3 mo waking every hour (+/-) for the last month

[freakorunique]

My ds, 3mo, has been waking every hour (sometimes every two) for the last 3-4 weeks. He usually sleeps well from 7pm-10/11/12pm, then if he doesn't last until 2pm he will then wake every hour. He feeds (bf) then goes back to sleep. We've had one or two nights when he's slept well (just 2 feeds at 10pm and then 3am) and one or two nights when he cried all night. when he does wake it is like he has colic (I thought colic was an "evening" thing, typically?). He is on antibiotics (prophylactic) for a possible kidney problem so i am sure that doesn't help. Any ideas, please can anyone help or offer advice? How come he can sleep so well in the first half of the night? During the day (mostly) he is a contented happy little baby - when we get up at 7am ish he is instantly smiling, does a big poo and the world is much better again. I think it has gone on too long to be a growth spurt! I give him infacol, which does help him burp, and we quite regularly go to osteopath, but that's not made much difference as time has gone on.

Sorry if this has already been discussed muchly elsewhere?

Just a thought, is he having too much daytime sleep?

I really don't think so - he sleeps for 30ish minutes in the morning, between 30-90 minutes around lunchtime and again for 20-30 minutes in the afternoon. No set times, and sometimes more, sometimes less... when he wakes during the wee early hours it is not as if he wants to wake up, he seems in discomfort, almost as if his tummy is giving him grief.

Where does he sleep in the day?
Could you try waking him up by putting a light on so he has a really good feed?

Perhaps he has a bad tummy, just like you think/

During the day he currently sleeps in his pram, sometimes outside, which he seems to love. He is still in his moses basket at night, which prob doesn't help but we are due to move him into his cot this weekend.

I do put the light on for night feeds, and even change his nappy after he has fed from one boob, so he wakes up enough to feed form the other side. I don't do that for every feed, only usually at the 10/11/12 and the 3am ish feed. All the others after that tend to be small feeds til he goes back to sleep. Incidentally, he is pretty good at falling to sleep on his own during the day and at 7pm, so I don't think he can be doing this cos he wants to be fed/cuddled to sleep?

My gut instinct ('scuse the pun) is that it is his tummy bothering him, although it seems odd that once we are "up" for the day, it generally gives him no problems...

I'd go along with that too, a cot may help too. Best of luck. DCs 1&2 were doing 7pm-5am at 12 weeks, DCs 3 didn't manage until she was nearly 18 months and DC4 is feeding twice through the night at 6 months... so you're doing well!!

Thanks posie ... I am sure it will get better at some point

Just wanted to thankyou for writing all that OP as it is identical to my ds2 10 wks in every detail apart from the anti-b's/kidney prob/osteo, but having been up since midnight I am too tired to write it all. May have to try moving him into his cot but will be watching this thread closely for any other suggestions.

You have my deepest bleary eyed sympathies

Thanks spotty. I would say that osteopathy really can help (although in our case it has not lasted, I know of many other people where it has really helped)... might be worth a go for you guys?

Also spotty, nice to know I am not alone

me too - 12 week old baby was sleeping so well. He always did a good stretch for the evening and then woke to feed 3 hours apart - but now is waking every hour from midnight-sih. A 12 week development? growth spurt? Maybe I have not increased milk supply as he is spacing feeds out during the day and then wants to feed all night. I have given him a dummy to settle him but he wakes an hour later.....

oh dear.....

I will watch this thread

Moved ds to cot at weekend. Whilst we're not getting totally uninterrupted nights (far from it) he seems much more comfie and woke up less. This morning he awoke very early and I put the light show on from his mobile (which my friend got me)... he lay watching that for 20 minutes while I lolloped in bed for longer... then he went back to sleep and I had to wake him at 7.15am or risk being late late late getting ds2 (3.5) to nursery.

I highly recommend a distracting soothing mobile if you can get your hands on one.

glad to hear that there have been some improvements for you. just wanted to say we're in exactly the same boat, except dd is 11 wks. will try a mobile! i'm willing to try anything at this point, dd wakes every 2 hrs and feeds for at least a hour, i'm on my knees, i don't seem to be able to sleep and feed lying down. i'm watching this thread in case anyone else has any ideas

Well, we've had a funny week - a couple of unsettled nights Mon/Tues (waking lots as usual), Tues was really bad which I am wondering if it was due to what I ate that day (slightly spicey mulligatawny soup) then Weds night he slept like the proverbial, and only woke twice, once at midnight, once at 4am for feeds.

The one obvious thing I did differently was to put silver foil at the windows (damp them slightly to make it stick) and it kept the room really dark, and bedtime was perfection, he settled really well... last night was not too bad, although he did have trapped wind from about 4.30am onwards so still not perfect nights by any means, but I would say (so far) much better than they had been.

Glad things are a bit better for you F-O-U

I really am at a loss as there seems to be no pattern to my DS's sleeping! Some nights he can be up every 20-60 mins and others he'll go 4 hrs initially and then up every 20mins - 2 hrs. Or, every once or twice he can go all night with maybe one or two wakes. There truly is NO pattern!!! I'm wondering if they are all hitting the 12 week growth spurt slightly early? (I seem to remember the 4 mth one being the killer so god help us if it is that!)

The only difference to my sanity is that DH has taken to sleeping in the spare room when he has work in the morning so I am co-sleeping on those nights which i hate! I dont get much sleep as, like you hoochymama, he doesnt feed well lying down and I get really bad back ache However, I do manage to doze off and on for most of the night so get more sleep than I normally would. I have been starting my days at 1am as DS1 has been up in the night too...tag teaming little sods

spotty am right with you! My 14 week old dd is up every hour at the mo, I am so tired I could cry, we are co-sleeping which helps a bit as i doze -keep trying with the 'mummy pig' stance as it does help - tho i too get the sore back/ not proper sleep bit! My antenatal friends who are on formula or mixed feeds seem to have a longer stretch of sleep but I am really happy to be bf so idon't think i do want to go down that avenue...tho i have wondered if mixed feeding is the magic wand . I do believe its a growth spurt due to her age, and its very clear how much she is processing right now whilst she is awake so if she needs it I am resigned happy to do it.

I spoke too soon, we did have one good night but since then back to waking a lot... although perhaps not as bad as it was. All the nights merge into one tired dreamy blur, so I can't actually remember most mornings exactly how often he's woken, other than it was more than I'd want!

I really don't think ours can be due to growth spurt as its been going on for weeeeeeks now.

Regarding mixed feeding, I might be able to tell you soon whether it helps, as ds2 had his first (tiny) bottle of formula this afternoon and I plan to go with mixed feeding from now on. Will keep you posted if any improvement.

We had 2 good nights in a row. 8-2am (crap all after that though) as dh waited up to give an 11/12 ish bottle of ebm but he didn't wake! typical. back to rubbish again last night and have jabs today so will probably be even more unsettled - arrrghhh.

Not going the top up route here but interested to hear if it makes a difference