Night time feeding

[RC1985]

Hi All

Looking for some advice please. My LO is 3 months and for the past 3-4 weeks has generally been doing 4/5 hour stretches at night except for the first part and no matter what I do, she always wakes 2 hours after bedtime wanting more food. This is what I’ve tried to get her to do four hours initially:
Big feed 45 mins before bedtime (used to split feed)
Mini feed after waking from last nap as used to give more then she wouldn’t drink a big feed later
Moving the time of bed time by an hour either side. Normally goes down at 8.
Giving her a tummy massage as thought it might be wind pain but since using colief all wind pain symptoms have gone.
Tried ignoring it which does sometimes work but then she tends to wake again an hour later which tells me she is hungry or she just gets more upset and won’t settle.

Tomorrow I’m going to try and up the bed time feed but I don’t think she’ll finish it. She is formula fed and normally drinks 4-5 oz throughout day and 6 for bedtime. I’m going to try and up the big feed to 8oz as when she wakes 2 hours later she only wants 2-3 oz. She won’t drink more than 4-5 throughout day at the moment so can’t yo that as have tried.

Anyone else experienced this? Do I just keep feeding 2 hours later and eventually she’ll grow out of it?

On top of this I’m also getting down because I have so many people telling me she should only be waking once at 3 months. That makes me feel like a rubbish mum and like I’m failing her. I have to keep telling myself every baby is different and she will do this in her own time.

[RC1985]

Oh and I should add she goes 4 hours throughout the day before next feed.

[flissity]

I’ve got no actual advise about the feeding - I am sitting in bed feeding my 8 day old baby! So thought I’d reply for some solidarity ...

I honestly can’t remmwbe what babies do at 3 months. I have 2 older daughters as well as the new addition.

But don’t listen to anyone saying your baby should be doing certain things by certain ages. They all develop differently especially night times and how often they wake! You are doing everything right. It must be nice getting to a point where they will go 4/5 hrs between feeds!

Hopefully someone will give you some advise on the 2 hours thing 🤞🏼

[Letsallscreamatthesistene]

people telling me she should only be waking once at 3 months

This is rubbish. My 3 month old wakes twice. Once at midnight and then once again at 4am.


We do exactly the same as you for feeding. He wont take more than 4/5oz in the day, but will feed a lot during the night. We'll very often put him down and he'll want feeding 10mins later but only take very little. Its annoying but I just assume he'll drop it when he's ready!

[Willow4987]

My 4 month old technically still has 2 night feeds...it’s just that I’m already awake for the first at about 10pm...

So what she’s doing seems about right

Our routine is currently bed at 7pm, feed between 10-11pm and then another around roughly 3-4am but can be an hour either side of this...

[bananallamas]

My 17 month old still regularly wakes up 3-4 times a night. I know you're bottle feeding which often lends itself to being quite routine based but seriously, tiny babies are not meant to sleep for long stretches of time. They're just not designed for it, for so many reasons.

She might be hungry but she might also be waking up for other reasons. She's still so small, she's only just learning the difference between night and day.

I stressed quite a lot about sleep in the first year and it got better when I just massively lowered my expectations.

[ScarfLadysBag]

Sounds entirely normal.

[Badabingbadabum]

I can't advise on the formula but I had two breastfed babies, one woke up every hour or so and then could stay awake for hours. The other slept all night some nights from a few days old or woke up once. You are right that all babies are different, they are little people! So many things can affect how they sleep and if you are feeding when she is hungry and she has a cosy place she is happy to sleep in then you are giving her everything she needs for a good sleep.

[LetItGoHome]

Oh dear. I don't think your baby has read the same baby book you or your family have read 😉 Honestly, put all expectations aside and go with the flow. Your baby sounds very normal to me and you sound like you are doing a fantastic job. She might be waking as she needs a little cuddle and a bit of something to eat for comfort before going back to sleep. But whatever the reason, the fact that you can settle her back means you are doing the right thing for her.
It doesn't really matter at all what other 3 month olds are doing. Good for them if they are sleeping 12 hours straight then getting up for a full English breakfast 😁

[Lockdownseperation]

Your baby sounds normal. Remember a baby should never drain a bottle if they do then you need to offer them some more milk.

[RC1985]

Thanks everyone. It makes me feel better, I’m not alone on this. This is my first so have no idea what I’m doing and when people tell you things like she should be only waking once, it doesn’t make you feel great. Xx

[OnSilverStars]

My son woke 4-6 times a night until he was 8 months old! Enjoy the long stretch you're getting!!!

[Spam88]

Pretty sure 3 month old babies that only wake once a night are imaginary.

If you're getting four hour stretches the rest of the night then that sounds pretty bloody good to me. I'd kill for my 6 month old to go 2 hours between night feeds 😂

Also, being pragmatic, their sleep changes all the time, particularly around 4 months, so seriously just go with the flow. Don't stress yourself out trying to establish the perfect routine when it's all going to change in a couple of weeks anyway.

[Merrz]

My 16 month old dd still wakes at least twice through the night for feeds. Your baby is still so young, i wouldn't be worried