Sleep

[karenferris]

Hello, I've got two questions - greedy me

My dd is three months old today and the last few nights she has been waking at least four times, when for the previous 3 weeks she was only waking twice - any advice????

We are going to put her into her own room after christmas and into her cot (and hopefully to sleep through)- any tips?

Thanks in anticipation!!

Is she waking to feed? Could be a growth spurt? In which case will settle down again soon.

Probably a growth spurt and as beansprout said, will settle soon (and then she'll have another one - ho ho!).

How about a sleeping bag for when she goes in her own room (if sh's not aleady in one) - so she doesn't get cold when she kicks off her blankets?

Another vote for sleeping bags. Bloody godsend in our house!

I've got to go with sleeping bags. Dd used to wake up as had kicked the covers off and got cold. since the sleepingbag she sleeps through.

Amen for sleeping bags - they're great.

Also, how old exactly is your DD - how many weeks? If she's over 3 months i.e. 14 weeks or so could be she's getting ready to start being weened.

re putting in her cot, I would start putting her in there to get her used to it. put her in her cot for daytime naps, and perhaps at night before you go to bed and then bring her into your room after late night feed just before you go to bed, that way going into her cot for the first time won't be such a daunting thing for her as she'll be used to the cot itself

Babies are NOT ready for weaning at 3 months!!!

Is the room warm? DS was waking up regularly during the night until we bought an oil-filled portable radiator and since then he's never woken up during the night.

no, generally they are ready for weening at 4 months but it's not uncommon for babies to start waking more from 14 weeks especially if they are big babies. I know two people, one a midwife and one a health visitor that started putting just a half teaspoon of baby rice into baby's bottle at teatime from 14 weeks because baby was waking up in the night when that didn't happen before.

No, we now know that babies should not be weaned until 6 months or thereabouts. Their digestive systems are simply not ready before then.

I know people who have done lots of things. Doesn't make them a good idea.

Oh and on the big baby front, ds was flipping enormous (10lb 5oz at birth and stayed high up on the charts) and was happy on milk until 7 months. It was hard work for me but that wasn't the reason to wean him early.

Beansprout,
I didn't know babies shouldn't be weaned till 6 months and their digestive systems aren't ready. Our HV was aware we started weaning at 5 months and didn't say we shouldn't or that he wasn't ready. Do you have any weblinks that explains why?

I would totally disagree that babies shouldn't be weened until 6 months, babies have been being weened at 4 months for centuries and it hasn't appeared to have done them any harm. There is no way on this earth I could have fed DS on just milk until 6 months - he was ready at 4 months - was rejecting milk but still crying because he was hungry. As soon as I started giving him baby rice as well he was a totally different child - and this happened on the advice of my HV. It's true that the government guideline to start weening babies at 6 months wasn't issued until last year, but if I have another baby I will still ween at 4 months.

sugarbaby - they should be struck off....rice in the baby's bottle?

Pablo - here you are

Brusselsbeansprouts

The link you gave seems to be saying that it is not recommended to wean before 6 months which is entirely different from saying that you shouldn't wean until then and that babies digestive systems aren't ready.

It is recommended that you feed your children fruit instead of McDonalds, it doesn't mean you shouldn't or that they can't take it.

Also, I suspect that a lot of the recommendations are based on WHO recommendations which in turn may be influenced by a concern over the poor quality of food in developing countries.

In developed countries, I think they find a slight increase in the health of babies that delayed weaning until 6 months. But I can't find any strong evidence. I am sure that studies show a slight increase in infant mortality in babies that are regularly transported in cars, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't transport babies in cars.

Having read various sources, I couldn't find any strong statistical evidence to suggest that I would harm my baby in anyway if I weaned him at 5 months. To be told that we know I shouldn't is a tad upsetting to me.

Pablo, why did you wean at 5 months?

All organisations can do is is present the evidence and recommend. It's up to parents to make the choices but the DoH, WHO etc etc all recommend 6 months. I waited until then and don't have to defend my position and don't have to worry that I may have adversely affected ds (not on that basis anyway!! )

you're right, it is a guideline only, and having looked around the suggestion is that it is based on statistics from developing countries. there are many such guidelines regarding babies and children but that doesn't mean that if we don't follow them we are doing our children harm. there is a study for instance that says that it is better to breast Feed, but that doesn't mean that bottle feeding is wrong or can harm your child, by the same token there is a guideline that says that babies should sleep in their parents bedroom for the first year to combat the risk of cot death, but I know very few parents who abide by that, and who have happy healthy children years down the line.

Every child is unique, and if your child is ready to be weened at 5 months or even 4 months as guidelines suggested should happen until just a year ago, then that child is unlikely to come to any harm as a result. you will know what is best for your own child, and I certainly know that it was best for my child to be weened at 4 months, no statistic or guideline could ever convince me it was the right thing to do to allow my child to scream with hunger purely because the government says that maybe I should wait another 2 months

I think the guideline for SIDS is 6 months in the parent(s) room. I know a lot of people who have co-slept and their babies were fine. I also know someone who did (my SIL) and her dd died. SIDS is an extreme example but the guidelines aren't just made up to keep civil servants et al in work you know. They are there for good reasons to save the rest of us a lot of trial and error.

Actually, I might be quite happy living in a communist state the way I'm sounding today!!

bbs,
I weaned at 5 months because DS seemed hungry and miserable and was waking up during the night. I have never seem him as escatic as those early days eating pear puree and he's seemed much happier since and has slept through. As I said, I couldn't find any strong evidence to suggest I shouldn't - simply that it was recommended by WHO and others to wait till 6 months.

As DS gets older I will probably also buy him more McDonalds than recommended and let him play on his playstation more than recommended. I won't, however, smoke around him because there is very strong and clear evidence that this will harm him.

As for worrying about adversly affecting DS, I worry every single minute of every day just like every other parent.

The problem I have with guidelines is that they seem to be based on the last study carried out, and the problem I have with studies is that every study seems to come to a different conclusion, so guidelines are always changing. As far as I know, the only guidelines ever given in the entire world that have never been contracticted later on is that
a) broccoli is good for you and
b) smoking is bad for you
Everything else seems to be open to debate. No doubt someone will now point me in the direction of a study that show excessive broccoli consumption being linked to asthma.

Fair enough Pablo. I'm happy to go with guidelines as they are based on more than my own (in)experience and I assume that the intentions are good. I'm not saying they are sacrosanct, just the best we have to go on to make our decisions.

Smoking is just mad though and people still do it, so we are hardly all being dictated to by the state.

Wow I didn't expect such in depth discussion!! Thanks for all the messages, DD is upstairs asleep as we speak . Will report what happens tonight. She's not slept through yet, so I'm not expecting miracles but she's been well fed and in her sleeping bag in our warm bedroom!!

Hi KF - I found moving ds2 into his bedroom a godsend. We didn't hear every snort and grunt and when he woke in the night could settle himself back down without me hearing (or hearing but not moving ). Good luck tonight!

Thanks again. DD's sleep has settled down again and was v well behaved at the weekend whilst staying at the in-laws! Had second lot of jabs today so DD not quite so happy .