BF routine - when will he sleep?

[choccybox]

Hi

DS is 15 weeks and EBF, doing really well 98 centile for weight and no problems with feeding except he feeds a lot over night.

Last night went down at 8pm, fed at 11pm, 1am, 2.45am, 4am and then up at 6am.

Don't want to co-sleep, just wondering if anyone has any tips on encouraging longer sleeps? Would early weaning help or should I try to get him back to sleep without breast sometimes, i always offer the breast as I assume he is hungry.

When can I expect longer periods of sleep? Should i try and feed more in early evening? He generally feeds 2 hourly during day (feeds for 15mins approx each feed).

i'd just keep going as you are :-) The lack of sleep is frustrating but thats what breastfed babies can be like. Are you getting plenty of naps when he sleeps during the day?

I struggle to nap in daytime but just looking forward to the time when he will sleep for a stretch, i dream of 4 hour block of sleep!

Sadly choccy thats just how some babies are and I don't think it makes one dot of difference if they are ff or bf.

There is some good info here on Kellymom on sleeping through the night. Sadly though I don't think early weaning will help either and in my limited survey of to DC it actually made things worse for a while. Again there is some info here on Kellymom.

You could try getting someone else to settle him at times in the night though, he may just want comfort at times. Having said that though the only thing mine ever wanted was mummy and milk.

There are two good books I can recommend one is Baby Calming by Caroline Deacon and the other is the No Cry Sleep Solution.

At that age though I would just carry on as you are, you sound like you are a great Mum who is doing a fantastic job

Oh, and is there any reason you don't want to co-sleep. Not judging just wondering as I didn't want to initally but found it was the only way we all got any sleep.

Thanks jilted I'll have a look at those.

Tried co-sleeping and feel so nervous I'm not able to get any rest. I'll just keep going and hope he becomes a good sleeper soon.

May try to get DH to try and settle him but generally he seems to want the milk

Atleast I get lots of smiles at night time, makes it all seem better

It may well not improve in the next couple of weeks due to the 4 month sleep regression. More info here, here, here and here.

How often / how long does he sleep in the day? It's just that many babies that age are asleep for about 12 hours at night (not necessarily in one stretch!) but your DS is asleep for 10 hours. That's within the normal range, but lower than many. Sometimes babies who don't nap well end up going to bed late & waking early as a result.

Thanks angel, I guess it can't get worse with sleep regression!

He normally naps at 9am for 1.5 hours and then mid afternoon for the same.

He may dose off for short periods when we are out and about (and he is in the sling not pushchair) but not for long.

I have tried to get longer daytime naps in the hope of improving night time to no avail.

Well time will tell

Ah, I think that naps (or lack of) are the issue if he's just having two. Most babies that age need 3 naps (some need 4 if they only nap for 40 mins at a time). It's usually between 6 and 9 months that they drop from three to two naps.

A good rule of thumb (if you can't spot tired signs) is roughly 1.5 hours awake - although that increases as the day goes on. (Many babies from 6 months or so who have 2 naps work on a roughly 2-3-4 schedule: first nap 2 hours after waking, second nap 3 hours after waking, bedtime 4 hours after waking.)

A common pattern at that age is to wake at 7ish, nap at 9ish, second nap starting 1ish and third nap starting between 3 and 5pm, with bedtime at 7ish. Obviously if your LO wakes earlier, everything else would start earlier.

All the sleep books agree that a nap of less than 30 mins doesn't count as a nap. 30 mins often suggests overtiredness (ie awake too long since last nap) but 40-45 mins is one sleep cycle.

Sometimes the method of napping can affect it. My DS would only nap in the sling until 14 weeks, but by about 20 weeks he'd only sleep for 15 mins in the sling unless I kept on moving the whole time (he didn't sleep that well in the pushchair either). I had to stay at home & feed or rock him to sleep for all naps. He got much better at sleeping in the pushchair from around 8/9 months, but he stopped even dropping off in the sling unless he was completely exhausted.

1.5 hour naps sound pretty good - I think you just need to get an extra one in if you can.

