why wont he sleep

[rebeccabits]

please help as my ds wont sleep through the night, i dont use a dummy and am breast feeding but have slowly started to introduce formula. he is 12 weeks old

In my opinion 12 weeks is rather soon to expect any baby to sleep through the night. My ds2 does not sleep through yet and he is nearly 8 months. What is best for you to get some sleep is to feed him when you go to bed and have him sleep in your bed (make sure it is safe with a light blanket rather than a duvet and use a guard rail). This way you only have to wake up briefly to help your son latch on and you can go back to sleep while he feeds. I swear by this and have felt far more rested this time around than with my formula fed son when I had to get up to do night time bottles. A pillow at your back can help you get more comfy for doing lieing down bfing. If possetting is a problem (laundry problem) then hippychick do a really nice cotton bed protector sheet thingy that you can use like a draw sheet. It is also good for your milk supply to feed at night as this is when prolactin hormone (milk producing) levels are at their highest. My ds now does a mixture of sleeping with me and sleeping in his cot and can put himself to sleep from awake without me (having had enough milk earlier) so doing this has not made him dependent on my presence to fall asleep. I know that cosleeping isnt for everyone for various reasons but if you follow sensible safety guidelines I really think it can help everyone get more rest.
Your message was quite brief so I dont know if you mean you are getting enough sleep purely because he wants to feed at night or if there are others issues like not settling after feeds or whatever.

At 12 weeks my DS was going to bed at 7.00pm and still feeding at 1.00am and 5.00am. He is bottle fed. By 16 weeks, he had dropped the 5.00am feed and since then (he is now 5 months) the 1.00am feed has moved later and later. About two weeks ago he started sleeping through until 6.00am some nights but it's still a bit hit and miss and we're often up at 4.00am.

12 weeks is still really little and even though you may know some babies who sleep through from their late feed, every baby is different and for some (lots IME) it takes them much longer to 'sleep through the night'. Just go with the flow, confident in the knowledge that he'll sleep through when he's ready.

When my DD was 12 weeks (now 7) she was sleeping from 8.00pm until 8.00am so all this has come as a bit of a shock to me so I do sympathise with how you must be feeling. Funnily enough, it gets easier the longer it goes on and now I have trouble sleeping even when DS does (must crack that one soon )

HTH

12 weeks is really young to sleep through IMO. And don't stop breastfeeding just because of this - it will almost certainly make no difference - that's my experience anyway. My six month old dd still wakes at least once a night but I think she's a brilliant sleeper compared to ds who was truly appalling. How does your baby sleep?

I think sleeping through the night is all down to luck. Think 12 weeks is early to expect it as the norm. Also, think boys tend to be hungrier and wake more. Anecdotally, have heard of more sleep problems with boys rather than girls.

Ds slept through at 13 wks.
Up till then he went to bed at 7pm, feed at about 10.30pm & 2.30 am and woke up at 6am.

I agree with the others 12 weeks is still young.
What ds's routine - what is he eating & sleeping during the day?
And how often is he actually feeding at night ?

Give us some more info & we might be able to offer some suggestions.

Ds started sleeping through the night at 12

MONTHS!!!

My little one still doesn't sleep through the night and she's 14 months. And I would think it cruel to deny her a feed or a drink when she wants it in the night, I frequently wake up with a dry mouth or feeling thirsty (as so many adults do) and I keep a drink by the bed. If I don't like to go through the night without a drink how could I force my little one to?