Breastfeeding & Napping Issues

First the cat nap thing. Don't let her fall asleep. Tickle her toes, use a cool wash clothe or undress her. If you keep her awake and only allow her to sleep at designated times it could stop the little short naps and add them up to a morning and afternoon one.
Second, with your breast milk. Have you tried mixing the formula and your breastmilk together. Make a 50/50 bottle. Or even 80/20 to start, gradually increase the amount of breastmilk until it's mostly breast milk. When I went back to work I couldn't pump enough milk to fill my son's bottles so we mixed them.

hello A.,

i'm not sure about the breastfeeding issue, since i exclusively breastfed my baby, no bottles. However the napping was exactly the same when she was that young , i guess until 7-8 months when she started taking 2 naps per day that lasted at least 1-2 hours. some of my friends' and family's kids also had same sleep patterns at 4 months. so Elisabeth should grow out of the infant sleeping phase soon. babies go throw a lot of different changes, so sometimes eating and sleeping can be affected by their growth, activity level, tething and many other changes- so unless she's very upset, crying and cranky during the day, you should not worry about her eating & sleeping changes too much, she's doing exactly what she needs, and if she's crying - then she's telling you something is wrong. good luck and be patient, they grow out of all their phases so fast.

My daughter is 4 months old, also breastfed, and also named Elizabeth. What a coincidence.

I believe its just a phase. Have you started her on baby food yet? She is not outgrowing breastfeeding! Breastmilk is bestmilk. Just keep offering as much and as often as you can. Don't give up.

As far as naps, my Lizzie does the cat nap thing too. It's hard cause I think "Yes a nap! I can take one too." Then by the time I doze off, she's up again. My son was like that too, but after he was about 10 mos. he started taking like two 1-hour naps a day. Then a few months later it was one 3 hour nap midday. That was niiiiiiiice. Now he doesn't nap at all. He's almost 7.

Good luck.

Hi A.,
Formula is sweeter than breast milk, Some babies refuse breastmilk after they get the tast of Formula, You breastfed for almost 4 months that is great, She probably is ready to just go to formula.
As for the naps, my youngest was a catnaper, I put rice cereal in her bottle and that seemed to help her take longer naps, her belly stayed full longer,
Keep her busy, that will tire her out, ROUTINE is the best for any child. Try to set a routine with her, she is young she will adapt to anything.
Eventually my youngest started taken 3 hour naps, I kept her busy while she was awake and we had a good routine.
Good luck and God Bless.

A.,

My son cat-napped 30 minutes exactly, 5 times a day, until he was 9 months old. They he consolidated into two naps, 1 hr morning, 1 1/2 hr afternoon. Some kids are just like that. She'll grow into longer naps. I know it's frustrating, but she'll get there.

You don't say how long your daughter has been nursing only ywice a day. Some babies have "nursing strikes" here and there, and they last a few days to a week. Just keep offering, and if she says no, then okay. Is she maybe used to the bottle during the day while your friend is watching her? It may just be a matter of routine for her if that's the case. You can try mixing the formula and pumped milk in the bottle, leaning more and more on your milk as time goes, to ease her into it, if that's what you want her to do.

Jess

I think babies just love breastfeeding because it meets so many of their needs at once! Snuggling with mom (and hearing your voice, and smelling you, and feeling your touch) while eating has got to be fabulous. No wonder she prefers breastfeeding!

Babies do have nursing "strikes" from time to time, but these temporary periods do not mean they are necessarily ready to wean. If you can manage it, it's best to breastfeed for at LEAST a year. I found that I got way more sleep because I breastfed, believe it or not! As my babies got a little older, it was great to still have nursing to soothe all kinds of upsets.

Good luck to you!

