What is happening? She just to sleep through the night and now wakes up to demand a feed at 3am. Help please!!!!

[Mareta]

Hi all(needing all your help ,

DD is 12 months in two weeks time and for the last month she has started waking up at 3am for a feed. She used to sleep from 7:30pm till 6am and now it seems she has moved her 6am feed to 3am.

She has always had a very good bed time routine and it has never being a problem going to sleep. Her routine is:

3am (used to be 6am) Breastmilk
7:30-8am wake up
8:30am Breakfast (cereals with cows milk or toast with unsalted butter)
10:30am Morning nap (only 30-40 minutes)
11am Snack (piece of fruit)
1-1:30pm Lunch (Main meal and fruit)
2pm Breastmilk
2-4pm Afternoon nap (duration may vary. It can be an hour, 1 1/2hour or 2 hours)
4:30pm Snack (fruit)
6:30pm Dinner (main meal and yogurt)
7pm Bath
7:30pm Breastmilk and sleep

Her amount of food during the day is plenty, she has as much as she wants and if she wants more she will demand it. Which makes me think this cannot be the reason why DD keeps waking up at 3am to demand a feed. Also I don't think she is teething at the moment. We did have a bad time in June when all four top teeth came through but at the moment she is showing no signs of teething.

Last night we try to confort her without feeding her for first time but we ended giving up. When she woke up I went to her room and told her that it was time to sleep. I stayed a bit with her and then left. She kept crying so DP went to her room. He managed to make her sleep for 10 minutes but then woke up again and I went again. When I came to her room she was standing up in her cot and when she saw me she giggled and then I breastfeed her (as we were already very tired after 90 minutes ) and she felt sleep after a very long feed.

We are completly lost at the moment as she used to be able to sleep till 6am and now she doesn' want to/can.

Also want to mention that the amount of sleep that she has during the day does not seem to afect her sleep at night. Doesn't matter if she sleep 1 hour in the day of 2 1/2 hours, she stills wakes up at 3am for her feed.

As you can see we are desperate, we are very tired and we really need a good night sleep again.

Is this also happening to you? Do you have an idea of why she has changed her feed of 6am to 3am? HV told us that she shouldn't need a feed at 3am and that we should star thinking on stop giving her that breast feed and let her cry. Is this the solution? We have even thought if she has starting dreaming and may be the reason of why she waks up. But to be honest I am not sure this is happening, not after last night.

It would be very good if you have a solution for us. Thank you very much for reading this thread as I have just realised it is very long. Thank you for you pacience.

I'm sorry that your DD has suddenly upset such settled sleep patterns, but it's not that uncommon.
Is it possible that she's having a growth spurt and is genuinely hungry?
Alternatively, is it very hot in your house and she's just thirsty?
Or, is it light in her room and she's waking as the sun comes up?

Regardless of the reason, I think you'll find she stops waking if she knows there's no feed coming no matter how much she cries for it.

When my DD was 9 months old I decided to stop BFing at night.
I offered her water instead. (She took some the first time and never accepted it again as she wasn't actually thirsty.)
I then changed her nappy to give her some attention and handling.
Then I simply cuddled her back to sleep.
She cried a lot the first night.
She cried a bit the second night.
She barely cried at all the third night.
It only took a couple more nights and she stopped waking up altogether. She got the idea that the feed wasn't coming and stopped asking for it.
Be strong and if you decide not to feed her, don't, however much she cries.

Is it always (almost) exactly 3am? If so you could try disturbing her sleep, without waking her, at 2am. 'tis called wake to sleep, bizarrely it often works with habitual waking.

She may be thirsty. Offer water/ milk in cup, cuddle, then back in cot. Be consistent and she will probably start sleeping through more often.

My DD3 is 12 months and has NEVER slept through though, so you are doing really well. good luck.

Also perhaps give her a higher calorie snack in the afternoon - buttered toast or cheese sticks - it may be that she is getting a bit too much fruit and some more fat/protein would help her get through the night.

She could be thirsty or going through a growth spurt. DS didn't sleep through regularly til about 2 and a half.

I wouldn't let her cry if she is genuinely hungry. Try giving her water first, rather than milk straight away to see if she is just thirsty.

BTW i still feeed DS up before bed so that he sleeps well and he's 4. He wakes really early (5ish) if he's hungry.

Could be to do with the 13 month (55 week) sleep regression. See here

The sleep regression AngelDog mentions happens when they're learning to walk roughly. You very often find them standing in their cot instead of lying down. It's developmental and normal. It's best to comfort them in whatever way works.

It is completely feasible though that she's hungry. If she is having a long feed and demanding it (whilst keeping up with the same daily routine and hunger), then maybe she just needs more calories atm.

TBH, a feed at 3am sounds fairly straightforward to me (my dd woke regularly at that age) and if you have the means to settle her in your breasts, perhaps you could try just going with it and allowing her what she seems to need for now?

Thank you all for your replies. I think I will keep feeding her as it seems it is what she needs.

DTD: it always seems to wake up at the same time, 3am.

It just feels funny that she does not wake up for her feed at 6am and instead she demands it at 3am.

I hope she will rearrange her feeds again some time soon

I can always count with the expertise of mumnetters. Thank you again

Our little girl was 1 year before she slept through. This is when we found out she had allergies. As soon as we adjusted her diet, she slept through.