Help needed so very badly!

[Carty76]

Hi everyone.

I'm writing this post in sheer desperation. My baby girl, 14 weeks old yesterday, had got to a point where she was waking just once in the night for a feed. That all changed just over two weeks ago and is very difficult to mange in the night. After a lot of preaching to my husband and I we tried her Gina Ford routine, doing a dream feed atb10:30 pm then offering water or comfort if she wakes and allowing her up to 30 mins to settle herself. Last night we had to give her 3 feeds and now won't take her morning feed! So I do think she is hungry but then won't take her day feeds so we're in a vicious circle.

She also sleeps in a bednest next to me which I think is too small for her, she bangs against the sides so don't know if that is contributing to it?!

It doesn't help that when you read the Gina Ford book she totally contradicts herself on what to do so we are not ashamed to say we are now completely lost.

Does anyone have any advice at all? maybe what routines they have or how we can manage the night time better? I know she's gone through a growth spurt which doesn't help but right now I'm starting to think we're never going to be able to manage night times or get her to a point where she sleeps through.

Many thanks

Julie

Oh OP it does get easier. It sounds as though you're in the four month sleep regression. My first advice would be to bin all the books as your DD hasn't read them and doesn't know she's supposed to be conforming to a routine.

Does "taking a feed" mean you are formula feeding? I don't have experience of that so hopefully others will be along to advise, but I do know that babies get very distractible during day time feeds at this age. Both of mine started pulling off the boob, looking around, anything to avoid feeding basically! The solution was to do day time feeds in as quiet and boring a place as possible, the idea being that the more calories you can get in during the day, the better. I would still keep feeding at night if she wants it, she is still really little and I think if you offer water all you do is set yourself up for more wakings.

Definitely look into how much space she's got, both of mine were starfish and liked a bit of room to stretch out. And all the usual things like is she too hot/too cold, do her sleep suits still fit....

Good luck, it will pass. If it's any consolation DC2 is now 20 something weeks (I've lost count ) and is back to one night waking.

My LO is also 14 wks and 2 wks ago started doing exactly the same thing. He was doing 7.30 to 1.30, feed, then to 5.30, feed, then 7 from 4 weeks old. Then overnight started waking every 2 hours! I dutifully started feeding him every time he woke but then I also had challenges with the morning feed. This all coincided with him getting really fussy on the boob and if my letdown didn't happen straight away he'd cry and pull off so he seemed to be hungrier/growth spurt. No great words of wisdom but after a week of this I started just settling him with his dummy at some of his wakes. Now he's waking 11.30pm but we just settle him, then I feed him when he wakes 1.30/2am, settle him when he wakes 5am then feed at 7am. We tried a dream feed when he first started all this but it didn't seem to work but we're going to try it again tonight since he's waking constantly at 11.30pm anyway. Then if he wakes at 1.30/2 I'm just going to settle him. My boobs might explode but worth a try! He's a good weight at over 13 lbs though so I'm sure he's able to go longer at night.