Baby still waking every 2 hours at night, exhausted and in need of help

[PandaSpaniel]

My lil one will be 21 weeks on Wednesday and is still up every 2 - 3 hours at night. I am combination feeding him, mainly breast feeding but he tends to have a ff once or twice a day.

He does really well during the day time, easily does 4 hours between a feed, in fact I offer a feed if he goes 4 hours as I don't want him filling up just at night. It obviously isn't working though.

He has been having a little food for the past week, just pureed pear or mashed banana etc. he isn't particularly interested yet although he seems to like the taste.

I am at a loss as to what to do. Anyone been in a similar position? Advice needed please

anyone?

DD is 7mo and I've had the same problem for the last few months. I've tried everything bar CC which I just won't resort to. I've got used to feeling tired all the time. I haven't got any magic solutions I'm afraid. Although for the last few nights DD suddenly started waking only once or twice a night, which has coincided with better daytime naps too. How is he sleeping during the day?

Hi, he generally has a nap in the morning and one in the afternoon and sometimes early evening. They vary in length. Yesterday he was only asleep 3 hours in total but still didn't sleep well last night.

Sounds normal, yet exhausting!

If you are breastfeeding have you considered bringing him into bed at night and feeding lying down (provided no-one in the ouse is a smoker, you've not drunk alcohol or taken any drugs and ensure he can't get too hot, roll out of bed or get stuck in pillows/blankets or down side of bed)?

I'd try feeding him more during the day... say every 2hrs. 4hrs is a pretty big gap for a baby so young.

This is a good read.

And this book

Panda, he needs to feed more often in the day if you want him to go longer at night. You need to come up with a plan that ensures he takes more calories in during the day. Going 4 hours 'easily' in the day is not doing 'really well', it's doing 'really unusually' :)

Having said that waking 2-3 hourly at 5 mths in the night is not all that unusual.

Just about to suggest what tiktok has. Put him to the breast at least every three hours in the daytime, and if you can, squeeze in some extra designated feed time before his bed (eg offer breast before and after bathtime).

He needs to start taking more milk in the daytime so that he needs less through the night.

Once dd got to six months, we only offered water in the night, however she is FFd so I cant say you 'should' do this as BF babies dont need additional water.

As for the food, I would wait a little longer as it is less filling/calorific than milk but will take uproom where the milk should be.

Oh, also, do you use a dummy? Dd used to wake in the night a lot and more often than not a dummy settled and soothed her back to sleep.

I would suggest the following

1. feed every 3 hours between 7am-7pm / 8am/8pm (whatever suits). if he wants more feed more.

2. try 3 naps a day min

9am 1hr
1pm 2hr
4.30 45 mins

although at the is if doing 7am-7pm average day, i would allow as much sleep/naps as he likes until 11am. then try and keep awake for play/ feed/ and long nap at 1pm. you can then aim for a 2hr sleep but allow to nap on and off until 5pm unlimited
then keep awake between 5 and 7pm for bed (so use time for play/bath/feed/bed)

3. you say he is having one ff per day. do you have a partner who could do the first night feed? if so bf him at 7pm then settle then get partner to ff at 10/11pm. you can go to sleep early and sleep through this feed then wakes for next feed (around 3am), so getting 5hr or so sleep yourself

4. have you tried control crying at all? it really is nothing like cry-it-out, but allowing them time to try and self settle

so try and put down in cot whilst awake after evening feed. say goodnight and kiss, leave the room. you can give yourself a time to wait (can be 30 secs) and wait 30secs then if still crying go in sooth/calm down, and leave again whilst hes still awake..(repeat)

a video monitor can be good if you can one as you can see when asleep/ or if just making noise etc

(our little one used to mumble with eyes closed just before sleep, but opening door again would have woken)

30secs/1min can seem like a very long time when crying so use a timer on phone or something to reassure yourself it really is 30secs :)

also a little cloth/ small comforter toy can be great as once they get used to it they can find it during the night

really? as a sleep trainer i haven't heard this? general age is around 6 months, but people leave for longer times at different ages.

i would never advocate leaving a baby crying for more than 2 mins max though ( and that would be around a year, earlier would like i say be 30 secs/1 min)

I put him to sleep around 7. 30 to 8 pm every night. He is put down in his cot awake and generally goes to sleep after 5 - 10 mins of wiggling about and having a whinge. I stay out of the room unless he cries then I go in and settle him.

I think I am going to try feeding him every 3 hours during the day and see if that helps him at night. He is only on a tiny amount of food, prob about half a baby jar at lunch and at tea time and he doesn't always eat it. He is still offered the breast of a ff as well.

I am on my own with him but his dad sees him in the evening after work, hence the ff usually at 6.30pm. He is a lovely settled baby during the day but just seems to cluster feed at night.

I co-sleep with him a lot as I tend to fall asleep with him whilst he feeds. He sleeps much better when next to me but I always feel scared that he will roll and fall out. He is getting very wiggly! I don't think it is hunger all the time either as last night he only went an hour then woke up so I changed his nappy and put him back down and he slept for another hour and a half. He is a very light sleeper. Not at all like my first child who even now at age 7 would happily sleep through a earthquake.

Oh and he does have a dummy but it gets frustrating as he constantly bats it out and then can't put it back in.

I have tried to feed him more today and he has had a 6 oz feed between 9pm and 9.30pm so fingers crossed. I will update soon.

Help! He is teething and off his milk now. I think I am going to go onto formula I just can't make a decision