How are your 16 week olds sleeping at night?

[LoveRainbow02]

My little boy is 16 weeks in 5 days. He goes down at night between 8 and 8.30 and this could be him until between midnight and 3am. Some nights he wakes much earlier for a feed, sometikes 2 night feeds then seems to be wakening every hour afterwards. Most parents I know who have babies at a similar age all day their baby is sleeping through. I know every baby is different though. Would be greatful if you could share your little ones sleeping patterns.

[emma3456]

Hi, I'm following as have a 17 week old who has a similar sleeping pattern! How are you finding your tiredness?

[Cornishmumofone]

At 16 weeks my DD was waking every 2 hours, which is what she did from birth until 19 months. In the last 3 weeks she has started sleeping though.

[emma3456]

Wow @Cornishmumofone you must feel like a new woman!

[LoveRainbow02]

I'm struggling with the tiredness if I'm honest. I feel as if I'm just falling back into a sleep and he's up crying again. This heat isn't helping either.
@cornishmumofone you must have been delighted when your little one started sleeping through! Every 2 hours must have been really exhausting.

[ChampooPapi]

My 17 week old is sleeping 8 until 5 am then straight back down until 8am.

My other daughter was the same, just feeding her as much as possible during the day as its growth spurt time (apparently to mumsnet!). No signs of any regression but will keep forcing the boob on her as I love my sleep more then anything

[ChampooPapi]

My babies do spend a lot of the day awake though!

[bakebakebake]

My baby is younger (nearly 11 weeks) and he sleeps 7:30/8:00 until 4.. then feeds to sleep again until 6:49 (specifically this time each morning)

My other two were sleeping through by this point.

Breastfeeding and cosleeping now so it's easy and not really any interruptions.

[emma3456]

I wonder if feeding more during the day does work. I'm going to try that. He loves his naps during the day, tends to have 3 (45 mins morning, 1.5 hrs lunch, 30 mins eve) wonder if I should stop him napping...

[BendingSpoons]

I really wouldn't stop naps. They say good daytime sleep can help good nighttime sleep. There are a lot of good sleepers on this thread! Yes some babies sleep through but lots don't at that age. Also the 4 month regression sometimes means the ones who slept all night start waking again.

[emma3456]

Thanks @BendingSpoons ... I don't think stopping naps will help. He's always been a bad sleeper tbh.. never had a full night, most I've had is around 4 hour stretches. Probably is 4 months sleep regression!

[emma3456]

@LoveRainbow02 what are your LO's naps like? Does he have a particularly set bedtime schedule?

[LoveRainbow02]

Every night the bedtime routine is bath, bottle and wind down time and sleeping for 8/8.30. He naps for about 30- 45 mins in the morning, about 2 hours in the afternoon and an hour early evening. It's just the constant wakening every hour after midnight I find hard. He sleeps good the first half of the night, just wish he could do that the 2nd half. I've tried feeding him more during the day but it doesn't work. He takes 5oz bottles every 3 hours sometimes 4 hours but it can be a struggle to even get him to drink his bottles.

[emma3456]

How was your night @LoveRainbow02 ?

[NoParticularPattern]

Ooh you guys also have babies who don’t understand that they’re supposed to go back to sleep for another 4 hours once they’ve had a feed again 😂😂. My DD is 19 weeks and she does exactly what you describe LoveRainbow. We do bath between 6-7pm ish and then she’s in bed and feeds to sleep. Sometimes asleep enough to live within half an hour, sometimes take an hour. Very rarely though is she not asleep before 8.30pm. She then usually sleeps until at least 11pm (which means I get chance to sort the house out very slightly!!) and then I feed her when she stirs. She then goes two hours (max!) and then it’s every 30-60 minutes that she wakes wanting a feed. With the weather being as warm as it is and the mornings so sunny she is also usually well awake by 6am (not really a problem as we usually get up before 7 anyway) but often these last few weeks she has been wide awake by 4.30am- despite a million blackout blinds and the fan being on all night!!

