What to do when baby wakes?

[Pleasegothefucktosleep]

DD is 12 weeks old and the past few nights she’s woken up at 1-2am and then getting up at 4-5am.

She will noisily babble and shout so I can’t ignore her but I don’t want her to do this every night. I want her to learn that it’s sleeping time.

What do I do? She was sleeping a good 6 hours straight but now it’s changed to this. I’m exhausted 😟 she doesn’t sleep during the day unless we are out and she’s in her pram.

Sleep regression is very common around this age - unfortunately at 12 weeks old she can’t learn that it’s sleeping time yet. At this age if she’s crying then she needs something. If she’s just awake and making noise then patting and stroking her back / head is fine.

We had a co-sleeper cot next to our bed for the twins which really helped as we weren’t up and down all night and could pat and stroke from the bed

In terms of day time sleep, making sure that she’s full and has had enough sensory stimulation will help with sleeping - this was really helpful when I had my two possumsonline.com/blog/babys-sensory-hunger

Its totally normal for a baby to wake several times a night to feed until they wean. Change, feed, back to sleep. It's not the waking that's the issue, its that you need to be able to settle her back to sleep. Keep things quiet and dark so they know it's still night time.

Keep night dark and boring, and keep talking to a minimum. She’ll eventually get the idea that it’s sleeping time. I wonder if the 4-5 am wake up is because it’s light ? Maybe try and blackout the room.

Yeah, that's what they do. Sleep patterns change all the time. As PP have said keep it nice and dark, talk to a minimum and just ride it out.

What happens if you feed her?

Thanks all.

Last night she got fed at 2am which was fine as that sent her back to sleep but then she woke up two hours later babbling and shouting.

Her Moses basket is right next to me so I can put my hands on her etc

What happens if you feed her again?

12 weeks is still tiny. She is probably hungry. Even if she has slept longer before things change rapidly when they're little.

Do you usually feed her when she wakes?

I think I might have misunderstood - are you putting her down, she's waking up once and then getting up at 4-5am? I'm afraid to say that sounds pretty good for a 12 week old! I'm getting this at 8 months and feel like this is good progress....

You're expecting too much, she's only 12 weeks!! Mine has always been a great sleeper and even he was not sleeping through till about 5 months. She's probably hungry

At 12 weeks old, the obvious thing to do is feed her.

I know this isn't what you want to hear but her sleep is pretty good for a baby her age. I would have been overjoyed by a night like that when my son was 12 weeks!

Yep, feed her!

I fed her at the 2am waking but not the 4am one. She fed again at like 5.30

It’s just surprised me as she was doing so well with her sleep 🙈 oh well we shall power through.

Why did you not feed her?

At this age, if they wake up, feed them. Honestly.

Just feed her. It's very normal for them to still be waking to feed 2-3 times a night at this age, and it's usually the quickest way to get them back to sleep and to sleep longer in the morning.

Just feed her each time she wakes up then she'll probably go back to sleep.

Thats what i did with my dd until it was actually morning

Yeah just feed her. And keep it dark and quiet, she may just go back to sleep after a while.
I think some people automatically get their baby up for the day during what is really just a night waking. Then baby gets into the habit of starting the day at 4/5am.

DD is now 6 months old.

If she wakes in the night (which she does, 2 or 3 times), she gets a boob stuck in her mouth. 99% of the time she's back asleep within 15 minutes!