Night eating instead of day - 4 months

[Fabiabi]

My 4 month dd is waking about 6-7 times a night. From tiny she used to sleep 6 hours always, now she does about 3 then wakes every hour from then. I always feed her back to sleep as the easiest quickest thing to do.

Now she seems not to eat much in the day and to save all her feeding for night.

Does this seem likely/normal, and any ideas how to stop this? I think she is very young for controlled crying etc, but I am in a bit of a panic that I am doing everything wrong.

cheers

You're definitely not doing anything wrong! Your baby's sleep habits are not caused by any shortcomings in your parenting. What she's doing is called "reverse cycling" and it's common in bf babies whose mums work or for those curious ones who have Better Things To Do when the lights are on than have a feed.

To encourage her to feed more, feed her when she's sleepy - before and after naps, before bed, etc. Night waking is often due to growth spurts, teething, developmental leaps, etc. When she wakes at night, you can use breast compressions to make sure she's getting lots of hind milk instead of just snacking off back to sleep and waking up again an hour later.

Oh thank you - I feel better that my problem has a name! I'll try what you've suggested -- especially the compressions. Naps are a whole other problem to be honest - she's not keen on them either, but I'm trying.

Tried to feed her more today, not sure it worked that well though.

Should I try to settle her without feeding at night every time? And I tend to go to her when I hear her wake not waiting till she cries, would it be better to wait as dh wants?