Growth Spurts
The first three months of my little girl’s life have been filled with trials and tribulations, starting from the minute she was born, and like every other mother out there I wouldn’t change a minute of it.
We have been through learning how to breastfeed (had a couple of cracked, bleeding nipples to show for that!), teaching her how to know day from night, getting into a routine of awake time, nap time, sleep time and of course eating….And just when you think you have it cracked it all changes with the onset of the 12 week growth spurt.
12 Weeks…..
Amelie hit her 12 week growth spurt like a text book baby before this point she had been eating every three hours, she started eating every two hours and sleeping like there was not enough hours in the day. The night time changed as well, and she started waking two or three times in the night rather than the once or twice she had reached. Where had my easy going baby gone?
Changes, oh so many!!!
Within a week of this rampant eat fest, she went the total reverse. Every three hours I would offer her the boob and she would arch her back and scream blue murder until I sat her up again. Now I had always worked on the principal that if my child wouldn’t eat, hard luck as I felt she wouldn’t starve (well that was until I gave birth!)
As most mothers can sympathise when your child won’t eat and they’ve been weighed and their not quite on track in the red book, you become paranoid about how much they are eating (although I have since learnt the red book is based on formula fed babies). Unfortunately breastfeeding you can’t tell how much they’ve eaten unlike bottle fed babies.
Wits End
When we reached the fourth day of back arching and fighting to get every oz into her I finally conceded and phoned my health visitor for advice. Luckily for me she put me in touch with a breastfeeding counsellor straight away who asked me to come in so she could see what I was doing.
So Close, but not quite right…
When I visited Ali (breastfeeding counsellor) she asked numerous questions to identify the problem. Initially I wondered whether my milk had dried up but she soon discarded this as a possible problem.
Eventually Ali asked to watch me feed Amelie, isn’t it always typical when you want them to show a behaviour they become Angel babies again. If like magic Amelie started feeding like she hadn’t been fed all day.
Amelie has always been a guzzler normally feeding between 5-7 minutes, so I wasn’t surprised within 5 minutes she had stopped guzzling and fallen asleep. I asked Ali whether I should take her off and she asked whether I normally do, which I did, as I assumed Amelie had finished.
Ali asked me to leave her on why we carried on chatting and within a minute I could see why, as Amelie started guzzling again. I was shocked but as Ali tried to explain we would never go to a restaurant andeat our starter, main, pudding, coffee and mints in one go so why do we expect our babies.
Problem No2
I wasn’t overjoyed to discover after three months of breastfeeding I had been doing it wrong and as usual guilt set in immediately, but I still didn’t feel we had identified the main problem. With further questioning we discovered that I was trying to feed Amelie too often, she had grown out of her three hourly eating routine and moved into a four hour routine.
Fresh determination
With fresh determination and a better understanding of my little girl I have carried on with a new four hourly routine which seems to have made her a lot happier. If I could only crack her waking up twice nightly I will be a lot happier but it has only been two weeks since her growth spurt so I’ve got time.
But I can guarantee just as I think I have this routine sorted things will change again…………..
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