4 week old waking for one measly ounce at night

[HeidiHole]

Hello, we have a month old baby who is fabulous in the day time. We put him down for 3 naps in the day, one morning, one lunch and one evening. He sleeps beautifully, goes down well and we gently rouse him after the nap. He asks (sucks hands, whinges, roots about) for a feed every 3-4 hours and will take about 5 ounces. He is a giant by the way, over 13lb already and in 3-6m clothes.

However at night he consistently wakes every 60-90 mins, whinging, rooting, sucking hands, takes an ounce from bottle and the just passes out into a deep sleep. Then because he's only been awake enough to take an ounce he of course wakes an hour later.

I'm so tired! I do all the night feeds and then my husband gets up in the morning with him and I lay in for 2 hours. I've tried letting him sleep all day but then yes he's more awake for night feeds but he won't bloody sleep so we're no further forward!

To clarify I'm NOT wanting a month old baby to sleep through the night or anything stupid, its just that he goes of his own choice 3-4 hours in the day (we demand feed and never withhold food) that why can't he do it at night.

Are you giving him an ounce then an hour later another ounce ? Or is he just having one once through the whole night ?

Sorry its an ounce then an hour later another ounce etc etc through the night. last night he had 5 ounces at 10:30pm and slept till 1:30am. Perfect. Then at 1:30am he was so tired it seemed he fell asleep after an ounce or two. Then he was awake again rooting and sucking hands and whinging every 60-90 mins until 6:30 just having a tiny feed and passing out fast asleep again.

He is getting enough food, about 26oz through the day (I think he needs about 30oz ish for his weight) so should just take a nice 4oz in the night, maybe at 2:30 and 5:30 that'd be fine... he does it in the daytime!

Ok the only thing I could suggest is the first time he wakes up just give him water , then when he wakes up again give him milk , then water again . You will probably have to do this two or three nights then he may hopefully only waken at the times he is given milk .

When DD was about 8 weeks she was waking for her night feed but not actually really taking it , so I gave her water for a few nights and she began sleeping right thru the night .

Thanks I've come up with the same idea really which is when he wakes after just an hour give a dummy and try and settle him back with no food. Going by the experience with the milk he should suck for 5 mins and zonk out. When it has been 2-3 hours since feed I'll offer bottle. Hopefully as you say at some point he will only wake for the milk times. Fingers crossed... I'm shattered! Thank you for replying.

Anyone else come across this?

Yes I think you would need to get round this it's not good for either of you to be up so much during the night . Hope it works for you .

Good luck

have you tried a dummy? maybe he just wants to suck for comfort a bit? but at this age this pattern is normal and it does get better! water is not recomended for little babies, so you shouldnt offer water, baby will just fill up on it and they get all the water they need in milk so it isnt necessary.

if baby is falling asleep when feeding have you tried tickling his toes, taking him out of his babygrow so he is less cosey and snuggly feeling and then he may stay awake longer and feed more?

Water may not be recommended but it's not gospel if your baby is thirsty But not hungry milk will not do . My mw wasn't fussed that I gave DD water . I had to give her it at time during the day as well as she was born in a roasting hot summer and was thirsty . If you don't feel comfortable giving your ds water then obviously don't , try the dummy first an see how that goes . Let me know how you get on

actually for a small baby water can be dangerous, milk is balanced so it has the right amount of water, this baby is only 4 wks old, it needs milk and little and often is normal at this stage.

there is plenty about this on mnet if you do a search, but its to do with electrolyte balances in the baby i think, i dont know the ins and outs but a small baby of this age doesnt need and shouldnt be having water.

Mmm really ? Tbh I thought DD was all the better for having it he was much more settled (she had bad colic and it always broke her wind) . I'll go on n have a look at the threads I'm really surprised tho . And I doubt I would think twice about giving it to dc2 when he/she comes along if they are in such discomfort as DD was . Worth looking into though .

Ok last night managed to settle with a dummy on some of the wakenings when I KNEW he wasn't hungry (ie full 5oz feed 90 mins agO) so maybe that will help get him out of the habit.

He's a big boy for 4 weeks, in the 3-6 month clothing already and over 13lb. Grew out of 0-3 already... 98th percentile so I'd have thought he could sleep longer by now. Neve mind this too shall pass!

I found the more DD drank in the day the less she drank at night. As you seem to feed roughly 3/4 hours, when he 'asks', could you start by always offering milk every three hours?

We got in the habit of offering DD milk at 7 / 10 / 1 / 4 / 7 and she drank whatever out of the bottle she wanted. She would then go from 7pm til 11pm, have a full feed, wake around 3am for a half feed and be back up at 7am to start the next day.

Once she started 'asking' for milk before her 'scheduled' next feed, we knew to up the quantity of milk offered at each feed.

It might not be what you want, establishing a routine, but as I say, more milk in the day usually = less milk at night.