Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Behaviour/development

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

Flip

Original poster

17 week old not sleeping through

22 replies

ykcebnotleb · 27/12/2009 12:23

Hi
I have a beautiful son who is nearly 18 weeks old. From birth he was wakening only once during the night for a feed and then from about 10 weeks he started sleeping during the night from about 8.00 (with a feed at about 10.30) and then wakening between 6.30 & 8.30. It really felt that we were doing something right and it really worked for us. He would take a bottle before 9.00 am, one around lunch time (we introduced solids - pureed fruits from 15 weeks, only once a day at lunch time) he would then have a bottle around tea time - 6.00 pm and be in bed around 8. Over the last week he has started stirring in the middle of the night - around 3.00am. Two nights ago we tried to settle him back to sleep but after an hour we took him into our bed and he stirred there until it was time to get up. Last night again at around 3 he started stirring so I lifted him and found that he had wind - brilliant I thought he would go back to sleep - no way! he cried and stirred so as a last resort I gave him a bottle and he took the full 8oz. He fell back to sleep and slept until 7 this morning. My husband took him down stairs so I could snooze on and he fell asleep on his lap and has been asleep for the past hour. I just feel like our whole (routine - I hate that word) is thrown out - maybe it is the solid food? but he really seems to love it..... I am so afraid that we are going to have to start doing night feeds again, if there is any advice you can offer me it would be greatly appreciated.

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

duende · 27/12/2009 12:28

they go through a massive growth spurt at this age. maybe he's just hungry?

bamboobutton · 27/12/2009 12:32

he is way too young for solid foods at the moment and also too young to go the whole night without any food at all!

i think you need to lower your expectations about sleeping through.

my ds is 22mo and still wakes in the night for drinks of water, to check where we are etc.

callmemamma · 27/12/2009 18:50

agree with bamboobutton.you need to go with a flow.he might be teething or having a growth spurt.any routine just as you think is established is not gonna last for long at this age.a bit young for solids although i don't think it has anything to do with his broken sleep.i think he wants his milk

StarlightWonderStarlightBright · 27/12/2009 19:05

Don't be afraid that you're going to have to do night feeds, just be accepting of it. It is normal. His sleep patterns so far have not very much to do with you, and the consequetial wakings have not very much to do with you. It is all about developmental stages.

Please stop the solids though. It is possible that this is making him uncomfortable as his gut lining is not yet able to cope with it properly.

StealthPolarBear · 27/12/2009 19:10

is he only having 3 bottles a day? That's not very much, is it??

detoxdiva · 27/12/2009 19:27

My ds is 16 weeks and was sleeping 7-4am or 7-7am from about 10 weeks....in the past 2 weeks he has started waking twice a night, and feeding at each waking.

Please don't worry about your routine - if he's taking an 8oz bottle at night then he's waking because he's hungry - go with what he wants - growth spurts are common about this time...and like the others have said, please think about whether he needs solids at the moment - he does sound terribly young still.

duende · 27/12/2009 19:47

I was also going to ask about his intake of milk. My DS is 22 weeks and has 6 feeds a day, 6-7oz each.

ruddynorah · 27/12/2009 19:55

so milk at midday with fruit puree then nothing until 6pm? have you forgotten about a feed that happens in the middle there or is there actually not one?

ImSoNotTelling · 27/12/2009 19:57

Babies are all different and sleep through when they are ready I reckon. You can do things to persuade them and help them but they aren't going to work until the baby is there pretty much themselves IMO.

Anyway just wanted to say that my DD1 slept though at 6 months which I was very happy with, and that DD2 is waking loads at night and I've had enough, she is nearly 6 months.

I am sorry to tell you that I think you may need to lower your expectations, and go with what the baby seems to want to do. I know how hard it is though, especially when things are seemingly getting worse when they should be getting better.

traceybath · 27/12/2009 20:04

OP could you clarify how much milk your DS is having - not clear from your post.

Personally I think its pretty usual for babies still to be feeding at night at 17 weeks. Golly mine all have been.

I'd just go with the flow but if you are only giving the baby 3 bottles in the day you really need to increase that urgently.

Is he gaining weight/happy and alert etc?

