14 week old still waking twice in the night...

[Ellieo]

DS goes to bed at 7pm then wakes at approx 1am and 4-5am every night for a feed. Is this normal at 14 weeks? He has done the odd night of only waking once at around 3am, and also a couple of nights where he slept through till 6am. He's mainly breastfed, except for one bottle of formula before he goes to bed at night. He's still quite small, weighing around 12lbs, and has had problems feeding over the last couple of weeks. When can I expect him to drop the night feeds, and has anyone got any advice on how to get him to do this? Or should I just let him do it in his own good time?

Hello again Ellieo. It's like we've got the same baby!
Mine's 14 weeks today and wakes just the same he also weighs about the same! Mine's never slept through though. The main thing is to try and tank them up before bed I think and really check that they're hungry when they wake (ie try to settle them) before feeding. Maybe they're just too little at the moment?

My DS didn't drop night feeds (and waking) until he was 12 months - and then only with resistance. We used an idea that I found on here - a night light that is only on when he can have a feed. Started with it not coming on until 1.00 a.m and then moved it forward 30 mins a week, with dh going to him if he woke up beforehand, to settle him. (If we didn't go he wound himself up crying and tried to climb out of the cot....) However when the only reward was dh saying go back to sleep, and replacing his bedclothes, he gradually stopped waking up. Initially I made sure that the 'milk light' was on whenever he had a feed in the day as well, until he got the idea.
Good luck

How funny - thye do sound incredibly alike, don't they! They're born the very same day as well, cos mine's 14 weeks today. Ds takes about 5oz of formula before going to bed at 7pm. Sometimes I give him some breastmilk as well, but he usually falls asleep on the bottle. Also, because he's so distractible on the breast, I don't think he gets that much milk during the day. Maybe this is why he's still waking? I will try the settling thing - up to now, as soon as he starts up, I just barge on in and feed him straight away, as I can't bear the thought of him crying at night! Let me know how things go with your ds.

Donk, that's an interesting idea about the night light. We currently have a very dim one that stays on all night, but I might try out only switching it on for feeds.

Spooky!

I'll certainly let you know if I find a miracle sleep invoker!
I can give you one little tip perhaps - Over the past few days I've been wearing earplugs. They don't entirely block all sound out, but I've been finding that they help me sleep better in between the night feedings. Ds used to wake me up all the time with his gruntings and sighings etc but with the earplugs I only seem to wake when he is actually hungry.

charleypops, just out of interest, how much does your ds sleep during the day? I'm wondering if ds maybe doesn't get enough sleep to sleep well at night.

ive got a 14 month old who still wakes once a night!

Hmm, he's no where near consistent enough for me to answer that really - it varies a lot, although I can say he sleeps quite a lot through the morning usually, where he can only remain awake for periods of no longer than an hour at the most. He's been a bit grumpy lately in the afternoons (since being windy with the Ranitidine), and it can be difficult getting him to nap, but he does have one eventually. Right now he's been napping since 16.35. I've very recently discovered that he naps much better on his front - it's just too uncomfortable for his tum I think flat on his back. In fact he just cries if I try to put him on his back for a nap. Poor thing.

You could be right you know - I think the more sleep they get, the more relaxed they are, so the easier they sleep on a night. Apart from mine wakes up twice regardless (and then at 6 but you're not supposed to count that as a night waking are you??) He definitely eats better and is in a much better mood if he has good naps. but as you know, if he can't eat, he can't sleep....

One thing he's always done is go to bed with no fuss (apart from once) at 7pm every night. I think I'd be quietly rocking and jibbering in a padded corner by now if he didn't!

Ive got a 20 month old that wakes once or twice in the night, at 14 weeks she was awake every 2-3 hours.

My ds slept 7 -7 with one feed at 11pm, from about 6 weeks, then along came dd, and she is now 6 months, and JUST about goes 11pm until 6:30 am, at 14 weeks she was waking about 3-4 times between 7 and 7.
A couple of things helped. I woke her for a feed when we went to bed. It took about 2 weeks before this helped (at first it made her worse, she woke up more often) but then she started to drop the 1-2 am feed. The other thing was that I started to not feed her if she had been fed within the last 3 hours, so if she woke at 5 am when I had fed her at 3 am, I let her suck on my finger, rocked her, soothed her, or even just let her cry. because she wasn't really hungry, this taught her to go back to sleep without milk and it seems to have very slowly started to make her settle without feeding during the night.

Having said all that, she might just have started sleeping better because she's got older!

I was talking to a midwife friend today, her twins woke every 3 hours for food through the night until they were 12 months, and she stopped breastfeeding - nightmare.

I've got marne's baby! I think some babies are just programmed that way. It's hard but you figure at some point they will sleep through.

Yes it is completely normal - In fact I would be surprised to hear of a baby that doesn't at that age! My DD didn't sleep through until she was over a year!

oh lord, I could be in for a long old year then . Thanks for all the tips and advice. I'll be using them all and hoping something will work at some point!

