4 mth spurt - how do you know if it's ended?

[kookiegoddess]

help. it feels like my DD has been waking for extra night feeds for MONTHS. She got a cold back in early december and started waking for extra feeds rather than going 7-10 then till 5.30ish (or something like that, it's been so long I've actually forgotten what her "normal" pattern used to be!) and now it's feeds at 630,10,1,4,5,6,745
and it's been like that for while. DD is 18 wks. Jsut wondering if she's got into a bad habit of nibbling in the early hours? I've been co-sleeping from 1am usually (she's in her cot before then) and I'm so knackered around 4 that I keep forgetting to try and give her both boobs to help her sleep longer. Any thoughts? Should I try waking her for a feed at 3 to see if this breaks the pattern? Interestingly the only time she's done one of her old "long" stretches was on New year's eve when we filled her full of formula and she was awake from 2-3 when we got her up to take her home after a party. She didn't wake from 3-8am! am a bit overtired so not really up for setting alarm clock unless it will work...

IMO 18 weeks is still very young - if you don't mind it, I would co-sleep all night and just let her stick to her own pattern at this stage. I only switch sides if DS has gone to sleep and woken a few hours later for a feed. If he has only taken a 5 min break I keep to that side as too much switching means they aren't always getting maximum hindmilk. If the are nosing around during the day, they will make it up on night feeds I find. Try a few evening feeds in a dimmed room with no distractions?

that schedule sounds just like my DS and he's six months. It started around 4.5 months. (he never went through the night though but used to make it 3-4 hours).

i personally wouldn't try to force a feed at 3am. You could try though to push the 4am feed back an hour with shushing or a dummy (if you use one). This has worked a few times with DS.

It's agonizing to not know if they are hungry or just want a little comfort. I'm all for comforting little ones in the night but this is not a schedule that is sustainable for mummy - I can attest.

Also, don't know if you feed lying down, but when I sat up for feeds in the night, it seemed to make a bit of difference on efficiency and the length of time to the next feed.

We have tried a bottle of formula at 11pm in the hopes of a longer stretch. it initially seemed to work but now I'm lucky if he goes 2.5 hours after a massive 9oz bottle! i think it actually gives him bad wind, which in turn wakes him ...