How to get baby to sleep after night changes

[heroineinahalfshell]

My lo is almost 8 weeks. From 3-7 weeks she's slept well, going down at 930/10 and waking every 3-4 hours for a feed. The past week though, when she wakes at around 4am she is then wide awake for 1.5 hours before going back down. Nothing I do will settle her back to sleep any quicker and it's driving me potty.

The routine is:
Wake, feed in bed from one breast lying down. Sit upright with her against my chest to wind for 10 mins (at this point she's still half asleep). Nappy change - this is when she wakes fully. I then lay hsr back down on the bed & offer 2nd breast, which she refuses.

She'll then lie happily on the bed for ages. If I put her back in her crib, she flails & chunters. On the bed she's quiet but awake. Eventually after an hour or so she'll cry, take the 2nd breast ,& go to sleep on the breast, at which point I'll wind her and put her down.

The 4am feed is ths only feed shs gets a nappy change, so I'm sure this is what's waking her up. I keep the lights very low, no eye contact, keep her in her sleeping bag but none of it seems to help, by the end of the change she's wide awake.

Is there anything else I can do, or do I have to just resign myself to this new pattern and hope she snaps out of it soon? Tonight I've been up with hsr ths past 2 hours & DH has slept in the spare room as has a big work meeting tomorrow.

I wouldn’t change nappy unless needed. I have only ever changed nappy overnight if they pooped or if actually wet ( like wet sleepsuit).
It always wakes my baby also, so if he wakes for a feed and does need a nappy change I change before feeding him as then then usually resettles

I was the same as previous poster, only change the nappy if leaking/close to wee capacity or they’d had a poo.
Changing my sons nappy was like a bloody light switch going off in his head and he would be awaaaaaaakkkkkkeeeee.

Always change nappy before feeding during the night they then tend to relax and get sleepy when feeding.

Change first (if you have to change) and hopefully then she’ll still get sleepy while feeding.

As PP said only change the nappy if its pooy (then do it before the feed); otherwise just leave it until morning!

With my DS1 i blindly followed what i was told in hospital of nappy-feed-wind-sleep for months.... i didnt think to stop changing his nappy in the middle of the night until he was about 5 months 🙄. With DD night changes stopped at about 2 weeks!

I second everyone else - change before feeding or ideally, not at all!

Obviously, change before feeding or bigger nappy for the night.

Are you waking her up for the feed?

Also, does she need winding now? Lots of babies only need winding the first few weeks and breastfed babies even less as less chance of air. If she hasn’t got trapped wind I wouldn’t bother winding overnight.

I agree with others, only change nappy if needed! I fell into this trap too until I read on Mumsnet that you really don't need to be changing them in the middle of the night.

Also, I often didn't wind my baby at night. She was winded after every feed during the day, but my HV actually was the one to tell me to not bother at night. But this is baby dependant of course and might not work for your little one.

The routine here has always been feed, baby falls asleep on breast, put back down when deeply asleep. I barely move!

Thanks everyone. The problem is if I don't change her midway through the night, she wakes up with a wet sleepsuit in the morning and then I feel awful. I've also tried changing her before feed but she just starts screaming which then wakes DH. All good suggestions though!

The winding is because she was very unsettled with trapped wind at around 4 weeks, I can experiment with dropping that.

If she’s waking up in the morning soaked through every morning then you may need to go up a size in nappies, check her vest isn’t too tight at the poppers too as this can cause leakage. Do you change right before bed at 10?

Failing that, definitely change before you feed and not after :)

Try changing at the previous feed when she might be more inclined to go back to sleep. Go up a size for night nappies or I think reusables hold more liquid. Or accept waking DH changing before.

The problem is if I don't change her midway through the night, she wakes up with a wet sleepsuit in the morning and then I feel awful. I've also tried changing her before feed but she just starts screaming which then wakes DH. All good suggestions though!

You need bigger or better nappies.

Definitely go up a nappy size and/or try a different brand. I found pampers terrible. The best for me we're Asda's own brand.

I've never changed either of mine once they've gone down for the night unless they're dirty. Neither of them have suffered with nappy rash.

We've actually just gone up to size 2, it's possible her last leaks were in size 1 (I honestly can't remember). Last change before bed can be any time from 7pm - 10pm depending on if she has a wet nappy whem we go up.

I've gone out today and bought Pampers "12 hr" and we'll see if that helps! Failing that DH will just have to put up with a 5 minute scream & I'll change her first. Anything to go back to how we were before, I've been so thankful up til now that she's slept relatively well! Thanks ladies.

I used to change before. Yes DS cried for 2 mins and yes it annoyed DH but that was far better than a very awake baby for an hour. Pick your battles.

On a side note, I found that some supermarket brands were better than the brands at night.
Don't assume that Pampers or similar are the best.

Have you thought about using cloth nappies? Barely any leaks at all, fit is fully adjustable and can boost for additional absorbency. Obviously environmental benefits too and money saving especially if buying preloved but obviously do what works best for you. My lo was still in disposables around then at night but I hated them. She gets an awful rash with any disposable but I think it was because of the disposable fabric and it being wet. She never tolerated them well so cloth was an easy option for us to go down. Not so easy if you don’t like laundry though!

One boob, change then the other boob.

Definitely change her first. It's obviously better all around if you all wake up and then she settles back to sleep than for you to be up for 2 hours trying to settle her. My first was ff and dh was up doing all the changes and making the bottles while I did the feeding and settling at every night feed...this is despite working 60 hour weeks in a full time job and starting a business evenings and weekends. Surely, your dh can just go back to sleep after? Or if it's a really important night with something big at work the next day, go to bed early and wear earplugs.

Also, second the supermarket brands being very good. I think pampers are rubbish, but Tesco and Asda have always been very good.