21 week old started night waking again

[clariel]

Hi all,
My dd2 is 21 weeks and has been sleeping through from 7-7 since she was 10 weeks old. However, for the last few nights she has been waking up in the middle of the night, anything from 2am to 4 am, and since the only thing that seems to settle her is a feed, that's what I've been giving her, although she doesn't seem to take a full feed. She goes back down until around 7.30am, but usually stays awake about 30 mins after the feed just squealing and blowing raspberries etc. Anybody have any experience of this previous sleeping through and then starting to wake again? How long til they slept through again? I am aware they can have a growth spurt at this age but she doesn't seem extra hungry during the day.

My mum thinks that because she's a big baby (9lb 7 at birth) she's getting a bit hungrier and isn't getting what she needs during the day and if it is just a growth spurt then that's fine but my only concern is that if she gets too reliant on this night feed again then she won't feed as much during the day and we'll end up in a vicious circle. She is exclusively bf and am planning on waiting til 6 months before weaning and she has around 3 hours sleep during the day, split into 3 naps.

My dd1 never did this - she also slept through from 10 weeks and always has done so I just want to know if dd2's behavior is 'normal'!

(sorry for long post, i tend to rabbit on )

My little girl also woke around this time for a feed and unfortunately still does - she too is bf!

I started weaning her at 21 weeks thinking that it would make a difference but it hasn't, however, she does have a proper feed and goes straight back down.

My M-I-L suggested to be to use orange juice instead as sometimes it does become an attention/habit and this always nipped it in the bud for her children! I haven't tried it yet, but probably will if mine stops feeding and just suckles back to sleep.

my 19w dd started doing this last week. It really shocked me as she had been sleeping through since about 9 weeks old. She is FF and would take a few ounces if i offered it but i got the distict impression she was eating cause she was awake and it was offered not awake cause she was hungry IYSWIM.

She has settled back down now but i did notice that her night wakings coincided with her reaching a new developmental milestone and learning a new skill. She found her feet (which are now almost permanently in her mouth) and has learned to roll from back to front.

After a bit of research with dr google it seems that lots of babies around this age start night wakings where previously they had been sleeping through. The theory seems to be that their little brains are working so hard learning new stuff that sometimes it interferes with their sleeping pattern. also at this time their sleep patterns change from the newborn deep sleep to sleep more like adults where they go from light sleep to deep sleep and back to light sleep. If they are woken during the light sleep part of the cycle they might have trouble getting back to sleep.

There is a book that is supposed to be really good for helping you work through the sleep disruptions and work out what developmental issues might have caused them called The Wonder Weeks by Frans Plooij. I m waiting for a copy to be delivered from Amazon.

Thank you both for that, it's reassuring to know that it's not just us that thought we'd cracked sleeping through only for it to suddenly go wrong again!

I thought it might be something to do with development since she has been rolling from back to front for the last few weeks and also found her feet last week. Sometimes when I go in to her she's got her foot through the cot bars, even with a grobag on so I've now re-positioned the bumpers so hopefully she can't do that.

Although last night she woke up screaming at 11ish and she did take a full feed and then slept through til 7.30 so maybe it's a combination of development / growth spurt - who knows?! Also thought last night it had turned a bit colder so put her in the warmer sleeping bag, worth a try I reckon.

Have you tried waking her up for a feed before you go to bed? My DD has been sleeping 8-8 since she was 10 weeks old but we always wake her at 10.30/11ish for a feed (she is FF). She stays very sleepy during the feed and always goes straight back to sleep afterwards. She's 21 weeks.