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Sleep

Join our Sleep forum for tips on creating a sleep routine for your baby or toddler. Need more advice on your childs development? Sign up to our Ages and Stages newsletter here.

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Original poster

9wo wakes at night. Every. Sodding. Hour.

28 replies

NeopreneMermaid · 13/05/2012 12:09

Help/advice/sympathy/empathy welcome. He naps well during the day (following Baby Whisperer and naps not too little nor too much) and can put himself to sleep and resettle himself during the day. At night, he's down to one feed but still wakes every effing hour and needs me to pat his back to get him back to sleep.

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Mitsouko · 13/05/2012 14:05

Hi, sorry I have a load of advice to offer...my DD is also 9 weeks but can't really sleep lying down much due to reflux so DH and I sleep in shifts. We are missing each other but this way we get a good stretch of 4-5 hours nightly interrupted. Don't know how your feeding...I bf DD but DH gives a bottle of expressed milk if she wakes on his watch. Also. Have you tried swaddling? Many newborns wake frequently from the startle reflex. If you can't get the hang of it with sheet or blanket then try a swaddle me wrap. I've got friends that swear by it, good luck!

Mitsouko · 13/05/2012 14:07

Oops, meant I don't have a lot of advice...typing with baby attached here. Feel your pain though!

Mitsouko · 13/05/2012 14:07

4-5 hours nightly uninterrupted...

RandomMess · 13/05/2012 14:18

hmmm stop the patting, sounds like he's relying on it? Pat a little but stop after a few rather than go cold turkey.

I did pick up put down on a very young baby and it worked in 36 hours

48 hours of torture for him to only wake for feeds?

Flisspaps · 13/05/2012 14:21

He's 9wo - still only tiny. Of course he relies on you for help to get back to sleep. Are you sure it's not hunger caused by a growth spurt?

FWIW frequent waking at night is perfectly normal in such a little baby.

Mitsouko · 13/05/2012 14:46

I was thinking hunger as well, how often does he feed? My DD rarely goes longer than 3 hours at night, or about 90 minutes daytime.

YoullLaughAboutItOneDay · 13/05/2012 14:48

Are you patting him every time? How many night feeds is he getting? If he is hungry, he may well settle back to sleep, then realise he is hungry next time he moves into a light phase of sleep.

Original poster

NeopreneMermaid · 13/05/2012 14:48

Reassuring to hear it's normal. He's my second and DD1 wasn't like this so I have a limited frame of reference, other than other mums who are either having better nights han us or are lying through their teeth!

He is swaddled for every sleep and has a dummy but usually spits it out (worked fine with DD1). Just really frustrated that what works so well in the day all goes to cock after 7pm. Might try him in his own room in case I'm jumping in too soon. At 1am (and 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6am) it can be difficult to tell how long he's been awake for!

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RandomMess · 13/05/2012 14:52

I really feel for you, mine were all decent sleepers (although the one with undiagnosed acid reflux was hellish and didn't sleep from 6am until 10pm) from 2-6 weeks old - I couldn't cope with them in my room tbh, they'd be fast asleep and I'd be wide awake, I envy all those co-sleepers!!!

Original poster

NeopreneMermaid · 13/05/2012 14:53

On feeds, he goes 3 hours in the day plus some 2-hr interval cluster feeds in the evening and then 4 at night. I did wonder if it was a growth spurt and he was waking from hunger but he took a couple of sucks only when I offered him a boob. (He's just breastfed). I'm pretty sure he's not hungry, just waking habitually - and only at night. Grrr.

This will pass, right?

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YoullLaughAboutItOneDay · 13/05/2012 14:56

Four hours at night is a massive gap for a tiny baby. My best guess would be that he probably is hungry at night if he's not naturally sleeping four hours, then waking. I would persevere with feeding and see what happens.

Both mine woke every two hours for months on end. DD2 is only just going long (most nights) and she's nearlyone.