HTH

choccy can understand you feeling nervous with co-sleeping but if you follow the guidelines it is safe. Did the MW or HV give you a copy of the guidelines?

I was really nervous about co-sleeping with DS1, but by the time he was about 3 months, i found that i kept falling asleep while he was feeding anyway - so decided to do it properly (more safely) and never looked back, it transformed my sleep. yes, definitely nervous at first, but once you understand all the guidelines and follow them, you realise that your body is constantly aware of the baby. Now co-sleeping quite often with DS2 (21mths), and just love the bit in the morning where he wakes up, looks at me with a huge smile and says 'hello mummy'.

Oh wolf I've gone all misty eyed remembering those mornings.

JJJ - it is lovely, i must admit. he is just so totally delighted to see me! i have to store these memories up against the teenage years of disinterest/contempt :)

co-sleeping is not a bad idea, at least some sleep comes from it. its still a baby at 15 weeks, I dont know what do you expect???

Thanks for the advice.

Angel, i'm going to try the extra naps today and see how we go.

Jilted, i have read the information on co-sleeping and can appreciate the benefits however I feel more comfortable with him in cot next to bed.

Wolf, thats sounds nice but not suited to me.

Ivette of course I understand he is a baby, was just looking for advice on longer sleep periods, don't think i'm expecting too much for a 4 hour sleep block

Thanks all

choccy thats fair enough then. Lots of parents find it a huge benefit, some just don't get on with it. Just thought from your posts that it was nervousness stopping you and that can usually stem from a lack of information.

Whatever you do, hope you find something that works for you.

I think I've had fewer than 10 four-hour sleep blocks and DS is 17 MONTHS old! From all I've seen and read, some babies sleep well and some don't. I feel relatively ok since he turned 1 and we started co-sleeping. Also didn't have the courage to try it when he was smaller. It's less stressful just to accept that that's how he sleeps, and try your best to work with it. I'm still in bed before 9 most nights too.

Eating solids, daytime naps and crawling and walking seem to have no effect on night sleep at all!

Don't worry if changing nap's/feeding/weanig doesn't work. Some babies just don't sleep well.

DD didn't sleep much during the day either but if she had more sleep during the day she just had even less at night. She's by no means the worse sleeper I've come accross either. I' know one who haven't slept through untill they started school (and he was formula fed).

The best thing I ever did was ready DrSear's. Brilliant man great books.

We didn't cosleep with DD as I didn't want to had some belive that baby wouldn't get out of our bed, and we didn't have a big enough bed. To be quit honist wish we just had as it would have made things so much easier for me as she didn't sleep through untill she drop her nap altogether at 2 1/2ish.

This time round I've gone blown that one out the water and have DS in a bedside cot. If this carry's on would you be happier with this type of arrangment. I like it as can move DS over into the cot and we each have our own space but I don't have to get out of bed to feed him.

"Eating solids, daytime naps and crawling and walking seem to have no effect on night sleep at all!" so agree with that one. My DS didn't sleep through until the week before his 5th birthday.

"I' know one who haven't slept through untill they started school (and he was formula fed)." Apparently me and DH both were ff and neither of us slept through until age 4 either.

zackles, "It's less stressful just to accept that that's how he sleeps, and try your best to work with it." i agree.

my 11mo wakes every hour (since 4 months, not too bad before then!) and co-sleeping is how i survive.

would like to be able to go out though one evening.

but he's my last (third) baby, so we'll get there eventually and i will just have to be patient for that night out. he's very active, crawling and walking early with no effect on sleep. For me, acceptance and making life easier is helping a bit with my frustration.

i was apparently a very difficult sleeper and totally ff. my cousin's dd totally ff and didn't sleep through until 6years.

OP, try No cry sleep solution? i am going to re-read this AGAIN this week

I agree - I think it's worth tinkering with naps etc but don't worry too much if it doesn't fix the problem. Sleeping 'through' is a mythical beast IMO and I too know children who were 4 or 5 before they did. DS sleeping enough to allow me enough sleep to survive is what I aim for in life.