Help! 15 wk old sleeping *much* better at day than during night

[wearie]

I'm really struggling with lack of sleep with my youngest (of 4) who is now 15 weeks old. He sleeps lots during the day and sometimes does a nap of as long a four hours after the school run in the morning.

Nights are a different story. He wakes every couple of hours for a feed though does go back down afterwards.

Any suggestions? my OH thinks we should try and keep him awake more during the day but I hate the idea of waking a sleeping baby...

I'm just so tired

Can you try and increase feeds before bed from 4/5 onwards?
It never worked for me to wake a sleeping baby - just had a horrible screaming baby!

Waking every couple of hours for a feed at night is fairly standard for a 4 month old isn’t it?

Yeah, maybe waking every couple of hours is to be expected. Just strange that during the day he will enough do a four hour nap.

Good idea to try cluster feeding late afternoon onwards. Will give that a shot I think

If he manages during the day then he should be able to do it overnight too, is he breast or bottle fed?I agree with the idea about feeding lots before bed, filling his tummy so he can go longer in between feeds. I'd maybe gently wake him if he sleeps more than 2 hours in one go during the day, by changing his nappy or something. I did this for a little while with my now 3 month old. Though he barely sleeps during the day now, has maybe 3x 20 min naps then sleeps all night, all babies are different so try not to worry

Thanks stargirl90 that’s what I find a bit odd. He sleeps best when we out and about in the pram. Part of me can’t bear the thought of waking him as obv great he does these longer stretches, even if only in the day.

He’s breastfed....so I guess I’d expect a fair bit of night waking anyway.

Thanks so much for the advice. Great that your little one now sleeping through 😊

Hi op, I have a 15 week old too!

We have had an issue with weight gain, he was falling down the centiles, so I spoke with a lactation consultant who thought the problem was he wasn’t getting enough of the calorific hind milk. She therefore recommended keeping him on one breast for longer, and doing breast compressions towards the end of a feed when he starts slowing down to encourage him to have more of this hind milk.

Anyway, the reason I’m telling you this is as a result of doing this, as well as gaining weight better, he also started sleeping longer at night. So he was waking every 2ish hours, but within a few days started waking only once or twice a night.
So last night he went down about 7.30, then woke for a feed at 3.30 then went back down again until 7.15.

Honestly, it was like a miracle cure.
I’ve found that he does feed more often during the day time now, which is fine, as I’m getting so much more sleep at night.

A bit different but I was 'encouraged' to try to get my DD to go longer between feeds. She was about 6 weeks and EBF. She did fairly happily go longer but then was up every couple of hours at night. So I decided to feed every two hours in the day and look and behold, she woke least frequently at night. We got down to one night wake between 9 and 5/6 plus she could often be fed back to sleep at 5/6. She's never been a great sleeper (day or night) and the four month regression sadly put paid to this pattern which was her best night sleep for the next year

Honestly - should be 'lo and behold, she woke less frequently'. Can you tell she's waking frequently again?!

The thing is when they’re out and about in the pram they’re being ‘helped’ to sleep with the motion etc, whereas I assume at night it’s just a dark, quiet room with a crib/Moses basket? Mine doesn’t nap in the day at home bar the odd 20 min cat nap but will sleep hours when out and about.

Thanks all for sugggestions and solidarity. It really helps. Eminybob and lovemypeanut v helpful to hear about your experiences. And soydora sounds like we have v similar babies. Mine won’t sleep during the day at home at all so I have to get him out if I want him to nap.

Maybe I just need to accept where we at with him. But just feeling the tiredness. Especially as I have three older ones to look after

Yes it’s tough, I have a 5 year old and a 3 year old too so I feel your pain!
Incidentally mine has now been asleep in the pram since the school run at 8.30am (we walked to school, then pre school, then did a bit of shopping and have just got home). If I tried to get him to nap at home he’d be awake after 20 mins!

Could be day/night confusion..

I have heard during the day when feeding and waking from naps to stimulate baby, have natural night, talk to them, play with them.

Then during the night keep it dark (buy a dim night light) only make quiet noises, don't stimulate or stroke baby just feed and comfort with a soft voice before putting back to sleep.

Hope this helps

Soydora, def sounds as if we have very similar babies. My little one was up every two hours again last night and then slept for three hours thi morning.

Dolphin27 I think you’re right that it’s important to keep day and night really distinct. Do try that atm...without much success!