hi A., im not sure what to say about the napping, ive always just let them call the shots when it comes to sleeping at such an early age. remember that they go through growth spurts pretty regularly, and when they do, they will sleep a lot and eat very little, then the reverse. just watch her wet diapers to make sure she is not dehydrated. as for the nursing, if you want to keep nursing, i strongly suggest that you do just that, keep nursing. the more bottles she takes, the less milk you will produce. if you are only nursing her twice a day, you are only going to produce milk at those times. it takes a while for this to happen, its not too late if you want to boost your supply back up, email me if you want to know how to do this, its not a big deal.
although there may be a couple of new ones out there?, as a rule formula is NOT sweeter than breast milk. taste them, you will see for yourself. just smell them, that should give you an idea of what the formula tastes like. the reason that a lot of babies will prefer the bottle over the breast is that it is less work for them to drink from a bottle, they can get full more quickly. they cannot build up the "suck" strength they need to get full as quickly as they want to from the breast if they do not breastfeed enough to do it. especially now that she is bigger and more active, she needs more, so if she cannot get it at the breast she will want it from the bottle. if you keep breastfeeding, she will become a better, stronger, more efficient nurser very quickly. by the time my kids were a year or so, they would empty a breast in under 10 minutes, they get very good at it.
if you cannot, or do not want to, or she does not want to continue breastfeeding, then go with the formula, and you can continue nursing just twice a day if thats what works for you both. that was how my son weaned, he really just wanted the comfort of nursing when he woke up and went to sleep, he did this for about 3 or 4 months before we weaned at 18 mos.
and as for wanting only formula and not breastmilk from the bottle, remember that they do go through phases like the other mama said, this certainly wont be the last... also, just make sure that you are storing the breastmilk properly, it could be spoiled and you dont know it, that would certainly explain her not wanting it. taste or smell it, there will be no question in your mind if it its spoiled. i had a freezer full spoil on me, i dont know how it happened, maybe the freezer door didnt close all the way at one point and they defrosted and refroze? i dont know, but my daughter kept throwing the bottles on the floor, when i finally tasted a bit and almost puked, it was horrible,had to trash it all... that hurt!
.....i am a big advocate of breastfeeding, i think it is best, but i also feel even more strongly that it is MORE important that you both be happy and comfortable when feeding, and if giving formula some, most, or all of the time is the way to do that, then thats how it should be. people stop or reduce nursing for many different reasons, different things work for every family and situation, the most important thing is that you are all happy and stress free about feeding. if you continue to give her some breastmilk, thats wonderful. regardless, you have given her an excellent start, you should be proud of yourself. best of luck, D.

I encourage you to offer the breast frequently. babies like to take the easy way out by bottle feeding but BF is so much better for her. Try nursing when she just a little hunger and perhaps more patient. Also try lying skin to skin more often. The napping probably will resolve on it's own.
good luck.
Susie, IBCLC from upstate NY

I dont know about the bottle issue you are having but as far as the cat nap issues my daught went through the same thing and just recently started taking longer naps, but some days she will still take cat naps.. she will eventually fall into her own routine of when she wants to eat and sleep probly in a few weeks is when she may.. my daughter will be 6 months next week and just started taking longer naps about 3 weeks ago.. hope I have helped alittle sorry I could not help you out more.. She may like the way the breast milk tastes against a plastic nipple whereas the formula doesnt bother her and she may be filling up on the formul because she may have more of a supply,, you can check with a lactation consultant perhaps your milk supple is low and they can have you do or eat things that could increase it.
good luck..

Kids have a funny way of eating exactly what they need - IF SHE IS WETTING HER DIAPERS THEN YOU HAVE NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT - if she is not, then you may want to call the dr, she could become dehydrated.

If you usually nurse her, she may be telling you she prefers breast milk fresh from the breast! LOL

she could be going thru a phase, check on the weekends and try to give her the bottle with breast milk, then try with the breast. If she takes the breast, then perhaps she associates the bottle with formula.

By the way - If you want to continue to nurse her - it is best to keep hte nipple on the bottle with the single hole, so that she doesnt dump hte breast entirely if you are still breast feeding. keeping the strong sucking on the bottle will encourage her to stay on the breast, instead of dumping the breast all together for the easier bottle.

Do not be discouraged. Altought my daughter was pretty good with nursing and then the bottle when I weaned her. When she started regular food seh barely ate at each meal - If I let her, she would go the shole day on one meal!
My daughter is 3 now, and one day - she just started asking for her meals, snacks, even steamed veggies!!!

As for naps, I dont know what the baby does during the day, but maybe she needs more stimulation, play time to keep her up longer - and to get her tired and sleepy enough to sleep longer - when she is sleeping you could play a classical music cd or maybe put on static from a radio (white noise) to drown out other sounds. And possibly keep her sleeping longer.

but eiter way dont fret, everything is always a phase - although it seems it will never end - it almost always does .

Your daughter is 4 months, and I found that every 3 months (by the fourth month) I could visibly see the difference in my baby's behavior.

The first couple of months can be challenging.

I would have to say that she's going through a phase... I have a nine month old daughter who went through the same thing. I stopped offering her formula -- only breastmilk and, after about 2 days she was back to breastmilk. Also, pumping more helped increase my milk supply.

As far as the naps go -- my daughter took many short naps until 8 1/2 months when she decided that three 1 hour naps a day work for her. The best advice I ever recieved was from a work associate of mine. She told me that once you think you can't take something your baby is doing much longer, they change! Don't worry about the naps! It will all fall into place as she continues to grow. Good luck!