that extra hour.......

[D2Jenx]

My ds is 4 months old and was sleeping from 7pm till 4-5am every night, having a feed then sleeping till 6-7am.
Then he went to waking every hour and a half from 3am for a feed and every two hours in the day....so eventually i decided to start him on baby rice.
I tried this and last night (we put him to bed at 8pm due to the clocks going back) and he woke at 3.30am, i decided to ignore his grunts and little moans, to see if he cries. He eventually went back to sleep about twenty minutes later. Then he woke at 6am, i gave in and gave him a feed. Then he went back to sleep till 7am.
Two questions -

1. am i right in ignoring him until he cries? or is this waking him more? or am i being cruel?
2. what can i do to make him last that extra hour - so he sleeps from 7 - 7?

I know he is young and that he is doing well so far, but just wanted to know if he will eventually get in the routine or is this his routine? The most he sleeps in the day is 1 hour.

1. Ok - ignoring him until he makes the effort and cries - I would go with. if he actually wants you he will cry.

2. Don't get hung up on him sleeping 7 til 7, it's not the law. He's 4 months old, and has gone a bloody long time without food o drink! Be grateful he's not waking 3 times a night - he's doing really well.

As for the baby rice, well I wouldn't. Every single piece of government advice goes against it.

ds is 18 months and never sleeps 7 til 7. I gave up breast feeding at 6 months because I got convinced he'd sleep better on formula - made absolutely no difference. Started weaning him at 20 weeks - made no difference. I think he just needs 11 hours and am grateful for that.

my dd is 4 and has never slept 7-7. She is not a bad sleeper at all but just never made it to the magic 12 hours - it is not something that all babies do and not all babies need 12 hours sleep at night. My ds sleeps more or less for 11-11 1/2 hours and has managed 12 hours a few times. He never managed it by 4 months though and had a night feed till 8 months. Your lo is doing fantastic for his age so dont think you are doing something wrong.

p.s. it is fine to let your lo settle when he wakes. If he does want feeding he wouldnt settle and would cry.

thanks everyone i will take this all on board

my ds1 didn't sleep through until he was 1! so i'm very impressed by your lo. i think it's fine to leave him until he cries it depends if you are comfortable with it.
does he really only sleep for 1 hr in the day? this seems very little! i'm sure ds1 was having a morning nap and an afternoon nap until 1 and then at least 2 hrs until 2.5 yrs - or is that why he didn't sleep at night!