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Behaviour/development

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Original poster

Help! Baby suddenly waking earlier and more frequently at night. Why???

15 replies

MabelMay · 10/04/2008 10:11

Hello
My 9.3 week old baby got into a very good night feeding and sleeping pattern early on, and started only waking once at night just before 4 weeks of age - going 7pm to 2/3amish to 7am. In recent weeks he began to extend the feed after 7pm to 3.30/4.00am.

HOWEVER, the last four nights he has gradually started waking earlier and earlier in the night for feeds (and downing a whole bottle)
Last night he woke at 12 midnight AND at 5am (although he didn't seem very hungry at all at 5am).
It seems like we're moving backwards! From once in the night wakings to twice.
Could it be a growth spurt?
But, if it were, surely he'd have been hungry when he woke at 5am. But he wasn't. And he didn't even seem that hungry when I tried to feed him again at 7am.
Anyway, I thought growth spurts only lasted a couple of days.
Anyone had similar?
Any advice?

I'm very discouraged. Feel like we've regressed.
He's on the bottle by the way.

Thanks.

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angel1976 · 10/04/2008 10:26

Are you picking him up too early? My 6.5 weeks old DS wakes up in the middle of the night and sometimes just to grizzle a bit or he babbles to himself and goes off to sleep. Sometimes he does it for quite a long time!

Is he waking up screaming with hunger or is he just waking and doing low-level grizzling? It sounds like he isn't hungry so he might just be waking up to talk to himself and goes by to sleep. Some babies just do that. My little one is a talker at night! Ha ha. At his age, he could just be practicising his 'noises'!

Original poster

MabelMay · 10/04/2008 12:44

Hi angel
No, he's definitely screaming. I've tried leaving for a bit and the screams just get loader and more insistent. He is definitely hungry at that time as he downs a bottle pretty quickly.
I just don't get why suddenly he's now hungry at 12 midnight whereas he didn't used to get hungry until 3am, and on very good nights 4, 4.30am.

... do you think if I gave him a 10.30/11pm feed it would help?

OP posts:

needahand · 10/04/2008 12:51

I would say either he is teething or hungry. By the sound of things he is hungry. Our DD was sleeping throught the night at 2 months but from 4 months she started waking up, she was always starving. In the end we had to start weaning her at 4.4 months as milk just wasn't satifying her anymore. Perhaps you shuld try milk for "hungrier babies"?

lulumama · 10/04/2008 12:51

he is having a growth spurt

don;t leave him to see if he settles back, feed him immediately, and then he will go back to sleep with a full tummy

9 weeks old is too soon for the majority of babies to go through the night every night.

if you feed him as and when he is hungry, he will find his own pattern

babies have frequent growth spurts and the only way to deal with them is to give more milk

lulumama · 10/04/2008 12:52

hungry baby milk can give little ones a tummy ache, unless he is draining every 9oz bottle, tehn he is fine on regular milk.

babies do not take the same amount at each feed, so don;t worry if some feeds are bigger/ smaller than otehrs

needahand · 10/04/2008 12:58

Didn't realise baby was 9 weeks old. Yes it is too early for hungry milk

wiredtothemoon · 10/04/2008 12:58

ds who is now 6mo had similar sleeping pattern and did the 7pm until 4ish thing quite early on and even until 5/5.30 a few times but then always had times where he regressed and fed twice in the night often a lot to begin with then just a small feed and like yours would often be not very interested in the 7am.
I certainly spent a fair amount of time wondering what did differently/is it growth spurt etc but sometimes I think they just do their own thing.He always went back to his one feed through the night thing after a few days and has slept through fairly consistently since 5mo.
so hopefully will settle after a few dats (sometimes went on a week or so) if not maybe 10.30 feed would help.

lulumama · 10/04/2008 12:59

this is the thing with babies! they get into a routine, you think you have it sorted, then they totally throw you ! either with a growth spurt, or teething, or a cold etc.. so i found it best just to try to go with the flow and let them guide me

Original poster

MabelMay · 10/04/2008 13:36

Thanks all.
Lulumama, I wish I was better at going with the flow! I think I'm a bit of a control freak and love my routines so when a routine suddenly goes off for no apparent reason I get myself in a bit of a tiz.

wiredtothemoon, yes that sounds very similar to mine. A bit gutted this could carry on for another 3 months or so!

