Stupid question number 38527... how do I make bf baby go longer in the night?

[Picante]

I know I know she's still young (12 weeks)... but she's still waking every 3 hours and I'm wondering if it's now more habit than anything. Does something miraculously happen? I remember ds sleeping through at 12 weeks (with a dream feed), but dd doesn't look like she's planning to do this any time soon.

Gosh every 3 hours is great at 12 weeks! I thought you were going to say that she wakes every hour! And 12 weeks is a classic growth spurt time too.

It's more likely to be need than habit at this age, so I would just stick with it.

How often does she feed in the day?

Well I think I was feeding her too often - every 1.5 to 2 hours... then wondering why she was screaming when I tried to latch her on . So it's now every 2.5 to 3 hours.

I know I need to be patient I just wondered if there was a miracle solution!

The miracle solutions are....

• being able to nap in the day when baby does
• Daddy/Grandma/anybody! taking baby in between feeds for you to sleep
• Joining a breastfeeding group so you can chat with folks who really understand

• repeat over and over " this is not forever"

You're doing an amazing job!!! ANd hey! Making bottles up in the night is god awful!

lol she sounds normal
you cant feed her too much
if she wants it she take it

and no there is no magic solution

gecko is 2.9 and she wakes every 2 to 3 hours for 'boob'

typical growth spurt age too, 12 weeks

I think that the only way you can encourage longer periods between sleep is firstly always to leave them for maybe up to 5 mins when they stir to see if they resettle and secondly, if they don't resettle themselves to spend maybe another 5 mins or so trying to resettle them without feeding. I did this with all 3 of mine from about 6 weeks and found that they would often resettle without a feed. All 3 slept through without any dream feed by 12 weeks (8, 10 & 12 weeks respectively). DS, who went through at 12 weeks, needed a fair bit more encouragement and help with resettling than his sisters, but it still worked. This approach definitely leaves you more tired in the short term because after you resettle them it might only be another 1.5 or 2 hours before they wake again definitely wanting to be fed rather than another 3.5 hours or more if you'd fed them the first time, but I found the short term extra disruption of my sleep had very quick results in improving their sleep, so I stuck with it. It's so easy in the early hours when you are exhausted to just pop them on the breast but I really think it's worth spending a little extra time trying to resettle first as it can really help. I'm sure I had a lot of luck in there too, but i do think that my attitude that not every wake requires a feed helped.

Perfectly normal waking pattern for a 3 month old baby.

Thanks Nelly that's really helpful advice.

You could try offering both sides for some/all feeds and see if that helps her to go any longer. I also found the first couple of times my DD slept through was after a really busy day, so maybe if you reduced her daytime naps a bit and tried tiring her out it might break the habit (if it is a habit rather than need).

Could you get your OH to do an expressed feed before he goes to bed so you get a slightly longer period of sleep?