Gina Ford: 4 months sleep regression or growth spurt?

roses

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

Anyhow, OP, if the baby won't settle unless they have a feed, they're hungry. If they are so beside themselves that they can't latch on, perhaps it's because they've been left to cry for a little bit too long first.!

It's usually 5-10 minutes into the feed that he starts to cry. It happens maybe once or twice a day.

When I was at the hospital, the nurses told me to set my alarm clock every 3 hours as he doesn't know he is supposed to wake himself up to feed. Since then, he has more or less stuck to that and seems hungry every 3-4 hours which nicely fits into the Gina Ford routine.

Like someone else said, what works for some people doesn't work for others and I like her book. I don't stick to it rigidly but it helped me a lot

pigpen

roses wrote: »

Well to be honest, the routine is pretty much stuffed today . He woke up at 8am, slept 9-10.30am, 11.30-12.30pm and is now asleep again 1.30pm-3.30pm (I'm currently in Cyprus which is 2 hours ahead).

So I'll be feeding him on demand today. Poor little tyke must be exhausted.

Aside from the time difference it is heat he is probably not used to and will want short thirst quenching drinks of the less calorific milk at the start of a feed.. You need to be drinking more and eating more to produce the milk he is obviously needing... even it is a 2 minute top up to quench his thirst. Water is not what babies drink.. it is harder to digest than breastmilk and uses calories to absorb, he needs these short feeds to keep him hydrated.

ANY suckling stimulates milk supply.

What he is doing is responding to his bodies needs it is perfectly normal.

I'm with koala.. I think what that woman says (not valk lol) are potentially dangerous and her ideas aren't even really hers they were based on the advice of a New Zealand man (Frederick Truby King) back in the mid 1920's.. who advised no more than 10 minutes of cuddling, leaving the baby in the garden to make them tough and feeding them only after 4 hours. Totally outdated advice not in line with any modern childcare practice.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

roses wrote: »

It's usually 5-10 minutes into the feed that he starts to cry. It happens maybe once or twice a day.

When I was at the hospital, the nurses told me to set my alarm clock every 3 hours as he doesn't know he is supposed to wake himself up to feed. Since then, he has more or less stuck to that and seems hungry every 3-4 hours which nicely fits into the Gina Ford routine.

Like someone else said, what works for some people doesn't work for others and I like her book. I don't stick to it rigidly but it helped me a lot

DD1 would do that just as her digestive system started moving solids out. Or if I was a little stressed and the hindmilk was taking a while to let down, which was more common with DD2, as her feed needed to be completed in time to go and collect DD1 from school. If they started to fuss, I'd sit them on my lap and gently wind them by rubbing their back/checking how rounded their tummies were. Usually, that got wind out that just wouldn't come with the puke-down-my-back-just-as-I'm-going-out position. Then back to the same breast for hindmilk, and if that still got fussing, changing sides.





I'm not one for full on attachment parenting either; but I do know that not all babies are born equal, so it's great if both child and mum fit into a predetermined method - but horrendously, heart destroyingly awful when one or both don't. Or, as babies tend to do, fit the method for a short period, then completely change seemingly without warning


Think of it as practice for when he gets older; he'll be changing the rules at some point, just by being himself.

koalamummy

valk_scot wrote: »

I hope you mean Ms Ford, not me, lol! I may be crazy but I'm not dangerous!

I am so sorry I absolutely meant the Ford woman. She makes my blood boil with her stupidity that she endlessly peddles to trusting inexperienced parents.

valk_scot

koalamummy wrote: »

I am so sorry I absolutely meant the Ford woman. She makes my blood boil with her stupidity that she endlessly peddles to trusting inexperienced parents.

Joking, joking...just couldn't resist, lol...!

pennypusher

What age do parents start solid food for their babies now? I can't remember but i think at that age I was probably feeding my babies with baby rice. Perhaps your baby is ready for solids? Perhaps you could discuss this with your doctor/health visitor?

BitterAndTwisted

I'm not a mother and never shall be but this: "revert to Gina's method of leaving him to cry until 4am then feed him?" really distresses me. Why would anyone think that leaving a tiny four month old baby to cry alone in the middle of the night could be a good thing? That sounds like a torture-method rather than parenting to me. It would probably take a heart of stone to try and ignore the crying anyway.

That woman sounds mad.

valk_scot

Are you on holiday? Then I'd just give up the routine thing right now, there's very few babies or small children that will keep to their normal routine while in a strange place, especially if it's hot. You won't be doing your normal routine either on holiday either, though I'm confused about the necessity for housework?

Anyway, if he's hot he'll want to drink more but not the full feed. Do you know about fore and hind milk? The fore milk is the watery, thirst quenching milk you make at the start of a feed and then ten minutes or so into the feed you switch to making the higher fat hind milk. That's one reason that the "Ten minutes at each breast" dogma was dropped a long while ago, normally the advice is to let them feed at the first breast as long as they want, then offer the second. Then start at that breast on the next feed, so you don't get lop sided!

Given your description of him crying after 5-10 minutes on the breast it might be that as he's hot he doesn't want the hind milk at certain points in the day, he wants more of the watery foremilk. Drink, not food! Of course that would mean he's needing more calories eventually, hence the extra night feeds when he's cooler.

Gillyx

4 month sleep regression/growth spurt is massive. Il bet your LO is learning all sorts of new things at the moment. I would say sleep regressions tend to hit babies who sleep well a lot worse than the ones who never slept well to begin with. Ride it out, feed feed feed and hopefully you'll come out the other end soon x

msb5262

pennypusher wrote: »

What age do parents start solid food for their babies now? I can't remember but i think at that age I was probably feeding my babies with baby rice. Perhaps your baby is ready for solids? Perhaps you could discuss this with your doctor/health visitor?

World Health Organisation recommends solid food should be started after 6 months of age. Occasionally HVs/GPs/midwives will suggest starting sooner but this is usually based on their personal experience rather than research!