19 weeks EBF and sudden night waking - ready to wean?

[BraveGirl]

I thought I had the perfect baby....

He is EBF.
By 14 weeks we'd eliminated the night feeds.
By 18 weeks he was sleeping through until approx 6.45am, self soothing if he woke.

His daytime routine ran like clockwork: at 9am he would sleep approx 1hour, then feed at 10am. At 12 he would sleep for 1hour 30 mins and feed at 1.30pm. At 3.30pm he would sleep for 1hour and feed at 4.30pm. Bedtime routine started at 6pm with story, nappy off time and bath. Bedtime feed would be at 6.45pm lasting 1hour. After this he was put down awake and fell immediately to sleep with no fuss.

He's always been on the small side, tracking at 2nd percentile.

Last night (19+ weeks), he woke at 1.10am, and couldn't be soothed back to sleep. At 2.30 am I fed him. He still wouldn't sleep. He finally fell asleep at around 3.30am. He slept for an hour and woke again. Soothing and reswaddling worked this time. He slept until 8am this morning, so our routine is out of step.

I took him to the HV clinic this morning to find out if there's something I'm not aware of (growth spurt etc). He has gained weight, but is dropping on percentiles. They thought this might be an indication that he is ready for weaning and have advised me to squeeze an extra daytime feed is and wait and see. Could my LO be ready for food - he's not showed any other signs? He's not really interested if we eat around him. He's certainly not sitting up unaided.
I wondered if anyone else has any other ideas/experience of this?

Thanks!

No, not ready, too young. He's waking because babies start waking at his age. He's normal. He's having a development spurt. If he needs more calories, he needs more breastmilk, not mushed up, uncalorific carrots etc. He can't even absorb much from carrots yet, his gut is not mature enough. Just feed him more. He'll settle back down again in a couple of weeks. Babies always do this.

I was planning to try and squeeze an additional feed in at some point today to see if that helps. I did think it was too early to start weaning!!!

My DS is also 19 weeks, and also, after sleeping through for a month, beginning to wake again. We are mixed feeding and initially thought it was a growth spurt. We upped his night time bottle to see if it would help, but it hasn't. I think it's the dreaded 4 month sleep regression, see "here www.askmoxie.org/2006/02/qa_what_are_sle.html"
No magic solutions but knowing why it's happening makes it easier to bear
You are not alone!

No, no, no. 4 month sleep regression definitely. Remember that any of the foods that you can give him before 6 months are so low in calories compared to milk that there is no point in substituting milk with them if your DC is hungry anyway. Hang in there. It will improve.

Yes, it's the 4 month sleep regression - their brains are really busy working on a huge developmental spurt which happens at around 19 weeks.

There is a great book explaining it called The Wonder Weeks by two scientists who researched all the developmental spurts up to 13 months.

They say "Your baby may not settle down well at night now. It may be more difficult to get her to bed in the evenings, or she may lie awake at night. She may want a night feeding again, or she may even demand to be fed several times a night. She may also wake up much earlier in the morning."

They also say: "The fussy period preceding the developmental spurt will often last 5 weeks, although it may be as short as 1 week or as long as 6."

The good news is that is passes on its own and it's not a sign of needing solid food.

There?s useful information on the sleep regression here, here, here and here.

My ds2 is also 19 weeks and ebf. ALthough he has never slept through , his sleep has certainly gone to pot over the last 2 or 3 weeks. He's now waking 3 times on average between 7 and 7 and is suddenly much more difficult to settle at bedtime and for naps.

Reading angeldog's excerpt above pretty much describes his behaviour to a tee. Exhausting, infuriating, but just one of those things to get through. It's too early for weaning - ignore the HV!

"Your baby may not settle down well at night now. It may be more difficult to get her to bed in the evenings, or she may lie awake at night. She may want a night feeding again, or she may even demand to be fed several times a night. She may also wake up much earlier in the morning."

Well tonight it took 45 minutes to coax him to sleep, eventually succeeding with a full swaddle and dummy (previously he was half swaddled and sucked his fingers).
As for the rest of it, I guess tonight will tell (and of course DH is away on business tonight! Anyone got any tips for getting them back to sleep during the regression? Last night I tried to use Jo Tantum's spaced soothing, but for the first time, it failed me. What else might be effective?

BraveGirl, I just fed (bf) every time he woke up. He woke 1-2 times a night before the regression, 3-4 times during it, then went back to 1-2 times a night.

Last night he woke once at 2.50 so I bf him, but he didn't go back to sleep until 4.40. He was very sleepy on the breast, but as soon as I took him off,he was wide awake again. Needless to say we had a lie in until 8am today!!!
How long does this regression usually last?!

It was my health visitor who suggested weaning, but as I really wanted to try BLW, I was reluctant as I know that has to be done at 6 months.
I've been reading avidly the links about this 19 week developmental spurt and I am recognising a lot of the signs. Admittedly, he went to bed easily tonight - as he would normally. I accept that he may wake in the night, and will check to see if hungry before feeding. I went to a talk on weaning today, and certainly he's not showing any other signs - he's not that interested when we eat around him, he can't sit up and although he has good head control, his eye-hand-mouth co-ordination is not brilliant.
Last night was just one wake in the night - I can deal with that. And I regularly check for hunger on him and never limit his time at the breast. I was worried the first night about feeding him, as I'd not fed at that time for 7 weeks, but we managed fine.
MIL visited today and suggested that perhaps my milk wasn't enough in the evenings and should be supplemented by a bottle (EBM / formula). She didn't breastfeed herself, and at first I panicked and started to question myself, but have since tried to reassure myself.
I will read up on WHO guidelines though - thanks for the tip!

guidelines here - follow the link to 'complementary feeding' to read more about introducing solids. When you read the detailed information, '6 months' is taken to mean 26 weeks.

