
So, we have been advised to persist with day time sleeping - trying to get Elliott to have more day naps and for longer (1 1/2 hours each, or 2 sleep cycles). This means initially trying to tolerate an amount of crying, but hopefully it will mean Elliott will learn how to settle himself eventually. On a practical note, this would be good because he's so heavy now that it's getting harder and harder to rock him to sleep!
Other comments the consultant made were:
- Elliott poos at least twice per day - this may indicate that Elliott is getting more than enough to eat (not unusual for a breastfed baby to poo once a week!)
- Elliott is a very alert baby and obviously loves watching the world ... she thought perhaps he'll walk early (not going to take this too seriously, though!)
- 6 or 7 feeds per 24 hours is usual at 12 weeks of age
- At this ateg, or a little later, breastfed babies often become fussy at the breast and get easily distracted when feeding
- Suggestion not to wrap Elliott to sleep in the day (or 1/2 wrap so that he can suck his thumb if he wants to).
- Instead of the earlier "feed, play, sleep" pattern advised for a newborn, a 12 week old now fits more the "feed, play, sleep, play" pattern, as he becomes more active.
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