Routines/Sleeping through the night

[SarahAndMegan]

Hi, My Dd is nearly 12 weeks and I'm kind of getting into a routine now, which is great and I feel I'm adjusting to being a new mum. The only thing is she's not consistently sleeping through the night yet. She feeds well in the day and takes a morning and afternoon nap, and often needs a fifteen minute cat nap in the early evening. She won't stay awake long past 8pm, but often wakes at 2-3am. She has a dummy when tired, and uses it to get to sleep in daytime but often doesn't need it at night. I've often been feeding her at 2-3am but she only takes about 3-4 ounces before falling fast asleep again so past couple of nights have just popped dummy in and she settles off till about 6.30am. Am I trying too hard and too soon to get her sleeping through and will she just settle into her own routine? Any suggestions would be lovely. I'm not tired or at the end of my tether, just a new mum who'd like to understand a bit more! Thank you

her weight is a big indicator of if she is up to. i heard aim for 6 hours at 6 weeks and 12 hours at 12 weeks. personally i aimed for the 12 hours at six months because she was a bit underweight and i am a big softie. though didn't need to push - she did it automatically!

if your dd is happy during the day, and alert, and her weight is fine, why not?

Her weight is great, she was nearly 10Lb at birth, and is still putting on weight very well. She's wonderful in the day etc so maybe I should just get on with it!

Your lo is doing great for 12 weeks Babies can need a night feed for up to 6 months old (or some even older) and it is quite rare for babies to sleep through too much earlier than that. I would just thank my lucky stars that your lo is doing so well with her sleeping and if she is not hungry, just continue to give the dummy - your lo will get there when she is ready to.

it sounds like she is doing realy well!
could you wake and feed her just before you go to sleep perhaps? then chances are she will sleep for a long stretch and you won't have to wake during the night.
my ds is 9 weeks and generally sleeps from 11ish til 6/7 am, though he obviously wakes up sometimes during the night for a feed.

i always said before he was born that i didnt want a dummy ..god knows why, they are certainly a good thing!

oops..just realised how you might read that..obviously i didn't personally want a dummy! not such a good look for a 22 year old..teehee

You sound very relaxed and calm, and like you're doing great! My ds slept right through the night of his 8wk injs. and the next 2 nights, then began to wake again. I wasn't bothered either as I then knew he could do it. They change so much, growth spurts etc, some days and nights they'll feed none stop, others they'll sleep a lot more. I let my ds find his own and he did very quickly, I'm sure your lo will too. Some people do a dreamfeed around 11pm or whenever they go to bed, to get their lo to sleep through, I prefered to have him in a good bedtime routine (as it were) from early on, so he had his bath around 6 or 7 and then was down for the night, and there fore I didn't mind being up for a feed at 4 or 6 am. I decided to do what worked best for my own routine, and as I wasn't planmning on going back to work, I decided to do that. Do what works for you at the time, as it all changes anyway. Good luck (sorry for the rant!)

Thank you all so much for the suggestions, I think I will see how things go, as it was I put her down about 8.30 last night and she went through till 5.30, popped in her dummy and she slept till she heard DH leaving for work at about 6.15! Altho she wasn't screaming I thought I'd feed her because she must have been hungry! She only took 4 ounces and fell asleep again so I put her back down thinking she'd be up about 8 as usual. Well, 9.30 the doorbell goes and I fly out of a deep sleep to answer the door to a very embarrassed looking post man in my pyjamas with hair everywhere to receive a parcel! !!!
I ran into nursery thinking something must be wrong, and there was Dd fast asleep still arms spread out and a big grin on her face!! Ha Ha! Hence I'm still in bloody pyjamas as my whole day seems behind and thrown into the wind! I should've been up at 6.15 with her I guess, never mind, had a lovely lie-in !!!