The NHS recommendations are to allow your baby to eat finger foods before 6 months if they show the signs of readiness - that they are able to sit unsupported and can pick up and taste finger foods without help. Otherwise they recommend waiting till around 6 months. This is based on the research collated by the WHO.

Foods for early weaning are the sort of things you'd eat if you were on a diet - not the sort of thing that will fill your DC up with fats and calories (that's milk ).

The NHS weaning leaflet explicitly says that more waking between 3 and 5 months doesn't necessarily suggest the need for more food.

We do BLW and my 9.5 DS eats as much as he wants - a huge amount, often half of what my DH eats (and he doesn't have a small appetite either ). He also has around 6 bfs a day and still needs at least one night feed. The only difference that starting solids made was to cause him to wake more frequently as he got used to the sensation of solids in his digestive system.

(BLW is great fun though, and it might be coincidental, but we've had far less stress over weaning than any of my spoon-feeding friends.)

Being awake for periods in the middle of the night is normal sleep regression behaviour too - my DS always does it prior to a developmental spurt (or if he's overtired) then it stops again without me doing anything different.

The fussy period before the 19 week developmental spurt lasts between 1 and 6 weeks, often 5 weeks, according to the people who researched these spurts.

HTH

what angeldog said

give more milk, not food - plenty of time to get into food. maybe do a feed at 10/11 before you go to bed (although this never worked for my ds )

do blw - you'll be glad you did [hgrin]

Right I have read all the WHO stuff, done the weaning talk with HV and will not be weaning yet. DS is 20 weeks tomorrow and I so want to try BLW.
Last night was pretty hellish with 5 wake ups, one for a hour and a half. I am totally drained this morning - it was never this bad when he was newborn.
I will encourage him today to have more milk during the daytime and see if that makes a difference....it feels like every night I'm playing the lottery, we take sweepstakes on what time he will wake!!
Urgh...

i feel your pain bravegirl - ds was the same aaarrrgghhhh

it'll all be worth it when at 10months he is scoffing all the same food you eat and will have a really good attitude to food

AND you'll have given him all that milk which will make you feel properly proud of yourself!

Thanks RB - I'm desperately looking for positives right now. I know the mantra - it will pass, but it's bloody hard work in the meantime!

It's horrible, isn't it, BG? I sympathise - a good night for my 9.5 m.o. DS at the moment is 4 or 5 wakings, but that's because I can't be bothered to help him get into better habits as there's another developmental spurt coming up soon which will mess everything up again. But he last slept 'through' 6 months ago, and that was only for 3 nights!

RubyBucklebury is absolutely right about the food thing. DS gets so excited at mealtimes he kicks off his socks and propels the high chair across the floor with his enthusiastic bouncing. I can't imagine not letting him have all that fun playing with his food before eating it.

bravegirl we are in exactly the same situation with our DD right now, same age too, (7th june????)
have read the blw books and the who guidelines, 4th december is our date for starting blw, exciting!
have just started reading the no cry sleep solution by elizabeth pantley, so hope it works...
keep in touch! it would be good to compare notes x

OP, just to add that anecdotal evidence suggests that babies who were good sleepers before hitting developmental spurts generally go back to being good sleepers once the spurt is over.

Those of us who have not-great sleepers tend to need to help our babies sleep a bit better once the spurt is over.

Amazing, homebirthmummy4 - DS was born at 01.28 on 8th June!! We haven't yet set a date to start our BLW..I'm due to start work on 13th Dec for 5 days before the Xmas hols start, so that may influence things. I haven't decided whether to start before go back or use the Xmas hols to really get going!
Last night was better - DS woke at 11.20 and as it was pre-midnight, DH got him back to sleep at about midnight, he then woke at 3am for a 45 minute feed, was slow to go back to sleep (approx 4.15) then slept until 7.15.
I'm hoping for a much better day today. We had a real show of the 3xCs yesterday - DS wouldn't let go, was hard to put to sleep for naps and would only sleep on me for 2/3 of his naps. My neighbour caught me at 6pm still in my PJs and on the verge of tears...things can only get better can't they?!!!!
AngelDog I'm pinning all my hopes on that anecdotal evidence!!

bravegirl, 23:44 on the 7th! less than 2 hours between them

I know they're born every minute, but wow...do let me know homebirthmummy4 if your DD stops this silly pattern of her own accord!!!
Much better naps so far today - I'm hoping that as DS is officially 20 weeks today, the 19 week spurt has gone. Yes I know I have unrealistic expectations, but you've got to believe in something!!! :)

Very bad night last night. Woke 5 times for feed, one lasted hour and half before I gave in and kept her in bed with me (was not going to cosleep this time)
Then up for good at 6.10 zzzzzzz

Goodness...that doesn't sound fun. DS up at 23.15, then 01.30, 03.45 for feed and not back to sleep until 05.00. Our saving grace is that he did at least stay asleep then until about 07.45. I'm gradually trying to stretch the feed later and later so that it might disappear again like it did before.
I can't imagine co-cleeping - it would give me nightmares. It was bad enough when he was first born and I was feeding in bed due to C-section. I would wake up in the night thinking DS was still in the bed with us, wake up DH who would tell me that he put baby back into moses basket - oh how my head hurt!
Sadly being 20 weeks means this darn 19 week spurt hasn't mysteriously disappeared overnight. Knew I was expecting too much!!!!:)