Sleep- 11 week old suddenly getting worse!

[VickyHart]

Our 11 week old baby used to sleep from around 7pm to 3/4am, have a short feed and then drop back to sleep until 7. He is breast fed and I thought we were making real progress.

In the last 2 nights he has gone down to sleep at 7 as usual but then around 11pm wakes, feeds and from then on is awake every hour or so.

I'm not following any particular routine, but am aware of the core night idea- where if the baby shows you they can manage between 7pm and 3am, you should not be feeding them during this time again and should discover oither ways to meet their needs in the night. I feel such a failure feeding at 11pm now after he had gone through until 3am, but I didn't feel like anything else was working.

Has anyone else gone through this, will it pass, or have I done something reallwrong???

Thank you!

Hello,
No advice, but if you look in Bfeed section I've just posted pretty much identical thread.
My DD did EXACTLY the same - was going so well from 7ish - 2/3ish, then sometimes a bit of a battle, but usually would go to 6/7ish.

Now it's just a nightmare, and it's the same sort of timings as yours. This makes me think/hope that it's an 11wk growth spurt thing (DD is excl bf too). We certainly haven't done anything different.
Anyway - just wanted to say you're not alone - I'm feeling your pain!!

Thank you so much- will check out your post! Thinking of you, this is so hard. What makes it a little easier is the gorgeous smiles that melt the tiredness- a little annoying at 3am but still sweet- ah well, it will pass I hope

The first thing you need to do is get out of your head that you are a failure. You are not. Babies do not read baby books, they do not follow the 'rules'. They are babies. They are unpredictable.

That said, my DS did the same thing around that time. Waking up for a feed after sleeping through. About a month later he stopped again. So probably a growth spurt.

And throw the 'core night idea' out the window. Use your instincts. And take your cues from your baby.

Thank you Tee, you've said exactly what is on my mind. We have a very happy boy today, despite hs lack of sleep so we're going to go with it today. I appreciate your reply.

I came across the 'core night' delusion idea last week. Having exclusively bf both of mine beyond 6 months (dd 2.8, ds 6 months), it struck me that it doesn't accommodate growth spurts, illness, teething, baby being too hot/cold, noise disturbances, changes of level of awareness, changes that happen as babies are developing/mastering new skill or indeed just about everything else that affects LOs' sleep. Both of mine have changed their habits and patterns - I've found it easier the second time around not just because he was a better sleeper earlier on (gone to pot now, though!) but because I didn't think 'oh, his sleeping is like this...' then feel disappointed/frustrated that it changed.

Sorry, I didn't exclusively bf dd to 2.8 years as my post suggests - that's the age she is now!

Rosebud - I totally agree. My DD has a bad cold at the moment and also seems to be growing by the second, so not surprised she needs to be feeding more. Just half wondering if I couldn't increase her daytime feeds to compensate a little bit?
Vicky - how did you get on last night?
My wakings went from 40mins to an hour, so guess that's progress??!!!

OMW, I didn't mean to suggest that anyone should just resign themselves to night-time horrors - by all means try things. Colds have definitely been the thing that has disrupted ds's sleep the most. He's spent some of the last two nights in his buggy whilst I've slept on the settee as lying down just makes him cough.
Hope it goes better tonight for all of us!

Ha, what is this core night idea? Clearly, it doesnt apply to ACTUAL, LIVE babies... babies go through 10 million phases,so that just as you think you have X or Y down pat, they change (usually, because of a growth spurt, or teething, or sickness, or just for the heck of it)and your carefully won battle needs to be done again. You are not a failure, and your baby is utterly, utterly normal. NEVER read baby books, they are the work of the Devil. And also ignore friends who say their baby sleeps through. My best friend saidthat - two yearslater, she admitted he did sleep thru - for A WEEK - and the rest of his two years were a sleep deprived hell. She just didnt tell me this.

Thanks everyone, so reassuring to hear from other Mums. DS is still waking quite a lot in the night but I'm staying calm and feeding him. The growth spurt sounds right, our dr thought he could be teething already too- he is drooling a lot more, mouthing a lot, is more grouchy than normal and his poop is different too! I agree Rosebud that the core night does not take into account illness/ teething/ growth spurts.
Overmilkwood- how are your nights?

overmilkwood- when did you post on the bf thread- had a quick look for it, was it a while ago?

On the off chance that this makes anyone feel better about their night last night, my 6 month old ds went off to sleep in the travel cot in his big sister's room, was moved into his cot in our room when he woke up at midnight and wouldn't settle, was moved downstairs into his buggy with me sleeping on the settee shortly after this as lying on his back was making him cough, then moved into our bed around 5am so that I could feed him more or less constantly so that he'd sleep a bit longer (dh then moved downstairs onto settee). Written out like that it sounds horrendous, but we're sort of used to it now in a strange kind of way and don't feel too bad today.
I'm a big believer in 'going with them' duriing those early months....

DD is still waking up far too often - I think I might be partly to blame for not really encouraging good feeds. Putting her back when she dozes at the breast after 5 mins rather than encouraging decent feeds - so that's my mission tonight.

My thread on bfeeding is the rather hysterical DD feeding all night pls help - written about 3 days ago.
I'm all for feeding on demand and going with babies in the early days, but definitely think I could encourage more milk to be taken at each feed and see if it makes a difference.
How are you getting on?

Your dd is a few months younger than my ds and at that age I think you're right about them actually needing milk to stop them being hungry during the night, rather than habit/vague thirst or bit peckish. I think the hind milk towards the end of the feed is very important in encouraging a prolonged state of doziness. I used to undo my ds's baby grow at the bottom and tickle his feet to keep him awake during feeds (and afterwards while I winded him if possible as night time wind was and still is sometimes a big problem for him).
I haven't read your 'hysterical thread'(though am confident that it's not THE most hysterical one on MN...)though I do remember phoning the La Leche League in hysterics when my dd had her 3 week growth spurt (why did no-one tell me they did that?) and fed for 18 hours with no more than a 20 min doze. That too did pass...
I find the Nelson's Teetha granules (homeopathic chamomila) very helpful, though they can only be used from 4 months.