I won't comment on the early weaning.

Tryharder · 28/12/2009 17:18

OP, don't want to be rude but your baby is clearly starving and that's why he's waking! It is not normal for babies this young to sleep through although a few may well do. You sound a bit obsessive about routine- I would lighten up. Babies have a knack of falling into their own routine if allowed to.

Others have said he is too young for solid food although i won't comment on that as I started giving DS1 solids at about the same age . But you have to remember that a few spoons of pureed apple contain only a few calories and cannot be seen to be a replacement for milk or a "meal" in its own right.

IIRC, shouldn't babies be having 6 large bottles a day at this age (trying to remember what's on the back of the formula tin). Any food you give should be extra to that and not replace it.

duchesse · 28/12/2009 17:27

So let me get this right- he's having

1 bottle for breakfast before 9am
1 at around lunchtime
1 at 6pm
1 at 10pm? (possibly not, have I got that wrong?)

With a small amount of solids (which is less calorific than milk)?

Blimey. He must be really hungry. My 17 week old feeds every two-three hours from 6am to 10:30 (about 8 feeds). I reckon she's having the best part of a litre of milk a day judging from how much she takes when she has EBM. I really think yours is not being fed enough and that's why he's waking. Please feed him more milk. He's shouldn't even be on solids yet according to WHO guidelines. Sorry.

FiveGoMadInDorset · 28/12/2009 17:32

Drop the ffood, way too young and up the milk, he is hungry and going through a growth spurt.

Ewe · 28/12/2009 17:32

Way more milk and NO solids at this age and most 17 week old babies wake up in the night unfortunately, just try and nap where you can! They aren't designed to sleep through the night just yet, try to relax and go with the flow a little.

FanjolinaJolie · 28/12/2009 18:15

Increase the milk and completely forget solids. Three milk feeds is not enough calories for growth IMO.

Aim for five formula feeds minimum in a 24 hour period. Possibly six.

You may well get him going through the night if you structure the feeds differently, but that shouldn't be your first priority. If it happens it should be a bonus, really.

Get your first feed of the day in earlier, so that leaves more space in the day/waking hours to have more feeds.

If you are a 'routine' person I can suggest Gina Ford is very useful for formula feeding and might help show you how to 'squeeze' in the extra feed/s.

duchesse · 28/12/2009 18:35

This page gives a straightforward way of calculating how much milk a baby should be taking.

duchesse · 28/12/2009 18:37

And by that formula, my 12 lb baby should be taking between 800 and 950 (30-32.5 fluid oz) mls a day, so she's potentially having a bit more than that, although it's harder to assess with breast milk.

duchesse · 28/12/2009 18:40

Sorry to keep coming back, but if your little boy is taking 4x 8oz bottles a day, he's getting 32 fl oz a day, which is enough for a 12lber taking the upper amount of milk per pound. If he's only taking 3x 8oz per day, he'd have to be very small indeed not to need more than 24 oz per day (less than 10lb, which is not all that likely for a 4 month old).

LastOfTheMulledWine · 28/12/2009 18:45

Where's the OP?

I agree with everybody else. No solids and lots more milk.

My 2yr old doesn't sleep through! I don't care though.

RemyMartin · 28/12/2009 18:48

Milk should be your first resort, not your last!

callmemamma · 28/12/2009 20:45

You scared poor OP...Although I agree with everybody else.At this age you need to be flexible with your routine to meet baby needs.Never the other way round...

jollyma · 28/12/2009 20:50

I can completely understand why you are frustrated that he's started waking up when he was previously going through. I had a similar situation with ds1. Despite knowing that he was probably hungry I hated having to get up in the night again. Unfortunately, he was hungry and did need that extra feed for a while until he was established on solids.

If he is happily taking the solids I wouldn't stop. My boys were started on solids at 16 and 15 weeks; with ds1 7 years ago it was at an age recomended by the HV and with ds2 this year 'very early'. Just take it slowly and don't introduce foods such as egg, nuts, etc until at least after a year.

After a few weeks having breakfast and tea he started sleeping through again. Btw I wasn't so lucky with ds2 he didn't sleep thru for the first time until he was six months!

Flip