17 week old EBF DD up every 2 hours at night!!

[SarahScot]

Not sure whether to put this here or in Sleep as it's a bit of both. Almost from birth my EBF DD was fed at 7:30, went to sleep, woke between 2:30 and 3:30 then slept through until 6:30 or 7:00 - bliss, couldn't believe how lucky I was!!

Over the last 4 weeks she has been waking more and more often. It is now at the point where she gets fed at 7:30, takes at least an hour to go to sleep (usually more like 2), wakes at 10:30 then again EVERY TWO SODDING HOURS until morning. She sleeps beside me in one of those 3 sided bedside cots so when she wakes I lift her over and she has a 5 to 10 minute feed then falls asleep. If I don't feed her she grumbles and cries until I do. Feeding her is the easier option than not feeding her as she'll be fed and back asleep within about 20 minutes.

I suppose my question is, is this a phase? Is it it normal? Will she go back to her old pattern of eating/sleeping? Or so I need to do something to change it?

Everyone in RL I've mentioned it to - including my HV! - has said I should be giving her solids, that she'll sleep through if I do, that she's obviously 'needing more' or else she wouldn;t be waking so much. My feeling is that she's far too young for solids, she's my tiny wee newborn, surely she can't have food!?!?

I EBF my DS until 6 months and even through his growth spurts when he needed feeding constantly during the night, this was enough for him to feel full and develop and grow.

It's probably just because your DD is about to have a growth spurt. I remember around 4 months DS was a little horror for feeding all night long. It'll get better. If you want to EBF for longer then do it. Don't let people pressure you - I know it's hard when everyone and his dog has an opinion!

My DS has always fed every 2 hours through the night, sometimes more often. This could be a growth spurt and I would say as long as you can deal with it (co-sleeping is a life saver isnt it!) then just go with it.

According to official advice and quite a bit of evidence 17 weeks is too young for solids. There's also no evidence that it helps with sleep. Nor is it a sign that she 'needs more'. IMO it's a sign that she needs milk/comfort more often right now for whatever reason.

It sounds like the dreaded 4 month sleep regression, and you just have to live through it I'm afraid! I must have blanked it out as I can't remember how long it took DS to get through it, sorry, but it happened to a lot of other people I know too.
I'm sure this is the reason that lots of babies start to be weaned early, but it's well known that milk contains more calories than pureed carrot and baby rice so I'd carry on with the BF if I was you, and I'll keep my fingers crossed that it's over for you soon!

I think this sounds normal; a sleep regression. It's to do with her growing out of her newborn sleep pattern and changing into cycles more like an adult. I'm sure that someone much more knowledgeable about this will post, however I wish someone had told me about this when my baby was 4mo!!

I certainly wouldn't have thought solids would make any difference, (& at your HV!) unless there is any other reason to introduce solids so very early? I ended up starting my dd on baby rice early on the bad advice of my HV due to reflux, something which I wouldn't do if I could go back now. I wish I had had your confidence and trusted my instincts. Fwiw, it made no difference to her sleeping whatsoever!

How you deal with managing your family's night sleep is up to you, and it really depends on how you feel about it. After the first few months, I was of the persuation of trying to settle her with a cuddle to see if that worked before bf. I also moved her into her own room at around 4mo. However I personally drew the line at any sleep training or 'controlled crying' . Others choose to co-sleep, offer unlimited night feeds and feed their babies back to sleep for the first year or more. I'm now of the opinion this is the more child centred way, however my dd has always been happy with my 'middle of the road' approach and responded well to it so I'll be sticking to that for now. Next time round, I won't be doing anything that feels wrong and will definately be giving the baby rice wide berth!

Thank you everyone for your advice. I'm so relieved that you've told me what I expected to hear - you've reassured me that I don't need to start shovelling food into her.

I'll go with the flow for the next few weeks. I can cope with the sleep disruption because she goes back to sleep quickly. (And also, DS had reflux and stayed awake screaming for hours at a time very night so in comparison this is an absolute doddle). Only problem is, I go back to work 5 weeks today and will certainly struggle if she's still sleeping/waking/feeding as she is.

Thanks again x