Is it hunger at night or comfort?

[KatyBeau]

Before Christmas my baby was sleeping from 10pm to 6am. She's a very active baby. Won't sleep any earlier than that, and doesn't nap much in the day unless she's being driven/in pram or doze while feeding.

After Christmas she started waking around 3am/4am wanting a feed. I thought she would settle back after a few weeks but for the last 3 weeks she's often been waking every 2-3 hours all night. she's now 20 weeks (4.5 months)

I reached exhaustion point and spoke to a health visitor who said to start her on solids as she probably needs more calories. She's lapping up the baby rice. :)

However, she's still waking at odd times in the night. Possibly partly down to wind. I just gave her a dummy which got her back to sleep (she's not used a dummy in months).

What I'm unsure about is whether dummy use at night will mask any true hunger. Maybe she really does need the night feeds at this stage? And will the dummy use become habit too? Or will it help her get used to not needing a feed until she eventually stops waking?

I'm a wee bit confused and am not sure what is best!

It sounds like a classic 4 month sleep regression.

Not something I know much about but if you use the search box you will find lots of info on here. It will pass.

I wouldn't introduce solids. It is reccomended to wait till six months so sadly your HV has give you very outdated info. Especially as (i have been told) that baby rice hasn't got much to offer nutritionally.

You don't say weather your dd is breast or formula fed, but my ds (breastfed) was deffinatly still waking up for feeds at this stage.

I would offer more milk and see how it goes.

IIRC from other threads on here, milk has more calories than baby rice; baby rice makes babies feel fuller for fewer calories.

Lots of babies go through a sleep regression at 4 months, and again after that every few weeks until they're at least 1. Their sleeping patterns change frequently - starting solids won't make any difference to sleep.

As an aside, DD (10mo) is still having a bottle at 11pm and sometimes at about 4am.

Personally, I would give an extra feed when she wakes up so both she and you can have a good night sleep.

And I would add to the above that she is probably ready for a bedtime routine that starts earlier than 10pm. If she is overtired or over stimulated she will not sleep as well and wake more. The more they sleep they better they sleep imo. Maybe start gradually bringing the bedtime forward 30mins a night and have in mind set (ish) times to feed her. With my dd at this age she went to bed at about 7.30pm, I would wake and feed her when I went to bed at about 10pmish and then she would mostly go through til 4am when I would feed her again.

As for the weaning if she is enjoying it seems a bit pointless to stop but obviously take it very slowly at this age

Thanks everyone. Have been thinking about the baby rice, and will continue giving her very small amounts in milk until she's closer to 6 months. As you say, it's not giving her much nutritionally, it's more getting her used to taking something from a spoon. She seems up enjoy it, and it may help give her a gentle, fun intro to proper solids later.

Thanks for the advice on an earlier bedtime. I'm going to start bringing back bedtime. Hopefully the 1am waking may turn into a 10pm ish last feed after a few hours' sleep. I expect that she'll then wake earlier in the morning, but that's fine by me, as it's the 1am to 3am waking that kills me!

One thing I'm not sure about. If I can soothe her back to sleep if she wakes in the night upset and wanting to suck, am I doing her out of a feed she needs, or would she wake again soon later if she really needed a feed? I never know if soothing and distraction should be first response or a feed. If I feed her, she'll be semi awake feeding for a good hou, though. If I soothe her other ways (patting, stroking, sometimes dummy for a few mins until she gets sleepy), she cam be back asleep in 15mins. I just can't tell the difference between hunger and being upset because she's woken up!

All my DC have done similar (ie slept all night then started waking again), although have slept well once on 3 solid meals. They were hungry.

I can't believe your HV said start on solids. What crap advice. NHS guidelines say milk only until 6 months - why are NHS employees saying otherwise. As others have said, 4 month sleep regression plus growth spurt - they start feeding more because they need more milk.

Is she breastfed OP? I personally would always feed a baby that wanted to suck and never fob off with a dummy or patting or whatever. But that's me. And there is no way on earth that my DD (6 months) would be fobbed off with a shush or a pat. But she's a great big fat baby.. This idea of trying to space out feeds and distracting a baby from wanting to feed rather than actually feeding him/her has I think come from our formula feeding culture and has no real place in a good breastfeeding relationship. Again, my opinion.

I don't think you can differentiate between hunger sucking and comfort sucking as breastfeeding incorporate both things. If I were you, OP, I would feed when she woke up and co sleep.

Agree your HV is wrong to tell you to ignore the guidelines.

There's info on the 4 month regression here, here, here and here.

But I reckon overtiredness from poor daytime sleep could be part of the problem. At that age she'll need 3 naps, with at least one being longer than 40-45 mins. If she doesn't nap for longer than that at once, she might need 4 naps a day. A nap of less than 30 mins is the equivalent of no nap at all, and a 30 min nap usually indicates she's been awake for too long & is overtired. An early bedtime will help reduce overtiredness.

I do soothing (patting/rocking) as first response, then feed if DS isn't asleep again in 15 mins. In practice I can tell within 1-2 mins whether he wants a feed though as he gets cross with the patting etc.

My dd is going through the sane thing. She has a bedtime routine and is asleep by 7.30pm every night,but used to sleep until 5am but this has gone completely out the window from about 18wks onwards! She was waking every 2hrs and feeding hungrily,so I started weaning at 21wks (I weaned ds at 20wks no problems at all). She was definitely ready as immediately started sleeping 7.30-3ish,however, she then wakes again about 5,and then at 7. When she wakes at 3 she's v.hungry but wakings after this are just for comfort. I still feed her though,she's bf and it's the easiest way to get her back to sleep. As you've already started weaning I think it would be hard to stop now-I'm just taking it slowly with amounts/introducing new foods. I know official advice is 6mnths,but this is a guideline,baby's all develop differently so you need to do what's right for you and your child

I think if your baby is really hungry they wouldn't settle back after 15mins so I wouldn't worry about feeding. I only fed at night when all else had failed!!!

Thanks for the varied opinions. This parenthood thing is so confusing! Different info and opinions all over the place. I guess as long dad you do what is right for your baby that's what counts. Wish I could do cosleeping and just feed all through the night, but that's what got me to the stage of being I'll through sleep deprivation, and that doesn't help my little girl one bit. Things are getting better, down to one feed a night again and she seems quite happy, and I'm not about to drop anymore!