No advice sadly as I’m just rolling with it and trying to be thankful that I at least manage some sleep 😩. Doesn’t help how stabby I get when husband comes down (after I’ve been up since 4.30 because I just couldn’t stand the heat and the depressing nature of lying in bed with a baby who is fully awake!) and declared how tired he is. After I know he’s just had at least 3 hours solid sleep because I got out of bed 3 bloody hours ago and he was dead to the world.

[NoParticularPattern]

Asleep enough to move. And I proofread. Yay sleep deprivation!!

[LoveRainbow02]

@emma3456 - little one was down for 8.30. Back up at 12.15 for a feed and then started screaming when I tried getting him back to sleep. Eventually settled at 1.15. Back up just after 2am, dummy back in and another feed at 4.15. Wakened just after 5 for dummy then woke around 7ish for breakfast. He usually doesn't have a problem going straight back to sleep after a night feed but this last week has been hellish. I heard about a sleep regression at this stage so maybe it's this?

[LoveRainbow02]

@NoParticularPattern - you must be terribly exhausted! It's so hard with a broken sleep all the time. Just makes it harder to function. My partner finishes up in 4 days for a week's holiday and I cannot wait for some extra help!

[emma3456]

Aw I really totally get it. I am exhausted pretty much every day. Weekdays harder obviously without DH there. I really think the heat is affecting our babies and also this regression 😩

[LoveRainbow02]

Yeah this heat really isn't good at all. Got jags next week also which I'm dreading as he was so grumpy for days after his last set.

[emma3456]

Oh yeah, we have ours soon.. thinking about deferring them until it cools down. Let's hope for better sleep tonight! Has you DS ever slept well? Mine hasn't tbh

[LoveRainbow02]

Not really if I'm honest. I think I've had a few nights where I've had stretches of 4 hours sleep but none since. He used to be terrible and fight naps but recently has started getting better with those. Everyone kept telling me it will get better when he's 3 months, then better when he is 4 months. Wish those people would shut up lol!

[emma3456]

Wow it literally sounds like my little boy! It's so tiring isn't it. How do you get him to sleep in the evening? I've always fed to sleep

[NoParticularPattern]

I’m pretty knackered but usually can manage an hour asleep in the afternoon. Even if it means taking the baby back to bed so we can both sleep haha! My little girl has also improved with naps recently- getting her first tooth through seems to have helped with those a bit. Hoping the second one isn’t far behind and then maybe she will start sleeping a bit longer on a night. It’s just so hot that I think she struggles to really sleep well once she’s woken up, I’m very similar so it would make sense.

DH works 7am-10.30pm seven days a week (farmer) so I don’t get a huge amount of help in that regard. God I make it sound really awful- it’s honestly not and if it wasn’t for him being so busy I wouldn’t be living the life I do. But it’s so hard- especially because he hardly sees our daughter through the day other than when he nips in for lunch etc. I’d love to hand her over for a few hours in the day but a) she doesn’t take a bottle and b) I can’t sleep unless she’s asleep now. Which is annoying. I used to be a world champion sleeper and it’s all gone out of the sodding window. I was borderline asleep whilst in labour but now I can’t switch it off 😩

Anyway DD has been asleep for the last hour and a half and the house is tidy so I’m hoping for a couple of hours before she wakes!!

[LoveRainbow02]

@emma3456 - my ds has never fed to sleep, he just gets tired himself after his bottle and bath and then is rocked to sleep in my arms. Went down at 8.45 tonight and was up at half 11 for a feed. He doesn't like to be held now for feeds either which makes me quite sad.

@NoParticularPattern - goodness your husband works really long hours, no wonder you find it exhausting. What age was your lo when the first tooth came through? I think my ds could be teething as he is always chomping his hands and is dribbling a lot!

[LoveRainbow02]

Well has been another restless night for me. After the 11.30 feed last night he has been up every hour whinging. Gave him another bottle at 4.30 and there is no signs of him going back to sleep anytime soon. This mummy is tired! Surely he must be shattered too right lol.