Advice on sleeping longer at night

[bunnyrabbit]

Need some advice.
DS is 7 wks and since I've had to formula feed I've been loosely following GF for sleep and feed times, but about 30 minutes later, so my dh can enjoy bathtime. DS has always been good at going straight to sleep after a night feed and will lay in his cot in the mornings quite happily gurgling to himself, as long as his isn't hungry. But we have a worrying trend.

I feed him at 10.30/11pm and he used to wake up at 3ish and happily take only 3oz (normally give 5oz in a day feed) and go back to sleep till 6.30/7 ish. He has now started waking up at 1.30/2 and crying after his feed. He then wakes again at 5 ish.

Last night I gave him another 2 oz after the 2 o'clock feed and he still cried for another 30 mins befor ehe settled at 3.15. He then woke at 5.15!! I left him talking to himself until 6, fed him 4 oz and then had to lay with him on my chest for 30 mins to get him to sleep. Haven't done this since he was 3 weeks old. He threw up twice and eventually nodded off. He has reflux, so it's not unusual for him to be sick, and he is on gaviscom and his cot is raised, but I'm not sure it's the reflux causing the problem.

I fed him 3oz at 8 so we could get back to our normal routine, and now he seems fine.

The change in times to two night feeds instead of one has been going on for a week now, although the crying after a feed onlty started last night.

GF reccomends not upping the 10.30pm feed until all other feeds have been increased, but DS is already taking 30oz in a day, which is more than reccomended for a 10 1/2 lb baby. Also I iknow I should be cutting down the numer and amount of nightfeeds, not increasing them.

I don't understand why he is happy to go 4 hours between feeds during the day, but only 3 or less after the 10.30pm feed.

One night, after feeding at 6.30, I decided to leave him and see how long he'd sleep. He went to 11.30 so I know he can go 5 hours.

Yours concerned
BR
PS sorry about the long post.

Hi BR, how has his weight gain been? If he's gaining a good number of ounces each week then you may want to cut down gradually to 2oz, which is barely anything, and then try the 30s thing. To me 4oz is still alot and may mean that he needs it. But then again if he's gaining well, going 'cold turkey' might be the best option and you know he's got enough 'reserves' to try it for a week and see how it goes. How is he feeding at 7am?

Elena2/Pupuce, we tried the pickup-putdown tech this morning for his 9:am nap. Went into cot at 9:15 and was still doing hysterical crying an hour later. Most times he would settle between 5/10s and 1/2min in arms, but would screach every time he was going back into the cot.
So after 1hr we slightly modified both your tech and ours and left him in the cot and soothed every 20-30s. Only staying with him for 10-15s at a time. 15min later he was asleep.
So I don't know if he was just so knackered by then or if he was reassured by part of our original method, but also being left quite quickly in his cot (we used to soothe for 2-5min at a time before which is why he got so used to us being there). Will try 'modified' method again at next nap and will see what happens.

Thanks for all your advice. We'll get there in the end!

Sorry to butt in on this thread, but would like to ask advice on a similar subject. My ds (6months) sleeps 7-6 about 4 nights a week but wakes up once for the other three. I suspect there is often a reason for this such as teething / cold etc. I try to resettle him but if he is still crying after 30 mins a give him half a feed (a breast!). I then put him in his cot awake and after about 10 mins chatting he drops off. Is this bad? People keep telling me I shouldn't be feeding him at night at all? How do I stop then? What do I do instead?

Any advice?

Sounds pretty good to me, and as you get 4 nights sleep the waking for a feed is obviously not a habit. Does he wake the other 4 nights but just not cry for 30 minutes?

On the other nights he just doesn't wake fully so no crying. I think it's fine too - I'm just worried because I'm not 'supposed' to feed him!

I wouldn't even wait the 30 minutes of crying - that's probably what is making you so tired because then you are up for nearly an hour and will become wide awake. Accept that some nights he will need feeding and do it as soon as you know he is not going to settle, get it over with as quickly as possible, and get back to bed for some well earned rest. Hopefully he will gradually get more full nights and fewer waking nights over time. Thinking "I am getting up because my baby needs me" is far healthier than worrying about what you are "supposed to" do.

Once a night at six months is actually pretty good, especially if it is not every night. Congratulate yourself and move on from the guilt.

Sorry, it's someone else who is tired on another thread. Must be confused due to lack of sleep

Thanks for the reassurance bobthebaby. I agree with you completely. I think he's doing well - I must just stop worrying about what people tell me I ought to do!

Mimm,
Agree with BTB, he's doing great. Dont's worry what you're supposed to do... it's what you're happy with that counts.

Is it the same night every week? Could there be comething waking/ditrurbing him? Is there something you do on these days but not on the days he sleeps through? As your BF not sure if your DD takes a bottle, but have you tried him with some water? Is there any chance he may be thirsty?

BR

Keren99, Weight gain is good and he's nearly 12lb at 10 weeks. He lost a lot in the first week and went down to 6lb 9 so I'm very pleased with his chubby cheeks!!! I've upped most of his feeds to 6oz now. I've been feeding him at 7.30, as he feeds at 3-4, and he takes 5 oz, but has started getting slower of late.

Tried to give him only 3 oz last night at 4.20am and he screamed.... mmm not sure what to do now. I would have just tried to settle him but my parents-in-law were staying the night so didn''t want to disturb them.

Maybe I'll leave him a couple of weeks until he's 12 weeks. Thing is, I keep looking at GF and of course at his age she reckons he shouldn't be waking till 5 or 6, and this is assuming he's fed at 10.30. Lately I've been feeding DS at 11/11.30. At his weight she suggests he should be able to make it through the night.

Trying to ignore it but you know how these things can niggle and you start thinking you have the only baby that will never sleep trough....

BR

Br, sounds like you're doing eveything right! I know it's frustrating, and my DS still hasn't slept through at almost 5 months. He has always been in the 80-something centiles and has needed multiple night feeds as he demands so much. Maybe your DS is similar? I just dropped his one night feed two nights ago and he hasn't noticed (fingers crossed), this was after cutting down number of mins on the breast over about two weeks. Did you try the 30sec thing during the day?

On my part, we had a record night last night, DS went to bed at 8pm, up at 11pm, back to sleep after 10mins of our "new" soothing and then slept right through till 6am!!!!!!!!! I wonder what he has in store for us tonight?!

Mimm, agree with BTB & BR !