Up to his old tricks

[Goostacean]

Recently my 3 month old (just, he’s 13.5 weeks) usually goes down at 2030, wakes at 0130 and then 0500 for feeds and then again an 0630. This pattern has been interspersed with nights with more frequent wakings at times, although a few weeks ago he was sleeping through til 0230-0330 and then til the morning, around 0730. No properly set pattern - or improvement.

On Tuesday night however, he slept from 2030 through til 0610!! The only difference was the heating was off all night. Last night I kept the heating off again but he was back to his old 0130/0500/0630 routine.

Any ideas on how to improve his sleep, please? He clearly CAN go for nice long stretches, under the right circumstances...

You have the heating on at night? Too hot surely? 3 months is still very young for most to be sleeping through the night.

We did but now we don’t.

Agreed, but I’d got the point I was crying in the shower I was so tired. A family member took him on Mon night and then he slept through on Tues night, so he clearly CAN go more than that 3h block to 5am and then the 90mins to 6.30... I’m just not sure how to encourage it.

Honestly, I don’t think you need to encourage anything. He seems to sleep well for his age and what he’s doing is completely natural and normal. Some nights he might sleep longer but other nights the hunger might wake him. You’ll find over the coming weeks that his sleep will keep changing all the time - regressions, leaps, illness and teething will come into play. He’s still so tiny so I’d just roll with it and get help from family like you have done when the tiredness gets too much. It won’t last forever

Hey @goostacean , I don't have any advice for encouraging this but just wanted to add that this is my experience of having a baby too and I understand where you are coming from !
My daughter was so hit and miss with her sleeping - some nights she would go for long stretches in the night and then other times she would be waking more frequently . All is can think is that it depends on the night and how she is feeling - maybe gums are sore for the pre teething stage on some nights and not others, hungrier some nights then others, wants reassurance some night not others .
I don't know though ! This is just me guessing with how my daughter has been . Nothing I could have done would have changed her sleeping stretches I know that.

She is 13 months now , and is finally having nights where she sleeps through - but last night she woke up and wanted to milk to go back to sleep ! She hasn't done that in ages I don't know why !?

Purely a fluke then...? Maybe I should try white noise... those small gaps in the morning are such a pain, I barely get back to sleep- if I do at all.

What @Moonshine160 said 3 months is still very young. My baby woke frequently at that age and I accepted there was nothing I could do to encourage longer stretches, it just came gradually and naturally with time. I know people will disagree with me and I'm fine with that, it's just my opinion.

Yeah, I know, I know. He’s my second so in theory I shouldn’t be surprised, but it’s the changeable nature of it that throws me.

I've got a nearly four months old and yours sleeps way better than mine, so I think you should be glad you're getting the sleep you are!

We still have nothing like a pattern at night, although she's on two big naps and then a cat nap during the day pretty reliably. She's my third baby and they've all been different, her older brother (nearly 3) never slept through, not even once, until he turned two, so getting a full night at three months is pretty good going. Hang in there, it will sort itself out in time.

Urgh, 3 times in 3hs so far tonight... a new low.

Is this your first child? He’s 3 months old I’m surprised you’re expecting much more sleep to be honest. He hasn’t even hit the first regression yet! That was every 45-60 minutes for us!

No, second child... first one did 13hs straight when he was 8 weeks old, I was worried something had happened to him! Baby is now 15 weeks, so we’re heading towards the dreaded 4 month regression...
After I posted he did do one night of 10hs straight... and since then has been everywhere from once a night (9pm bedtime, feed at 1am, awake again at 7am) to every 90mins. Challenging times.