Waking frequently

[Wifeyboo87]

My lo is 15 weeks tomorrow. She was born 11lb 7oz. Last week weighed a whopping 17lb 3oz.
But night times.. are exhausting. She used to do a long stretch from 8 till 1-2am. Feed then 3 hrs later more feed. Not now... She wakes exactly 40-45mins after going down. Then I place dummy. Then I go to sleep in hope for some sleep. But is getting worse with the frequent wakins. Last night for example:
own at 8:15
Up 9:10 replaced dummy
Down till 11:48 - fed took 5oz
Back down till 2 - replaced dummy
Up at 3 - fed took 4oz
Up down up down to 4am.
Down till 5:45 - fed
Struggled to go back off. Till 6:30.
Down till 7:45 - replaced dummy
Down till 8:15 - awake

She does have a dummy. I know she is teething but even nights when I have does her up she still wakes?
In the day.. She doesn't drink much never has drank more than 4oz every 3/4hrs. This has always been this way. I'm utterly exhausted. She's on number 3 teats... on advice of the HV. I'm so confused by advice and I haven't clue what to do now.

Someone please help..... X

This kind of waking is unlikely to be due to teething, so I wouldn't be inclined to medicate unnecessarily. (And also it's cutting teeth that is peak pain for baby and when pain relief is needed. Teething, as in teeth moving in the jaw, happens constantly until about 7 years old).

The reason for these wake ups is your child being 3-4 months old and the developmental changes that happen somewhere around this age. Sleep matures out of being the passive state of newborn sleep and becomes an active endeavour. Sleep also begins to develop into cycles.

The main factor affecting sleep is calorie intake. A baby who is not getting enough calories over 24h is never going to sleep well.

After making sure you have a well fed and well winded baby, you then need to factor in how over tired baby is.

Good sleep promotes better slerp
Poor sleep spirals to worse sleep

An over tired baby will find it harder to get to Sleep, more difficult to go from light sleeping into a deep Sleep, will more easily move out of a deep sleep phase and wake easily between cycles - so sleep spirals and gets worse and worse.

My 'hunch' for the reason for frequent wakes is lack of daytime sleep resulting in over tiredness. I would be aiming for 45-60m awake time followed by 30-45m naps in repeated cycles from 7am until 11pm.

She has 4 30-40min naps between 7 and 8xx

That's not enough sleep and way too long awake time between naps.

Say a 7am wake up, an approximation would be:
7am wake (then 1h awake time)
8-8.45am nap (then 1h awake time)
9.45-10.30am nap (then 1h awake time)
11.30-12.15pm nap (then 1h awake time)
1.15pm nap.... And so on

So I would have allowed for 4 30-40 minute naos by lunchtime. You need to significantly reduce awake times. Then baby will be much less over tired at night.

My little one has always been a catnapper, baby should definitely be having less awake time though so 1/1.5 hrs awake then 30 min nap and so on.

Have a look at the 4 month sleep regression, it’s rough but it passes! And hinge increases due to a growth spurt x

Ok thanks. Will attempt encourage tomorrow. She normally wakes around 7:30. Any hints on the feeding ? I feel she should be drinking more. She used to wake drink 3oz then an hour later drink the other 3oz and then wait 2 hrs for next feed. But my HV told me to stop that. So now she will wake have bottle still only 3/4oz then encourage a 3/4hr gap. But I was under the impression she should drinkmas.much as she likes.in the day to encourage full belly for night opinions on this also?