15 week old going in reverse. Help.

[rachndan]

Hi our 15 week old daughter has been sleeping in her cot and in her own room for about 5/6 weeks now. She is drinking 5-6 bottles of 6ozs per day. Her last feed is usually around 7.30/8.30pm.

The first couple of nights she did so well 7.30 til 7am. She is swaddled however the pattern then developed to 7.30/8.30 til 5ish am. Again really good. However we have now stopped swaddling her due to her age and she wont stop sleeping with her hands by her head so they get cold and we need to put mits on.

Since stopping swaddling she now wakes up around 3am for a feed and a dummy around 2am. But last she woke every half hour/hour for her dummy and it was worse than having a new born.

Why is she going in reverse and the dummy needs and feeding becoming needed during the night? I know she is only 15 weeks but we were doing so well. Now we are knackered again.

Wish she would pop her hands under her blanket and keep them there now we dont swaddled her.

Any advice welcome as we cant handle another night like last night.

Thanks.

I'm not really sure what would work with keeping her hands warm. When we stopped swaddling our LO he behaved more and less the same and we soon discovered it was the cot that was cold, so the HV said to warm the cot before putting him in. So we used a hot water bottle to warm before placing him in at night and that seemed to do the trick, although we still swaddled up until 4 month. I suppose they will grow out of it at some point and wont need swaddling any more. I would swaddle for as long as it works for her. You dont get 1year olds who demand swaddling so it wont hurt to keep swaddling. Its not the end of the world.

Good luck x

Could you adjust the size of the feeds so she has 8 oz at bedtime? She is having a lot during the day & then nothing for nearly 12 hours. You are doing very well to get her sleeping through, you are bound to have bad patches, just comes as a shock though doesn't it?

She is probably having a growth spurt as well as the swaddling issue.

It is so frustrating but it will pass you're doing a difficult job don't be disheartened, enjoy your little one.

Search for the 4 month sleep regression

Well it is still not much better.

She is constantly waking for the dummy, HV thinks it is to comfort teething, and then still waking for a feed at 3am-ish.

It is like having a new born all over again!!

You could try a Woombie - swaddle pods for bigger babies...thats if you're not trying to wean off the swaddling

4 month sleep regression seems likely to me.

As for her hands, it doesn't matter if they get cold as long as the rest of her is warm. She may even be putting her arms up to cool down a bit (like when you stick a foot out of the duvet ).

We arent going back to the swaddling, she hasnt been swaddled in 3 weeks, want to keep it that way.

How many layers is too many layers? The room temp (according to the baby monitor which I know arent completely reliable) is about 22c when she is put to bed, then with no heating on overnight it drops to around 18/19c.

We have her in her vest, her baby grow, then in one of them sleeping bag things, then with a small (thin) duvet over the top of that from her mid section downwards. Is this too much? Could she be getting too hot?

It just doesnt seem a lot, especially with all this winter snow and cold it doesnt seem a lot. But last night she woke up, she cried for a bit, dummy in and duvet off and she went back off for another hour or so before waking back up for her food.

Honestly - there is a sleep regression at 4 months plus a growth spurt. It'll pass and she'll sleep through again hopefully

Have you tried feeding earlier than 3am? Have you tried getting a bigger bedtime feed in?

Also I wouldn't have a duvet and sleep bag - that seems a lot to me. Cold hands are not an indicator of being too cold. You need to check their chest or back.

Hi we decided to buy a box of the hungrier version of our formula and give her that for her bed time feed and on that she has done until 6am sat morning 4.30am sunday morning and 4.30 this morning. So got a couple more hours out of her on that.

Could I gently suggest that you adjust your expectations a little? She is still very little- loads of babies don't sleep through at all at 15 weeks. It's possible to get very stressed trying to fix something that will fix itself if you go with the flow and just wait a while.

Oh and check her tummy or the back of her neck for warmth- if you go by her hands you may be making her too hot.