10 week old restless/fidgeting after 3am feed

[CluelessAJ]

Hello,

I'm a first time mum and pretty new to mumsnet so apologies if this is going to sound silly or if there's already a conversation about this!

My DD is 10 weeks old and is bottle fed. Since about 3 weeks old I've fed her at about 8/9pm then put her down and I've gone to bed at the same time. I used to set my alarm every 4hrs to feed her but I stopped that when she was about 4 weeks and now just leave it to her to wake up when she's hungry. So she normally wakes up around 3/4am and used to go back down to sleep until about 7am (sometimes 8am!). But since she was about 7 weeks, after that 3am feed she is sooo restless... she grunts, squirms, squeeks (like a high pitch noise as if she's stretching) and ends up waking herself up about 5am... in the meantime I've not slept since 3! It's even more frustrating because she is constantly yawning, so she must still be tired, but carries on fidgeting so there's no chance of her going back to sleep!

Has anyone got any suggestions on why she might be doing this?

Lastnight I fed her earlier and she was asleep by 8.15 but it's been exactly the same after that early morning feed. Don't get me wrong, I know she's doing amazing as she is doing a 7/8 hour block of sleep, it's just the fidgeting and squeeking drives me crazy!

Any advice welcome! Xx

When mine does it it's wind. Try googling ways to release it (bicycle legs etc) and you should notice she goes straight back to sleep once released. Wouldn't bother with the usual medicines as there's no evidence they work.

Thanks Nightjane! She does wind though, it's weird...

This morning I fed her at 0330, burped her and she was back in bed for 0415, she was flat out for about 45mins-1hr, so, fully asleep and lying still, but then started stirring and squirming at 0500 ish! Then she was awake but constantly yawning, then would drift back off to sleep for a few mins, then would squeak/squirm and wake back up again...then she'd do the same again, going round in circles!

Maybe I need to get more wind up, carry on winding her for longer, but I already do it for about 20-25 mins? :(

Xx

Ah that sounds annoying. Can't hurt to try more but guess it could be anything hey. I guess if she's not crying she can't be in too much pain so you could try ignoring until she cries? Earplugs maybe? You can hear cries through them will just make the squirming noises less

Yeah good shout, I think earplugs might be the way forwards..! If only we knew what was wrong with them eh haha!

Thanks hun :) xx

DS went through a bit of a fidgety phase like you mention around that time. It passed after a few weeks. Now we're just coming out the other side of the 4 month sleep regression which is a whole other kettle of fish
Agree with previous poster pop earplugs in or just one on the ear that isn't against the pillow if you are worried you won't hear them cry for a feed!

Thanks Smurfybubbles :)
Lastnight she started with her squeaking about 40mins after I put her back down, so I did a few bicycle legs and pushing her knees up to her chest etc, so she trumped a few times... she was still pretty squirmy though so I just used 1 earplug and managed to sleep better than I have been doing yey!
My HV said that because she's having that long stretch of sleep from when I first put her down, her digestive system will slow right down, then when I give her the feed at 3am ish it'll start back up, hence the squirming - makes sense I suppose! Her saying that makes me want to try a late feed at like 11pm ish then see if she'll do her big block of sleep after that and sleep through until 6am ish... hmm, decisions decisions! Xx

Ps... glad you're coming out the other side of the 4 month regression - I'm dreading it!!! Xx

@CluelessAJ glad you got more sleep! We're wired to react to every little movement they make in case they need us, the earplug blocks most of it out!

Worth trying moving her feed to see if it helps! Can easily move it back if it doesn't work

@Smurfybubbles yeah I agree with that, I definitely wake at her every move... unlike the hubby who is oblivious haha! Xx

It does sound like trapped wind. When DS was a newborn I remember when he would do the same thing, usually after his early morning bottle. Lots of squirming and being unsettled. It got to a point where I was sleeping at the end of the bed next to his cot and every time he would make a noise I would move his legs around, he would trump a bit and then settle for about 30ish minutes and then start again. I was exhausted as I only went into a light sleep, but it didn't last forever. That time was a bit of a blur though as I can't remember how long it lasted for.