Original poster

NeopreneMermaid · 13/05/2012 15:16

Looks like I set my expectations too high based on what DD did and the fact he's gigantababy (well, 91st centile) so I'd hoped he'd be big enough to sustain himself. Even 3 hours at night (like in the day) would be an improvement. Argh! Why every hour at night?! I could set my blinking watch by him.

Bloody good thing he's cute.

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RandomMess · 13/05/2012 15:24

I'd try and feed him more during the day and possibly a dream feed before you go to bed?

Rubirosa · 13/05/2012 15:27

Where does he sleep? Babies are programmed to be near their mothers at night for survival, so he probably just needs to know you are still there. If you cuddle him up next to you he might sleep better.

Flisspaps · 13/05/2012 15:31

I'll also mention SIDS advice suggests a baby sleeps in the same room as you until they reach 6mo as they use your breathing to regulate their own (nothing to do with you hearing them). I'd be inclined to wait a minute, if he doesn't settle then offer a feed.

Original poster

NeopreneMermaid · 13/05/2012 18:01

He has a dream feed and sleeps in a moses basket in our room. I feed him as much as poss in the evenings witg tge cluster feeds. Just going a bit mental with the apparently inexplicable night wakings. Ai.

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Original poster

NeopreneMermaid · 13/05/2012 18:01

with the

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Wingdingdong · 13/05/2012 20:05

Hmm, we also have a big baby and it seems that BECAUSE he's big, he can't go so long without feeding. DD had/has severe reflux and we also had to do physio/repositioning throughout the night so I don't really know what's normal (she woke every 30-45 mins but that's when she went to sleep in the cot in the first place and when she wasn't woken by vomiting/choking/stopping breathing).

DS is 11w and can manage about 3-4hrs max at night. By night, I mean between 8pm and 4am (I rouse him to feed when I go to bed; if I didn't he'd wake within half an hour anyway). Then we're into the morning cluster feed - every 45 mins to an hour until around 8.30am. Daytime he's feeding pretty much every 2hrs on the dot. When DS wakes at night he is waking solely to feed. He gobbles it down, belches loudly and then falls asleep either on me instantly or in the moses basket after a couple of mins of cooing noises.

Not sure exactly how much he weighs but he's been tracking just below 91st centile. If your DS is on a similar growth curve, he probably is hungry too, but it sounds like he's now got in the habit of snacking and napping. Have you tried waking him properly before feeding? We change DS's nappy when I go to bed at 12ish - wakes him fully and he'll take both sides in a mammoth feeding session, which then usually sees him through till 3.30-4ish. I think I could probably crack the early morning cluster feeding problem by doing similar then but I'm too knackered and just pull him into bed with me; he definitely snacks and naps whilst I snooze.

RandomMess · 13/05/2012 20:08

It is odd, I had large babies that stayed on the 98th centile for quite some time and they all slept well, woke up for one feed between 7pm & 7am and quickly didn't feed at all during the night I did make sure that they fed every 2-3 hours during the day though and I produced enough milk that was easy to get for about triplets each time I reckon

They are all different, unfortunately the non sleeping kind make life hard!

TheSecondComing · 13/05/2012 20:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Spidermama · 13/05/2012 20:15

I always had all mine in bed with me ... breast fed them when they woke ... they soon drop off again. Tiny tummies at nine weeks. They NEED feeding through the night.

Can you sleep when the baby does in the daytime? I know it's exhausting.

Rubirosa · 13/05/2012 20:56

Babies don't just wake up to feed - they wake up to check they are safe and you are still there too. I would just keep him in bed with you after the first waking so you're not up and down all night.

maddening · 14/05/2012 07:21

there's a growth spurt at 9 weeks -bf baby will feed frequently inc hourly to up supply - ff baby may need extra oz now.
if it lasts longer than a week maybe consider swaddling incase it is the startle reflex.
next growth spurt is around 3mo

maddening · 14/05/2012 07:24

ps should have read down only excuse is my own exhaustion!

maddening · 14/05/2012 07:27

ppe maybe wean the dummy - could his spitting it out be waking him up?

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