12 week old baby waking up every hour

[Edisnori]

I am posting because I really need some words of encouragement. My baby isn't technically 12 weeks. She's 11+3 but the only thing I can think that is causing this is the dreaded 12 week growth spurt. My baby usually wakes at 1am then 4am then 7am but for the last few days it has been getting more and more frequent to the point where last night it was every hour or 45 minutes. I'm feeling very emotional. I can handle lack of sleep but last night was on another level of challenging. I of course ended up co sleeping for sanity. I need some motivational words to perk me up today.
To top it off one of my best friend just said her fiance doesn't want babies at their wedding in two weeks which means I can't go because its far away and shes ebf.

Hey lovely, this was me at this point. It was killing me. It turns out he was teething and two lower teeth came through at 3.5 months. It made a lot of sense regarding his mood and sleep. Hoping it gets better soon. All I will say is don’t put too much pressure on yourself to make plans/ commitments. If you need to have sofa days to get some rest do it ☺️ X

@HPenthusiast Thank you so so much just what I needed to hear and so nice someone is out there for to just support from afar. She has not fed at all today and after I kept trying she had a massive cry. Which made me cry and no sleep doesn't help. Maybe she overfed?!

DD is 16wks and we've been going through the same thing since 12wks, I'm calling it precocious 4m regression. It has been absolutely horrific, but we've rode it out by safely co sleeping, and having DH sleep in the spare room so he can keep the baby for late eve and early mornings so I can get some extra sleep. There are some schools of thought that say this is a good time to start sleep training but to be honest we were far too tired and stressed to even think about it. We went for pure survival.

Assuming you're breastfeeding, people will tell you to express and get DH to give a bottle overnight. This is in theory a good call but depending on whether your baby is used to a bottle it could be more trouble than it's worth. BF can be tough but if it's working for you, it's an absolute godsend in situations like this.

Get your husband to take the baby from 8-11, feed first and then GO TO SLEEP. Then get him to bring you the baby, feed lying down & safely co-sleep until 5, when DH should come in a take the baby so you can get a bit more sleep before the day starts.

Don't worry about making a rod for your own back. In a few months time when the baby is a bit older you can fix the cosleeping and feeding to sleep if it's an issue for you then, but right now is all about survival.

(not feeding could be due to overtiredness, but if she still hasn't fed in an hour or so, call your GP)

In solidarity with you all. 16 week old has been in this for 3 weeks now. I'm a mess and have had my fair share of breakdowns! On my own tonight as partner is working away and I am on edge 🤦🏻‍♀️

Also RE the wedding, this is utterly miserable and I'm really sorry - is it possible for your DH or someone else to come with you and have the baby nearby so you can pop out to feed? That's what we did at a childfree wedding when DD was 4 months.

Oh bless you. It’s so hard being sleep deprived. Sometimes a good cry can help. I think I used chocolate to help me 😩
My little one was really off his milk when he was teething but I suppose they are all different so don’t want to be diagnosing for you. Are your health visitors helpful?

I think it’s really unlikely an 11+3 baby is teething.
did you feed every wake up in the night?

It's not actually that unusual at all. DD1 cut her first tooth at 12 weeks. Some babies are born with teeth.

Ok. “Most” babies cut their first tooth at around 6 months. So 11 weeks would be unusual.

@MolliciousIntent Wow thanks your first message and the advice was so helpful! Will try feeding loads and getting an early shift of sleep tonight. Sadly she wont take a bottle. We've tried so much but she just gags dramatically lol

Last night she slept from 9pm to 11pm. At 11pm she started to stir but we managed to rock her back to sleep then she slept until 1am. After that fed twice at different times in the early morning. Not a great night sleep wise but a definite improvement! She also fed a few times in the afternoon after her hunger strike.🎉@

@sociallydistained I'm so sorry to hear this but also comforted I'm not alone! I hope your night was ok. I guess the only thing we can do is just lie down as much as possible daytime. I tried breastfeeding her on my bed in daytime yesterday and had a nap with her spooning lol which I never do - I'm the worst day sleeper!

@MolliciousIntent my partner usually works Saturdays but we are going to try to get him a day off for wedding. To be honest I don't really want to go. The wedding will just be a very exhausting day out...

@HPenthusiast I called my health visitor too yesterday panicking about her not eating and he came over in half an hour and stayed for an hour while we chatted! She was smiling cutely the whole time so he wasn't concerned that she was sick and thinks she's definitely having a growth spurt. It makes sense as this week she's started to babble non stop, started playing with her feet non stop and rolled over lol A lot of new milestones reached!

@LapinR0se The night before last night I woke up and fed each time. Last night we rocked her back to sleep in her cot once and my partner rocked her backed to sleep the second time.

Yes that’s good as otherwise you’ll get into reverse cycling where the baby feeds all night and doesn’t eat in the day

So we went back to her normal sleeping routine of waking every three hours! Sounds like a lot but compared to eery hour, it's a massive improvement!

Sounds like you didn’t have a long go of it which is good. Things are worse than ever here every hour after midnight and even every 2 hours from bedtime to midnight now.

I’ve improved his nap schedule and seeing a very happy boy in between sleeps now but he will only sleep half an hour each time, a max of 45 mins. Can settle himself but can’t connect wake windows at all. I thought daytime sleep habit might improve the nights but it hasn’t. I’m hoping it has just got worse before it gets better as we are at least 3 weeks in now possibly more I can’t remember…. He is due to leave Leap 4 thank god. Hopefully it’ll help 😭

@sociallydistained can he self settle at all?

@sociallydistained Oh that's so so tough. You're doing so well! Honestly don't know why babies are created to do this!