12 wk ds still feeding every 3 hrs at night - is this normal?

[Hillbilly]

Not strictly true but our night times generally go like this:

After bath I feed ds (12wks) around 6.45 and have him in bed by 7.30ish. He usually sleeps until 11pm or midnight when he wakes for a feed. After that he will always wake every 3 hours or sometimes less.

I had tried to implement a "Dreamfeed" at 10.30/11pm but found that I ended up not sleeping myself until after 11 and often having 3 more wake ups after that. As it stands at the moment I go to bed at 10pm and usually get at least 1.5 hrs sleep myself before his first wake up.

He can obviously go at least 5 hrs as he has done before. Also, when he wakes around 2/3am he often has only a small feed before going back to sleep. I figure maybe he does not need this feed and I should try to sooth him back to sleep perhaps with cool boiled water but he hates it and screams. I have another child to think about and do not want her to be woken up so I always give in to feeding my son.

One point to mention, he is totally breastfed except for the midnight feed when he will only take about 80/100 ml (3/4 oz) formula, so the long stretch of sleep is after being breastfed not after formula. During the day he is fed every 3-3.5 hrs.

I can deal with these night times but really would like some advice to help getting him to go a little longer between feeds after midnight.

Please excuse me if you have read this thread in another section, I have posted it twice.

my DS is 11wks and is basically the same. Sounds perfectly normal to me. He is still very little and needs milk and cuddles.

I wouldn't recommend withdrawing night feeds for water- he needs milk at this age, def not water.

do you cluster feed before bed? This may push the first wake up a bit later (so 12/1 rather than 11/12). Then would probably only want one more feed before morning.
12 wks is still very young though and although some babies are sleeping 11-7 without feeding they are not the norm

Thats normal breast fed babies often wake up for night feeds its very normal. Also help with your milk suply.

Some will go longer. But it is important to feed your lo when he's hungry. Maybe you could try and make him have a longer feed at 11 so that he'll go a little longer till the next feed.
If he's to tired to feed for long, keep him awake feed him in a light room tikle his feet ears etc.

help too even. Is it possible to co sleep so you don't have to get up?

yep, its normal. Don't believe those that tell you their babies sleep through the night at this age.

Totally normal, i would say the 5 hour stretch is pretty good going at that age.

Feeding a 12 week old baby when they want fed is not giving in.

Thanks all

Tried cluster feeding but then he did not want much at 11/12 hence I was up longer with him at 3am.

I thought it was most probably normal but cannot remember from when my dd was this age, but I think ds is doing better at sleeping than she was.

Also not keen on giving water so only tried once.

He's such a good boy too and goes straight back to sleep after feeding so I am not complaining!

Sounds just like my 9 week ds

Has he always been like this, or has he previously gone through phases of sleeping for longer? He might be going through a growth at the mo, and need to feed often for a couple of days/weeks.

No Scouserabroad, he used to go down much later but I gradually made bedtime earlier and earlier. He also used to have a problem settling back to sleep after about 3am and he would cough and splutter a lot but now that seems to be fine as at least he goes straight back to sleep after feeding and the we all get up around 7am. I can't complain as I know there are lots of people with real sleep issues!

Starlight - I think I would rather the situation I have now than to keep him up until I go to bed!! Thanks though!

Sounds like what my ds did at that age. Perfectly normal.