Confused about nights with FF 3 month old

[Vespar7]

Hi,

DS is 13 weeks old, FF and a very big baby, 16lbs already. At the moment he goes to bed at 7 with a 6.5oz bottle. He wakes at about 1/2am for another bottle. Then depending on the night he will wake at 4/5 for another feed. DD stopped drinking milk during the night when she was 10 weeks on her own accord but maybe she was an exception.

Do you think he is waking too much for his age/size? When should be be able to go through the night without drinking? I have been told by my HV (I am abroad) to give water when he wakes at 3/4 in the morning for the second feed. He drinks 4 bottles during the day. When I tried to increase the amount he had in the day he still wanted just as much at night so I stopped that and now feed him on demand.

Am I expecting too much of him to go through the night with one or no feeds? Do you think he is drinking too much for his size? With DD it all seemed so much simpler. Thanks

[purplemurple1]

At 13 week's mine was having a dream feed at 12 and then his morning bottle at 5am so I don't think the amount is unusual but maybe look at changing the timings so they fit better with you getting some sleep.
Ds was a similar size to yours but drank more in the day, roughly a full bottle every 3 hours.

[hollie84]

DS2 is almost 8 months, 22lbs, has 4 bottles and 3 meals in the day and has just stopped needing milk in the night.

[RedRose27]

My DD is breast fed so maybe slightly different, but she is 16 weeks and also over 16 pounds. She has never slept through night. Similar to your DS's timings, she goes to bed around 6:30/7pm. Wakes anywhere from midnight to 3pm.

Is she wakes at 12 she often wakes again at 3 or 4 am.

DH and I have a 'rule' - if she wakes before midnight he tries to settle her, if she wakes after, I will feed her. I try my best to only feed her once in the night as I know she can go 8 or 9 hours without food.

Saying that, the last 2 nights she's been really unsettled so I have fed her twice. Last night at 10:30 (!) and 3.

I find it hard as the temptation is to just put her on the boob as it calms her down. But in the daytime, if she was crying I wouldn't do that f she wasn't due a feed.

So, are you sure he's hungry when he's waking? It could just be he's in the habit of getting fed.

I have read other threads on MN where people said they offered water in the night only, and after a few night their LOs realised it wasn't worth waking for. Or you could try reducing the time of the feeds by a few mins each night. Or trying to delay the 2am feed by longer each night.

My friend's DD has slept through the night since she was about 15 weeks (also BF) so I think they're just all different.

DH and I have resigned ourselves to having crying and sleepless nights while trying not to feed DD to sleep....

Good luck

[PotteringAlong]

I think any baby sleeping through the night at that age is unusual, not the other way around!

[hollie84]

RedRose - I found your post really sad! Why wouldn't you let your DD breastfeed if she's upset? Your baby is tiny still, you don't have to endure her crying and miserable just to avoid feeding to sleep.

[RedRose27]

Hollie don't be sad! My DD is an amazing happy little girl who giggles with me all day! :) I just try not to resort to sticking a boob in her mouth every time she cries. As I said, in the daytime I don't do that, so if I'm really honest, at night I do it because it's the easiest thing, not because it's necessarily the best thing.
I see one of my jobs as her mum as helping her to learn to go to sleep on her own. I genuinely believe when she wakes several times in the night it's not because she's hungry each of those times.

[Vespar7]

I guess I had unrealistic expectations because of DD. Do you have any tips on how I can move the 5am feed to 6 or ideally 7am? Do you think I should wake him at about 11/12 when I go to bed or should I wait until he wants to be fed? Thank you for your help!

[purplemurple1]

I'd try dream feeding at midnight (mine never got the hang of that but it is meant to be easier than waking to feed).

I don't think you will move the 5am much before he starts, unless you go for 2am and 7am. You could try him with an extra bottle just before bed to see if it stretches out his night feeds but we never had any luck with that.

Good luck

[purplemurple1]

• starts solids

[Suea76]

Hi my D'S is 12 weeks and is a really big boy he was 14.5lb at 10 weeks. We have just managed to get him to sleep till 6am he has a bottle at 7-730 then a dream feed at 1030-11 then he sleeps through till 6-630. The dream feed was the best thing we introduced I was worried at first and it took about 2 weeks but now he sleeps in his own bed like a dream. It's just me that is still awake nearly all night while D'S patienter and dog are all snoring away.
Good luck and I would recommend looking into dream feeding x

[MrsGiraffe12]

My DD is 8 weeks and has gained 4lbs 3oz since birth. She is mix fed (breast whenever she wants it but has a formula feed of 6oz 3-4 hourly in the day). Her design schedule is:

Breast whenever she wants it.
Bottle 4.30 am
Bottle 8.30 am
Bottle 12.30pm
Bottle 4.40pm
Bottle 9.00pm
Then I breastfeed to sleep around 10.30-11pm and she sleeps til 4.30am. She will breastfeed between the day time feeds too.

I think at our babies ages it's unrealistic to expect them to sleep through x

[bananapickle84]

I think all babies are different but you could try the dream feed.
Similar to you my DD slept well early, going 7-6:30 from 8 weeks.
My 6 week old DS is 14lbs and has 7oz bottles at 7am, 11am, 3pm, 630pm and 10pm and wakes at 3am at which point he takes about 3oz.
I too want him to stop the 3am, partly so I can sleep (!!) but also because this amount is over and above what he 'should' be having.
In answer to your question no your baby isn't doing anything that isn't unusual.

[purplemurple1]

Banana don't get to worried about the amounts of formula it says on the tin, mine ate double that amount for most of the first 6 months and I worried about it all the time, he was/isn't overweight, just had a lot of growing to do. (Oh and if they keep it up be prepared for what feels like constant feeding when they move to solids.)

Provided they are roughly on their groth line the amount of formula going into them doesn't seem to matter too much.