I think I was very spoilt with my first ds who was fantastic at night (although a bit of a handful during the day) and slept through very early on - he also had no noticeable growth spurts (i.e. no sudden new wakings in the night).

I'll give it a couple more nights and if there's no improvement I might try that last, late-night feed to see if that will help him go for longer....

OP posts:

bergentulip · 10/04/2008 13:51

Sooooooooooo jealous you have it as good as you do. Just once some nights? Oh, how I dream that it were so here.... Mine seems on a constant growth spurt, and even now at 4.5mths, and with babyrice/puree for his tea too.... he is STILL waking at 2am and screaming and screaming, and getting more and more irate until I give in and go and take him a bottle of milk.

I find it a horrendous shock, as like your DS1, my DS1 very quickly started sleeping through the night, and never even had to have a dreamfeed at 10pm.... Argh! Polar opposites!

But, sounds like you are doing all the right things, and he has been in a good 'routine' for a while, so I am sure it'll pass quickly and he'll go back to sleeping regular big chunks, until that one wake in the night disappears completely.
As for me? I think I am in it for the longhaul with this one

Pennypops · 10/04/2008 14:10

My ds is 7 months now and has only been consistently sleeping through since he hit 6 months and 3 solid meals a day. We had a good phase around 4 months and thought we'd cracked it but then it all went haywire. We always went to him, tried to settle him and if he didn't then we fed him. I've come to the conclusion that babies don't really settle into a regular sleep pattern until they are established on solids and in the meantime we just have to ride it out.

Incidentally we tried introducing a late night feed but that actually seemed to make things worse - he went from waking once to twice! He didn't take much so we dropped it and he improved. Odd.

Apparently boys tend to regress more than girls - certainly felt like ours did!

nooonit · 10/04/2008 14:18

MabelMay - try the dream feed would be my advice, though I'm sure as always there will be people who disagree.

My DD2 (12 weeks) will usually go through till at least 6ish if I give her a "dream feed" when we go to bed at 11ish.DD doesn't really wake up and will settle to sleep again without winding (I have tried but she's too sleepy!)

She does sometimes wake at 4 but it's becoming more rare.

My theory is that you have to get enough milk into them in the day as well. I am a bit obsessed with this, DP thinks I'm mad but sleep is SO important!

Good luck - hope I've not cursed myself with this post!

McGill · 10/04/2008 19:03

Dear Mabelmay - I got my knickers in a right twist with my wee son - somehow expected him to sleep through from at least 3 months, but he never did...still not doing it regularly and he is almost 9 months - we have a set routine, he always sleeps from 7pm, but we just seem to have 'phases'....good phases where he sleeps well, bad phases where he wakes a lot sounding quite frustrated ( seems to be when he is learning a new motor thing, like rolling or standing) or just hungry phases where he seems to need much more milk than normal - I have learned simply through time, not to get peeved and just accept it - I am just hoping he won't still be waking when he is 18.....sigh.....!Oh, and we tried the late night feed thing but it just pissed him off being woken up! But I know some friends who tried it and it seemed to work better for them....each to their own.

Original poster

MabelMay · 10/04/2008 20:55

Hey all - don't have time to reply individually to all your posts, but I really appreciate all the input/advice/shared experiences. Looks like these sporadic nights might carry on for some time then. oh no!

Fingers crossed for tonight. I'm not quite brave enough to try dreamfeed yet incase it results in THREE night wakings... arrggh.

OP posts:

BaggyBick · 22/04/2008 21:19

Hi there,
we had the same thing going on with our Lo (been doing the dream feed every night & was sleeping thru- he started teething and then got into a pattern of waking at 4 am on the dot & just taking one or two oz then sleeping til 7:30.
we tried the 'wake-to-sleep' thing.for three nights running, set my alarm one hour ealier than him, ie 3am, went in, unswaddled him but didn't wake him up completely, re-swaddled, dummy back in then back to sleep.
it disturbs the irregular pattern they have got themselves in to. Now he has dream feed at ten and sleeps right thru til 7:30 again.
we also make sure he gets loads and loads of milk during the day so he has enough calories to see him thru the night.
xx

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