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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

he's stopped sleeping through!

32 replies

1sttimemum08 · 14/10/2008 21:46

My 17 week old baby has always been a good sleeper but the past coupld of weeks he will not sleep through he keeps waking up crying in the night. I'm giving him hungry baby milk at the minute and he is having 7 bottles a day now all with 8 oz in! I'm worried that he is being fed too much, and the fact he is not sleeping.. does this mean that he's still hungry.

Any help would be appreciated as I'm really worried about him.

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

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MyPumpkinDsHappyHalloweenBday · 14/10/2008 21:48

Is he cold, the temperature has dropped loads in the last week. he may need extra cover/warmer pjs on.

my ds usually sleeps til 7-7.30 last few days been 6 ish. its killing us but i know its the cold its the same every year.
bump for more advice.

Original poster

1sttimemum08 · 14/10/2008 21:49

no he sleeps in a sleeping bag and I've checked his temp and he's fine

OP posts:

MyPumpkinDsHappyHalloweenBday · 14/10/2008 21:52

That rules that out then, my hv said about 4 months they all have a growth spurt, not sure how you would deal with that bottle wise if he takes hungrier milk.

Does he want a feed ot just a cuddle? How long is he awake for?

daffodill6 · 14/10/2008 22:08

Similar thing happened to my dd at 16 weeks (now 10yrs).. I started solids in the afternoon and at breakfast. (Guidelines then were 4-6 months) She was obviously hungry and returned to sleeping through.. I realise views are different now about age and solids but IMHO the 'rules' in the guidelines aren't always best.

empressorchid · 14/10/2008 22:09

My Ds ds did this around this age, I know Pumpkin has already suggested it but it might be the cold. Just because he is in a sleeping bag and his temp is OK doesn't mean he's not feeling the cold. I feel cold under my feather duvet and my temp is normal. If you want to keep him in his his sleeping bag try adding a blanket over the top, worked wonders for mine.
The growth spurt thing is also a possibility. You also say he's on hungry baby milk, this is just blk and not much calorie was it recommended to you to try this? I never used it and my ds was a hungry one, but he managed fine on stage one milk til he was one!! Just a few suggestions to try... let us know how it goes.

empressorchid · 14/10/2008 22:11

Ooh just read Daffodils post, I also started weaning early (5 months), it would definitely be worth a try with some fruit puree. My HV said if he's hungry feed him, don't worry about the guidelines!!

CharCharBaGOOOOOOORE · 14/10/2008 22:14

Actually there can be detrimental effects to weaning early, which is why the guideline is 6 months. empressorchild, your hv was misinformed. He's probably having a growth spurt, keep feeding him when he wants it and it should settle down in a week or two.

CharCharBaGOOOOOOORE · 14/10/2008 22:16

Also, have you checked to see if he's teething. DD wakes a lot at night when she's teething.

Wispabarsareback · 14/10/2008 22:20

Both my DDs were showing clear signs of being ready for solid food - I'm talking a little baby-rice and fruit puree, introduced gradually - at 17 weeks. So I gave them a little, and increased it gradually, and they were both more content and slept longer. When DD1 was a baby the guidance was to start weaning at 4 months - when it worked so well for her I found it hard to take seriously the revised guidance to wait til 6 months, when DD2 was showing all the same signs.

daffodill6 · 14/10/2008 22:33

Due respect CharChar but my DD doesn't appear to have suffered any detrimental effects by being fed solids earlier than the guidelines 10 yrs ago, which were earlier than today. Looking backwards - not sure of the benefit of these guidelines other than 'todays thinking' which as we all know may not be 'right'. After all our grandmothers managed without guidelines??

CharCharBaGOOOOOOORE · 14/10/2008 22:40

Daffodil, that is why I said 'can be' detrimental effects, rather than will be. The guidelines are back up with research into babies' gut development, so not just today's thinking. Depending on how old your grandmothers are, they could have left weaning later than us. Prior to WW2 babies were routinely weaned between 9 and 12 months, iirc. I was just trying to give both sides to the story for OP.

daffodill6 · 14/10/2008 23:04

CharChar - see your point, think I'm just arguing against prescriptive regimes rather than acknowledging individual needs. (not mastered mn emoticons yet but smile intended!)

CharCharBaGOOOOOOORE · 14/10/2008 23:17

Fair enough daffodil, would be boring if we all said exactly the same thing

seeker · 14/10/2008 23:29

The guidelines have changed because we now know more about the development of babies guts. Some are developed enough to take non-milk foods before 6 months - some aren't. And there is absolutely no way of telling "from the outside" which category a particular baby fits into. So it's best to wait til 6 months, by which time all babies guts will be ready for food.

If someone as little as 17 weeks was waking in the night mu first thought would be hunger - have you tried giving him milk?

jeanjeannie · 15/10/2008 08:59

1sttimemum my DD2 is the same - she's 4 months and has gone from sleeping all night to waking every 2 hours. I just feed her, and she is hungry but it IS exhausting. Apparently it's a growth spurt around 4 mths - and if memory serves me well DD1 did it too. I was advised then to give baby rice first time round and it made no difference...she still woke up!!

It's one of those things with babies - you think you've just got it sorted and they prove you different. Last night I was only woken twice - so, I reckon we're seeing the back off it. I'm planning to hold off solids till 6mths - mainly cos I'm lazy and last time it made no difference to sleeping.

gladders · 15/10/2008 10:36

agree with jeanjeanie - it's just one of those things. Babies don't always follow the rules and there's not always any logic?

