Not sleeping through

[FiFi118]

Hi Don't know if anyone can help me - I am a first time mum and my lo is 11 weeks old weighing 10 lbs 7 - for a while now she has had a good bedtime routine going to sleep at 7pm, we wake her or she stirs at 10-11 pm for a dream feed and then she wakes at 4/4.30 am. The trouble is she is now losing interest in her 7 am feed so I think she may not need the 4 am feed? However, I have tried comforting her back to sleep etc with no success. I haven't tried water as she is not great with bottles yet. Last night I tried just giving her a small feed in the hope that it would keep her going until morning and then she could have a full feed at 7/7.30 am. But that didn't work she just didn't settle and woke at 6.30 again. Plus she did not want a proper feed at 7/7.30 am. This throws her all off for the rest of the day. Any suggestions please??

she's still very tiny, so go with the flow for now. Remember that 'sleeping though' for a small baby is 5 hours at a stretch, which is is doing. Maybe she's changing her feeding pattern? I'd go with the flow for now (esp as you're getting some sleep between 11 and 4) and see if things settle down.

4-5 months is a very common time for sleep to be disrupted thanks to a mahoosive growth spurt, so you aren't alone!

11 week old babies do not sleep through the night, and almost always require feeds during the night - 11pm to 7an is a long time for a tiny stomach to go without any food.

"Dream" feeding (I sense my arch enemy, the baby whisperer) is all very well (and if she wakes for a feed she should be given one) BUT often baby will go very sleepy thanks to the lovely feed and have trapped wind, this will wake them up before long. Try thoroughly winding her before putting her back down.

Please don't beat yourself up over the "sleeping through" business, an 11 week old baby only waking once or twice a night is great!

Congratulations on your new baby by the way.

ah babies - you think you have sussed their routine and then they do something different. I think you are doing pretty well having her sleep to 6.30 to be honest. My ds is 9 months and is up at 5 some mornings. Could be early teething or she just fancies getting you up early...she might settle back into her later waking - go with the flow is the best I can suggest and feed her when she is up for it

DD3 is 11 months and still wakes at least 3-4 times a night

Wow - i am new to this discussion board thing - thanks for the speedy responses! I have thought about leaving her to sleep through and not waking for the dream feed but not sure if then she will wake twice in the night as a result?
I find that if she doesn't have a good feed in the morning she kind of snacks the rest of the day only getting back to good feeds by the afternoon! thanks for all the advice

Is she breast fed? BF babies (fortunately them and to an extent, unfortunately for their mums) do not always take kindly to rigid routines - they often go through spurts of "snacking" as you describe because the only way your breasts increase the amount of milk produced is in response to the demand from the baby - once your production has come up to the level baby requires the snacking stops for a bit, then starts again for another spurt etc.

Have you tried cluster feeding before bedtime routine? One HV told me about this (the only HV I have ever seen who seemed to know anything about Bfing), I fed DS at 4pm, 5pm and 6pm - great excuse to sit on sofa with magazine/rubbish telly. It helps fill them up before bed. Then give a feed at bed and you may find she doesn't want the dream feed.

Also, from bitter experience, I would never now wake a baby in order to feed it. I know it is a PITA that she then wakes at say, 1 or 2am, but that won't last, the feeds will gradually get later and later until you are getting towards 6 or 7 solid hours sleep.

Then she'll start teething and all hell with break loose!

Where do you do the morning feed? I had the same problem with my DD but since doing the morning feed still in bed, but with lights on etc, she's taking proper feeds again. I reckon if you do the feed in the lounge or outside the sleeping area they can get too distracted to feed properly as they're all excited and happy to be up

good idea - i usually take her downstairs to feed for morning one but maybe i should stay in bed! i have tried cluster feeding but not for a few weeks so worth another try - thanks for the help