I doubt there's any useful answer to this question, but can anyone come up with a good reason why DS has abandoned sleep?

[Hopefully]

DS is 15 weeks, so very young in the grand scheme of things, but he has been sleeping 5-7 hours at night since about 9 weeks, and slept through for 8-9 hours half a dozen times at 12 weeks.

We went to my mother's for xmas, and her house gets absolutely freezing in the small hours, which I think was the reason DS started waking at 3am - he would take a feed and a cuddle, but settle easily again.

However, since we've been home (a week now) he's been waking even earlier - usually around 2:30, then again at 5-5:30 and then getting up ready to start the day at 6:30-7am (that's if he didn't decide he was raring to go at 5:30). He'll happily take a full feed at 2:30, a less enthusiastic one at 5:30 and then a teensy one at 7:00.

I struggle to believe it's growth spurt, as he's completely lost interest in 7:00am feed and isn't demanding any more feeds during the day.

So what would you do? I have never attempted to settle him in the night without a feed (although DP does a bottle feed for his first night wakening to give me a break), always assuming he's hungry, but I'm not so sure this time.

My other thought is it could be teething - he's been dribbling for weeks, but quite happy, and the past couple of days he's been fairly grizzly during the day as well. Would you stick some teething stuff on just in case?

I'm tempted to suffer the screeching and keep trying to settle him until he gets to at least 3am, then give him a bottle, so at least there's some chance he'll get through to 6:30 and I can face starting the day.

I'm not too stressed about a couple of days of suffering if it will improve things for us and him (poor chap is exhausted), but wonder what others would do?

[Hopefully]

Oh god, that's so rambly. Sorry! sleep deprived brain.

[Hopefully]

Of course, offering another feed during the day (ok, he's not feeding, he's chilling at the breast, but that's fine) does have the advantage of stopping the constant grumbling!

Oh god, the sleep deprivation has led me to talk to myself...

[chequersandroastedchestnuts]

My DD started doing this around 16 weeks. I believe it's the dreaded 4 months growth spurt. She's still going strong with it at 20 weeks

[VeryHungryKatypillar]

Definitely could be the growth spurt thing.. but if he's off his 7.00am feed, perhaps not. Do you think he might have become used to waking up and having a nice feed and cuddle in the night? I can remember our DD going through something similar and I was always keen to feed her, not wanting to deprive her of milk, but looking back I think I was a bit too keen to feed her back to sleep to get myself some more shut eye. And there's nothing wrong with that if you're happy with it...

But if you're not, how about:

After the first feed at night, which your DS takes enthusiastically, the next time he wakes, could you/your DH try to settle him without feeding? Perhaps rocking him to sleep or shush/pat or something?

Oh, and does he have a 'dream feed'? DD never took to it, but some people swear by it.

Just some thoughts. Hope they help!

[Hopefully]

Well, DS has been fine all day, feeding perhaps a teensy bit more than normal (although am offering him every time he grizzles in the hope of meeting any supply issues as soon as possible).

DP and I have decided that we will let him do as he chooses tonight, and give him a feed and possibly some teething powder whenever he wakes. If he still isn't interested in his morning feed, I think we'll decide that he's not waking purely out of hunger, and have a really good go at resettling him without a feed if he wakes before 3am, or after he takes his 3am feed, depending on when he wakes.

He has a 'dream' feed, although it's not very dreamy - he comes entirely awake almost instantly, but does take a full feed quite happily and settled relatively quickly afterwards.

Thanks for the ideas, will report back on tonight's hell in the morning!

[MrsMagWeary]

my DS did this sort of thing too. Slept through, even without a dream feed at about 4 months and then started teething at about 4.5 months. We had about 6 weeks of colds, teething, growth spurts who knows. I just fed him back to sleep in order to get us all back to bed as quickly as possible. Sorry, not much help but maybe it helps to know it's not unusual. Mind you, DS is 14 months now and still not sleeping through reliably so probably best not to do anything I did.

[Hopefully]

Well..... I stuffed a couple of extra feeds into him yesterdat, and gave him teething powder after his 11pm feed. he woke at 3:45, had a bottle and another sachet of powder, and went down v quickly and slept till 7:15!

he's currently taking a good feed, but is really fidgety and moany - normally latches on and just goes for it without a murmur for 45 mins. could fidgety feeding indicate teething pain? he has no redness on his gums that i can see, but slightly pink cheeks.

going to keep stuffing the feeds in today as well, just in case that helped. There really is no rhyme or reason to parenting!

[snowjoke]

My DD now 22 weeks, did exactly the same, was up what felt like all night long for a few weeks, would not settle back down in cot, and ended up sleeping on me all night. Still not back on track with sleeping, but settling more easily afer night feeds. We still can't define what it was that started it, but thought it could have been teeth, but just as likely t be develepmental, so much exciting stuff going on in their little minds, it is just too hard to sleep. I know how tough it feels, so thoughts are with you.