Perfectly normal.

normal normal normal.

Funnily enough I was going to remark to charley on our Junie thread (which you are most welcome to join, Ellieo) that we appear to have identical babies, two little refluxy monsters with no routine, both born on 22nd June. And now I see that our little dses have a third to keep them company - in the sleeping stakes at least

My ds sleeps and wakes pretty much as yours through the night, Ellieo. I have abandoned any hope of getting him to sleep through for a while as he simply doesn't eat enough in the day (for which I blame the reflux). Indeed, I spoke to Welshmum's sleep counsellor today and she felt it would be 'dangerous' (her word) to try and get ds to go through, although perhaps she thought I might be going to try the "ignore him and eventually he will stop crying" method, which I am certainly not going to.

My feeling is he will not sleep through until he starts on solids, although his feeding is picking up during the day now we have him on Omneo Comfort - obv no help to you Ellieo.

My ds weighed 13lb 6 1/2ozs this time last week, just to give you an idea, so I guess nearing on 14 lb now.

Day sleeps - like charley's, mine can only go an hour or so between naps in the morning, although convincing him of that is a different matter! He then has a long nap at lunchtime, between 1 1/2 & 3 hours. A further nap or two in the afternoon and is normally out for the count by 7 p.m. I will note that tonight he is still up though, the little devil, despite wolfing about 8oz in the last two hours.

Hope this helps, there are five of us already on the June thread with babies born on 22nd June, but always room for another!

Hello trib! Isn't it weird?? That full moon has a lot to answer for I reckon!

I've got that feeling too that he's not going to change until he's on solids. It's so reassuring though to see the other posts about it being normal! Earplugs are definitely the way to go!

Do join us Ellio! (if you've got time....we're very chatty)

Can I join you.I've got a 19wk old that is waking more at night than she did when she was tiny.She throws up a lo too,so may have reflux & like Tribpot's ds,doesn't eat enough during the day.At 16wks she weighed 13lb 6.5 oz & struggles to eat more than 3-5oz per feed.

Saying that,though,after some fab advice on the feeding thread,I started her on SMA Staydown,which she wolfed down.But she woke for feeds at 10pm,3.40am,5.10am & 6.30am.At the 5.10am waking I knew she couldn't be still hungry as she must have had about 18oz during the night,so gave her a dummy.She then kept losing that & I was retrieving it every 10 minutes or so.

I just don't know what to do next.3 wks ago she was waking up between 4-5am & that was it,so we are regressing rather than improving.I also need to find away for her to settle herself back to sleep without a feed or a dummy,as she is very sucky & sometimes won't settle without either.She can get her fingers in her mouth,but can't keep them there unfortuneatly.

Whooo,what a ramble.Any advice on what to try next?

Mirage, what do your hv's say about weaning, i.e. are you like to get a roasting if you consider that at this stage?

Your dd was 2 lb (and indeed one ounce if we're counting) lighter than my ds at birth, so I think her weight is doing well. We're using Omneo Comfort and now we've got some suitable teats, ds does seem to be starting to scoff more during the day, which is great. Could your little one be making up for lost time, and will eventually begin to settle?

Hi tribpot.Thanks for the message.

My HV started talking to me about weaning dd2 at her 8wk check,admittedly the H.V'S were running behind & DD2 was 14wks old at her check,but I was quite shocked at her advising me to wean so early.I did want to hold out til 6 months,but DD2 started eating less & less & I started to panic about her weight,so I started weaning at 18wks.I also hoped that she might find it easier to keep solid food down.

I'm glad to hear that your ds is doing better on Omneo comfort-it is so worrying when they are so sick.I do hope that you are right & dd is just trying to catch up now we have changed formula.

Hi guys! I have to say you are all very lucky!
My DS was following Ellio schedule for a short while, but for the past week he was back to waking every hour and
I have been talking with people about this might be a sign he needs to go into solids (he is 16.5 lbs!), but... I was doing a reserach on the archives of MN and found that TikTOk said that solids has lower caloric content than breast milk, so unlikely to solve the problem - if it is hunger... I don't know if the same is true with formula though.
check this thread

I have an 8 month old who usually wakes for a feed three times a night. He's my 4th baby and IME this is perfectly normal. My others tended to start sleeping through at round about 12 months.

They have small tummies and get hungry.

My baby is in bed with me so the feeds have a minimal impact really.

Night feeds are great (though it doesn't always feel like it) because they help with your milk production.

It's tough I know, but it sounds to me like you're doing really well.

def normal. Thoguh I was idssapointed, after havign two that slept through at 6 and 8 weeks. I now have dts, dt1 wakes at 5, dt2 wakes at 2 and 5. At the moment it is a lot more as they haven't been well. And that is on bottles.

My dd has definitely slept better since she started solids (she's 7 months, started at 6 months, and was breastfed) She had got worse with waking in the night in the week before I started her. I don't think it is the calorific content that helps, I think it is because solids take longer to digest, so their tummy feels full for longer. This isn't much help if you're worried about their weight though.