My dd started sleeping through the night at 10 weeks - I was v smug and recorded it proudly in her red book - but since then she has good phases and bad. We just have to bear with her through the bad ones as a good one is just around the corner (excellent at the moment - sleeps from 7pm til 8am!!!!! )

Original poster

1sttimemum08 · 15/10/2008 10:40

Thank you for all of your advice. Having spoken to my hv today she said to try him on some baby rice, so i'm going to give it a go.

OP posts:

seeker · 15/10/2008 12:12

Oh please don't! He is too young for solid food, and it won't help the sleeping. If he's hungry, give him more milk. Your health visitor is way out of date, honestly.

flourybaps · 15/10/2008 12:25

Im going through the same thing with my dd, she slept through beautifuly then at since 14 weeks, she is now 19 weeks its all been a bit hit and miss. Some nights she will sleep through, some nights she will wake. Nothing I do seems to make any difference.

She woke at 12 last night and drank 9oz! It is in my mind that at 19 weeks I know she is capable of sleeping through so maybe I should just not feed her in the night as she may be developing a habit but when I try it nothing settles her and I just end up feeding her.

Its so hard when you have known the bliss of having a full nights sleep for it then all to change.

I too have thought many times about weaning her but Im honestly not sure how that would help her sleep as there is more calories in milk, also, like your lo my dd is on hungry baby milk so baby rice cant fill them uo more than that surely?

My HV told me that babies become a bit more un-settled at 14 weeks so just bear with it, but this has been going on for 6 weeks now so it cant be a growth spurt surely........

nondomesticgoddess · 15/10/2008 13:15

1sttimemum - when ds was that age he started waking up again too. He woke up around 5am and wouldn't always settle back to sleep. Do you wake your ds up for a 10.30pm feed? I stopped doing that and just let him wake up of his own accord - usually around 3am. Although he was still waking in the night, it was only once and he always fell back to sleep afterwards.
Btw, I started weaning him at 20 weeks and when he was on 2 small meals a day (around 22 weeks), the 3am wake up suddenly became 6am and shifted over a couple of days to 7am. I don't know whether it was the extra food that did it or whether he would have done it anyway - seemed like too much of a coincidence to me...

Original poster

1sttimemum08 · 15/10/2008 17:38

His las feed is at 7.30 and he goes to bed @ 8. Is my HV worng then? I know that the information says to leave it til 6 months. but i thought that she would know best, as she does this day in day out... i don't want to do anything that will be detrimental to his health

OP posts:

empressorchid · 15/10/2008 21:21

Charchar - yes I agree that the guidelines are backed up by research but also with what someone else said - that each child is different. My DS was weaned gradually from 5 months and it doesn't appear to have done anything to his appetite. I thought he needed to start on solids but was unsure because of the guidleines, my HV was useless in all but her advice on this matter which was if he is hungry feed him. I did try baby rice but he didn;t like it so followed Gina Ford's advice in her Contented Weaning Book re: fruit purees building up slowly from once a day to three meals a day (he's three now and I can't remember the timeline). My advice is go with your gut instinct, if he is hungry try feeding hm, be that more milk or some fruit puree for tea.
Every baby is different and what works for one won't work for another.
And yes, you think you've got it all cracked and baby is an excellent routine and then something happens and you feel like you're back at square one. Having a LO is exhausting, a rollercoaster ride. Just go with the flow and take whichever advice feels good to you.

FiKelly · 15/10/2008 22:02

It's quite some time since I went through this for the first time... but I remember it well. Is your last feed at about 10/11pm?

At first we upped his milk... Making up more normal formula than I expected him to want each feed... if he left half an ounce or so at least I knew he was satisfied. Unfortunately I had complications post birth that dried up my milk so formula was my only choice... was gutted but that's another story.

If he downed the lot I tried him with some more... an antenatal friend of mine whos little one was the same age used to drink about 16oz before bed time (7/8pm ish)and slept through a dream all night! Her HV didn't like that at all... but it was what her DD wanted

We started weaning DS1 when his normal happy routine (as set more or less by himself) went completely to pot both during the day and night. He was very grisly all the time and wouldn't settle at all... naps went totally all over the place. This was a bit early at 5 months or so... we started with baby rice then pear puree and have never looked back.

DS has also suffered V badly with all teeth coming through... you name it I've tried it. His teething started at about 3 to 4 months... although it was many months before any teeth actually broke through... then the front 8 came through together!

The best teething gel we found is Dentinox [http://www.dentinox.co.uk/TeethingGel.htm] as is suitable for little-uns under 6 months and has a neutral taste. We found the best way to apply it was in the bristles of the latex finger tooth brushes and let him 'chew' on my finger for relief [http://www.thebabycatalogue.com/prodinfo.asp?number=BDE034]

I have plenty of non medicine teething suggestions if you're interested

Being cold is sometimes a factor... going through that again over the past few weeks and DS is now just past 2ys!

Stick with your gut instinct... remember you know your child better than anyone and what suits one doesn't necessarily suit another

FiKelly · 15/10/2008 22:09

just seen that you've already said the last fees is at 7.30/8. We tanked our DS up early evening by doing a feed at about 5pm then again at 7ish before bed. I also crept in about 10/10.30pm ish without waking him too much... quietly fed him another bottle in the dark/dim light of his room and put him straight back to bed. We carried this 'dream' feed on until he started refusing it & by then weaning was well established.

monthlymayhem · 16/10/2008 17:18

1sttimemum- my DS is 7 months, and we waited until just before 6 months to wean him. Until then he woke 3 or 4 times during the night for a feed. He is now on 3 good meals a day, and ......yes he still gets up 3 or 4 times a night for a feed. In fact, the night before last he was up 10 times but think that was due to teething.

I really thought weaning would be the holy grail of sleeping through, but unfortunately not for us. So, I guess what I'm saying is don't pin your hopes on it!

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