18 week old waking in night - advice please

[helsi]

she has slept through from being 5 weeks old. But over that last month she is waking from 1am every hour. Dh and I share the "getting up". she is not feeding just wants settling or dummy putting in then feeding at about the 4am wake. We are both so fed up and tired now - in fact dh was physically ill through lack of sleep today. any advice?
She is not cold, not teething.

have u started to wean her? as when i started to wean my DD.. (she slept thru from 8 weeks old) she started to wake up for her bottle every night for 5 weeks till i introduced another meal and she slept thru again (i thought WHY DIDNT I THINK OF THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!!)

I have an 8 month old who wakes at least 3 times in the night and only a feed will settle her, she was up at 4am this morning "chatting" away.

She's on 3 meals a day now and a few snacks and it has made absolutely no difference. She's lucky if she sleeps for 2 x 20 minutes naps in the daytime, she had a feed at 8pm tonight went to sleep for 30 minutes now she is sitting on DPs lap as he plays PS2 wide awake, the child does not sleep.

Sorry bit of a hijack there just wanted to say in my case weaning has not made a difference.

waking up AT 18 WEEKS?! just to put your experience in perspective, dd1 didn't even think about sleeping thru till 18 MONTHS! you've been quite lucky, is all I'm saying. we had the same dummy problem, tho. wonder if we should've gone cold turkey with it sooner, as thay can never find it themselves, can they? we did put a few dummies in the cot, tho, to increase chances of dd finding it herself. good luck.

sweetkitty, i would never get them up once they've gone to bed, hun. this will set up a future pattern.

actually I have started to wean her - about 3 weeks ago. she has 1 "meal" a day but is still having the same number of 8oz bottles throughout the day.

helsi what time do u put her to bed and what time is the last bottle?

helsi - starting solids could be maiking her wake in the night. Babies tend to be thirstier and also she will be gettinmg less caloried than if she was exclusively having milk. Try firring in more milk during the day - that might help. Alternatively, just give her a bottle when she wakes - and ditch dummy if you can.

she is having between 32 and 40 oz of milk a day (4-5 bottles) plus just one "meal". she is not having LESS milk - the same so if anything she is ingesting more substance than before.

so every time she wakes should I be giving her a bottle? so at 1am 2am 3am and 4am? she will be like a baby elephant!!

sorry neer had this with dd1 - slpet 12 hours from being 6 weeks old.

helsi does she go to bed round 7/8 pm with a feed prior to that and then nothing til morn?

if so why not give her a bottle, small one albeit, around 11 and see if that settles hers.

hth

Hi helsi, my ds slept through from 6 weeks and I know it can be a shock to the system when they start to wake in the night! We didn't know what to do lol!

If she is not distressed I would leave her and see if she settles on her own. Is she 'looking' for her dummy maybe (I only used dummy in the day time for few weeks so have no experience of dummies in the night).
I have never done 'dream feeding' infact never heard of it when ds was tiny. I would do last feed around 8pm and he would sometimes wake at 2am for feed then settle until 4am for next feed when I would just get up. I started ignoring his snuffles at 2am and one day he just didn't wake for the 2am feed.

Also I know it's boring but go to bed early for a couple of nights a week ie same time as baby and then get up at the 4am wake. This helped me.
Hope things are better tonight.

nonaar - if I left her in bed she would scream the place down for hours waking her sister (who does sleep) DD1 slept through from 6 weeks old so I am not used to this not sleeping.

She used to take a dummy but refuses it completely now, only Mummy's boob will do!

thanks for tips everyone - will give them a go.

helsi - she will be gowing through a growth spurt and needing more calories at the moment. She will get more calories from milk. Try a dream feed about 11pm and see how that goes.

never done dream feeding before - will try it tonight.

should I dream feed with a 8oz bottle or make a smaller one? will winding her wake her up?

Make usual size bottle and see how mi=uch she takes. Winding shouldn't wake her - try doing it with her over your shoulder (towel in place of course

We found that dream-feeding worked like a...well, dream! But we discovered it by accident at 12 weeks or so.
We have always used a dummy-our 18 week dd is a very sucky baby, but she now has a 1st from Cambridge in Thumb-sucking Studies (Practical) which has pretty much taken over from the dummy. But TBH, we tried to drive it by ignoring the early-stage snuffles and squeaking when she might wake overnight.

good luck!

Jo.

she woke up once at 1.10 am but then went through to 6.30. I feel so much better for some sleep!

yippee!

as also the growth spurt - you guess the idea of when they are having one!

My boy slept through from about 11 weeks until he was about 16 weeks. He then started to wake a couple of times a night, not for a bottle and he would go back to sleep once his dummy had been put in. I tried introducing solids and feeding him at 11pm but none of them helped. He also started waking early from his daytime naps. It got to the point where he was waking 6 or 7 times a night and on one awful night he woke up EVERY 45 mins!!
I did get a bit strickter on daytime naps and didn't get him out of bed even though he was awake, until he has had the full nap time. He now has longer daytime naps and his nights have in turn gotten better.He now sleeps through from about 7 until 4 and then til about 6ish. No idea what upset his sleeping in the first place.
I know people think its lucky that he slept through so early but I think its worse because you know they can sleep through, and it feels like they just aren't.
I am also going cold turkey on the dummy from tomorrow cos I am sick of having to get out of bed and shove it in!!

I know its not much help but I'm sure yours will get better in time too.