why does my 11 week old think its time to get up at 3am

[ellliebelle]

DD2 will be 11 weeks tomorrow, from about 5 weeks we have ha d a good bedtime routine and she has been upstairs in her moses basket between 7.30 and 8.30 and has slept until between 1.30 and 2.30. She would then sleep till 4.30 and then want feeding every hour until 6.30, when she then wants to get up. This wasn't ideal but i could cope with it.

The last three nights bed time has been the same but she has woken up for her 1st feed at 11.30 then 1.30 and every hour until 3.30 which she seems to now have decided is time to get up and play.

Im not really sure why she has suddenly changed her sleeping pattern or what i can do to encourage her that 3 am is not morning.

[phdlife]

Some of them are Just Like That, elliebelle. dd did something similar (she's 7 months now and the details have gone all fuzzy) - she just wanted to play at 3am. I would send dh to sleep on the sofa and just keep dd on the bed with me in the dark. I'd doze and eventually (usually an hour) she'd get the message.

Then, of course, teething came along and messed it all up again. And it's light here at 4:30am!

[castille]

I say this a lot, but if you want a decent night's sleep with a little baby, you should put them to bed when you go to bed.

Change her routine so that you are keeping her in the room with you (napping in pram or playing or whatever) until after their late feed at 10 or 11pm.

Then even if they wake for a feed at 2 or 3am, you and your baby are getting your main block of sleep at the same time.

Bring bedtime forwards as they get older and don't need a late feed.

[againandagain]

Also I have found that if I feed my DD as much as possible during the day she sleeps for a much longer block of sleep. She is 14 weeks now and I feed her every three hours during the day and she will normally sleep between 10 and 12 hours. Also when she wakes keep lights low and keep everything quiet with little interaction, this may help her realise that nights are for sleeping!!
Good luck