3 month old bad sleeping habits?

[SchofeTee]

I have a nearly 3mo (11 weeks) and every night at bed he goes to sleep like a dream. He knows the routine of bath time, then into his gro bag and feed. But he always feeds to sleep and that’s how I put him down.
He used to sleep for like 5/6 hour stretches but in the last couple weeks I am getting 3 hours then back down for 2 hours then back down for 1 hour.

Is this a sleep regression or have I instilled bad sleep habits because he falls asleep on the boob? I am going to try and stop feeding him to sleep as of tonight, I’ll walk him round instead. But just wondered if any other BF babies are doing the same thing?

He also really fights sleep in the day time. If I get a good nap in in the morning then he will really fight a nap in the afternoon. No idea what is wrong with my child haha

My DS is FF.
But he falls asleep on a bottle even for his nap. For us it isn't a problem as that's what he likes to do and gets comfort from it.
He has always been a good sleeper but did go through a bit of a regression. Could be anything, could be teething etc but agree it's too young to have a routine as they change all the time.

however an app called wonder weeks has been highly recommended to me by quite a few people now. It’s supposed to help explain the baby’s cognitive development day by day and ‘fussy phases’. Haven’t downloaded it yet as it costs £4 but I’ll definitely be giving it a try! X

Don't waste your money. The idea that all babies develop the same way week by week is absolute nonsense. WW "works" by giving parents some false reassurance that of tueirnbaby is drizzly and they check the app it says it's a stormy week. But if the baby hasn't been grizzly they don't correlate it to the app. It's just confirmation bias.

I’d say a sleep regression! I wouldn’t worry too much about bad habits while he’s a baby, my eldest needed cuddling to sleep for most of the time she was a baby and people kept telling me I was making a rod for my own back... she’s 20m now and doesn’t need cuddling at all! I just gave her the comfort she needed when she needed it and now she’s happy in the knowledge that if she needs anything in the night I’ll be there, but that it’s totally fine to go to sleep!

We’ve had a bedtime routine for both my DCs since they were four months old though, they have a bath and then go to bed, I give my youngest a bottle and my eldest just gets straight into bed. It’s usually started at 7pm but I adjust that if needed, I’ve found that as long as I follow the routine they’re happy, when they’re still babies I don’t usually try and set a bedtime and just follow their pattern and just add a bath in when they’re ready to go to sleep

But sleep regression happen annoyingly often so I’ve got my fingers crossed for you that this isn’t a long one, they so exhausting!

I think your baby lulled you into a false sense of 'I've got this parenting lark' by sleeping for 5-6 hour stretches in the first place.

Very usual for babies to not sleep for 5-6 hours until they are many many months old; your current waking pattern is very like how both mine were right from the start.

Maybe sleep regression, maybe growth spurts, who knows. If baby is feeding well, gaining weight, plenty of wet/dirty nappies and generally well, I'd say you're just going to have to get used to this current pattern for a while. It won't always be like this, I promise! My teenagers are currently sleeping 12 hours in one go....

Thank you everyone. This is very reassuring. I am a first time single mum so doubting myself all the way. Have also been told it's normal to go a week without a poo, which mine has. His last big poo was a week ago today but his belly is still soft and he's wetting plenty. Just constantly doubting myself but will ride the storm as you hAve all suggested. Thank you so much! Xx

It sounds like youre doing a great job OP, I remember the feelings of self doubt very well though! Did you say you were BFing? There is very little waste and it isn't uncommon for them to go a while without a poo, you will be able to tell if they are in discomfort with it though. As long as plenty of wet nappies then sounds all good.

@Sandybval I am BF yeah, exclusively. I am not worrying yet it's just strange as he was pooing every day once or twice and now nothing for a week. Just gotta assume my milk is tip top now

Yep, it's quite evident if it's causing them any issues, if content then sounds like no problem. As someone said up thread just as you feel like you have the lay of the land, they change things up haha. As the weather has been warmer as well your milk will have adapted which can cause changes as well!

I've just been looking for a thread about 3 month olds and sleep, sorry to jump on your Op.

My DS is 3 months (obviously) and sleeps like a dream at night, down at 9 ish one wake up/feed then through til 7 ish. He has a half hour nap around 9 then will do between 3 and 3 and a half hours at about 12/one o'clock but then won't sleep until bedtime. He's happy enough until about half 7 when he cluster feeds but wondering if anyone else's only really have one big nap at this age? Seems very young to me...

@BarbiesWorld to be fair some days my little'un only has one big nap and then lots of micro naps. Every baby is different I guess?

My baby used to wake 2 or 3 times a night at that age, it's definitely normal, I used to feed her to sleep or use a dummy. At 5 months she suddenly started sleeping all night every night and refused her dummy. She also stopped feeding to sleep apart from very occasionally. I just put her in her cot and off she goes. I think I have an easy baby!

I have 3 tips

1. Never leave her to cry
2. Keep her in the bedroom, the room dark, no talking or eye contact between bedtime and 7am (or whatever time you choose) if she woke she got milk and shushing back to sleep. At 3 months it may be better to go for a later bedtime eg 9pm to allow for cluster feeding but in our case the baby got herself into a 7pm bedtime routine at 4 months ish
3. For daytime naps, stick to the wake times for the age. For 3 months this is 1.5 to 2 hours, then they need another nap. Length of nap doesn't matter. Enough sleep in the day helps them sleep well at night.

Last 2 nights he has slept 6 hours straight. What are the odds. Not going to get used to it but makes me feel better that its not my fault

Mine fed to sleep until they were 1ish. You can "train" him not to but for me it was more effort than it was worth and they just gradually stopped and had their milk with stories. It does put the onus on you for bedtime though.

If you want to do it without just leaving him to cry the advice I got was to stop him feeding before he actually fell asleep and put him down. If he cries pick him up and feed some more but again stop just as he drifts off and make sure he is awake as you put him down. Keep repeating as infinitum.i tried this but it was hard work and I gave up.

@BarbiesWorld My DD at that age had 1 hr in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. Something like
6am wake
9am sleep
10am wake

1pm sleep
3 pm wake

6.30pm sleep.