Why has my 12wo stopped sleeping through

[Floopyandtired]

Please don’t flame me for this thread, I know it’s biologically normal for young babies to wake and feed at night and I have no issue with my DS doing this. But he’s 12 weeks old (exclusively BF) and around 9 weeks old he started sleeping through 10pm-6am. I did nothing to encourage this, it just happened. However, the last week or so he has started waking once or twice a night again for a feed.

Is there anything I’m doing wrong regarding naps that means he’s not sleeping through any more? I basically let him sleep as he wishes in the day which is generally 4-5 30 min naps plus a longer lunch time nap of 2-3 hours. Should I be attempting to reduce daytime naps to help him sleep longer at night? Am I doing him a disservice by not having a stricter routine?

DS1 was a non sleeper and I was just grateful when he slept at all so I never had any of these worries!

It’s totally normal. The 4 month sleep regression happens anytime around 3 to 5 months. They just sleep worse for a while!

Sleep isn't linear, especially in the first year. It probably doesn't have a reason, he's just being a baby :) Don't worry, keep doing what you're doing.

They go through phases of sleeping through and not sleeping through. Growth spurts, teething, when they are about to learn something new all impact on sleep. Just go with it.

My experience (only have one DD) was w growth spurt at 12 weeks that brought with it a bit of fussiness. It more affected the day than night for us but your post made me think maybe your baby is growing and so needs a bit more food. This growth spurt passed in 1-2 weeks for us and was distinct from the 4 month sleep regression

Thank you so much everyone for taking the time to reply. This period of extra waking has definitely been accompanied by fussiness, hands constantly in mouth, lots of gurgling and shouting etc. I know on the whole I’m really lucky to have a BF baby who only wakes once or twice a night but I was worried I was doing something wrong with naps. It’s reassuring to know that’s probably not the case. We shall see how tonight goes, fingers crossed!

Every baby is different but I have heard of regression. However, my LO didn't start sleeping through til 13 weeks so you've been lucky if you've had sleep before I did 😂

I could have written your post myself OP.
My baby is 19 weeks (4&1/2 months) from about 9 weeks she slept 10-6 then around 13 weeks she start waking about 3 times a night. The last week or so it has reduced to mostly just once but we're on the right track I think.

I didn't change anything, just followed her lead. Now she's usually in bed for 8/8:30 and wakes for a feed once between 3am & 5am and up at 7am.

I could have written your post myself OP.
My baby is 19 weeks (4&1/2 months) from about 9 weeks she slept 10-6 then around 13 weeks she start waking about 3 times a night. The last week or so it has reduced to mostly just once but we're on the right track I think.

I didn't change anything, just followed her lead. Now she's usually in bed for 8/8:30 and wakes for a feed once between 3am & 5am and up at 7am.

Sounds like regression to me too. My first was such a bad sleeper she couldn't regress but my second was regularly flipping 6-7 hours then it hit around 12/14 weeks and since then it's been a bit of a disaster, still waking hourly at 13 months 😩. I do think this is extreme though and most people I know found it lasted a few weeks tops.

Last night we had 1:30 and 5:30 wake ups and he seemed genuinely hungry each time. He also woke at 3:15 but gurgled for 10 mins and went back to sleep. I guess it’s just one of those things and hopefully will pass