Noisy sleeper/hungry in sleep?

[rachshelly]

Our baby is almost 9 weeks old and has been sleeping through the night for the past few weeks. Around 3–4 a.m., he starts getting very noisy — lots of fidgeting, the occasional cry, and sucking on his hands but always nods back off. When I check on him, his eyes are still closed. It feels like this goes on forever, but it’s really only about 3–5 minutes before he settles again. This happens on and off until around 5–6 a.m., when his eyes finally open and I feed him.

He’s gaining weight well and eats about every 2 hours during the day. My concern is the hand-sucking — should I be getting up to feed him at that point? It seems like he might be signaling that he’s hungry, but he’s not fully waking up

He’s just comforting himself.

This is really normal at this age - babies spend a lot of the early morning in lighter sleep and they can be so noisy in that stage. Lots of wriggling, grunting, hand-sucking and little cries, but if his eyes are still closed and he’s resettling by himself, he’s still asleep rather than asking for a feed.

Hand-sucking at this age is more of a soothing reflex than a hunger cue, especially if he’s feeding well in the day and gaining weight. Many babies use their hands to help themselves get back into the next sleep cycle.

If he were actually hungry, he would usually wake fully, open his eyes and escalate the crying rather than dipping back off.

What you’re describing sounds like completely typical early-morning sleep behaviour for a 9-week-old. As long as he’s settling himself and seems content once he properly wakes, you don’t need to feed during that fidgety phase.

It does pass - they get quieter as their sleep matures.

No, wait until he cries. I think they dream about feeding. My daughter definitely was dreaming that there was a nipple but no milk at some points.