Worried 4/5 month baby will wake sibling.

[Sonar]

I'm worried I'm getting 4.5 month old baby into bad sleep habits for fear of him waking up 4 year old ds.
Wakes up twice in night for feed which is fine but sometimes wakes for a extra one around 5am which I wouldn't normally give in to but if I don't then the crying wakes up his brother who is then grumpy for rest of the day as he's got up too early!!
Could probably drop a night feed too but again don't want to wake everyone up.
Any tips?

[hols88]

Hiya! :)

What you could do if you haven't already worked round it, is maybe do a dream feed? That way you don't have to wake them and then you can phase it out by given then a little less every week or so.

[Sonar]

Thanks Hols88, I've tried dream feeding but it seems to make him wake up more throughout night. Not tried it for a few weeks though so maybe time for another try.
I've tried putting him to bed a little later tonight & fed him more often today to see if that helps.
Thanks for response.

[ladypop]

Don't flame me for this suggestion, but do you use a dummy? I do with our 4 month old and when he wakes up, I pop it back in and it often means he goes back off for another hour or so. I think it's quite helpful in gauging if he is actually hungry or not. Just a thought! X

[Sonar]

Thanks Ladypop, yes he does have a dummy. It's been really useful. He's teething so keeps taking it out :(

[hols88]

ah thats a shame it doesn't work have you possibly considered maybe weaning bubs? not necessarily fully right now if you sont want to but maybe just start giving him something more sustainable before bed to see him through maybe? our little girl was weaned at 4 months cos she was a right old piggy and it really helped her sleep alot longer at night. she would wake between 6-7 for a feed bit that was better than any time before! I feel for you, really hope you can work something out x

[NellyTheElephant]

If I were you I would just not give in to it if you think he doesn't need it (you say you only do feed as you are worried about waking up his brother). If you don't do this feed, yes, it may wake up his brother a few times but he will soon be out of the habit of it, so a couple of days with a grumpy 4 yr old and that's that.

I had v similar concerns with both DD2 and DS - particularly with DS who was a worse sleeper than DD2. DDs were 2 and 4 at the time and both v grumpy if woken. I did a couple of nights cuddling (but not feeding) DS when I wanted to drop night feeds which involved quite a lot of crying (DS and me). Everyone (me, DDs, DH - although not DS!) grumpy the next day, but within a couple of nights it was over and he woke no more.....

[Sonar]

Thanks. Have considered weaning but don't think he's quite ready yet.
Started to leave him a bit more & he's been doing much better. Still waking up twice but settling far easier each time.
Thanks for advice will definitely be weaning soon & doing some breaking of feed habits too.