My 3 month old keeps waking in the night - is this normal?

[Brave12]

Hi, This is my first post on the site and I would be really grateful for some help.

My 3 month old son goes to bed beautifully at 7pm and then wakes at 1am then 3am then 6am. Is this normal? I have tried waking him at 11pm for a feed but it doesn't always make a difference although sometimes it cuts out the 1am feed. I am BF as he is alergic to cows milk and the formula the hospital gave us tastes foul - he will not take it.

Any help would be really appreciated - should I deny him the feeds (he cries until I feed him).

Many thanks,

Laura

That sounds completely normal to me.

Please dont' deny him the feeds. He is waking because he's hungry. His tummy is still very small.

Is he sleeping with you? Would he feed while you co-sleep? You might get more sleep if he is just able to help himself.

There isn't really such a thing as normal for a 3 month old, but yes, this is pretty normal. Don't deny feeds - he's crying because he's hungry, and he's hungry because he's growing so fast. You just have to ride it out - it's grim as hell, but doesn't last forever.

Sounds normal to me - waking at night for feeds at 3 months old is what most babies do. Personally I'd just keep feeding him. Congratulations on your DS and welcome to mumsnet by the way.

Thank you so much for your replies.

It is completely normal for a 3 month old to wake for a night feed and indeed desirable from the baby's point of view as bm is easily digested. Baby will stop waking up in his own time. DD1 was forcibly night weaned at 1 which was no fun at all so we let dd2 self night wean which she did at 16m/o - one night she just didn't need night feeding and has only had one night feed since (in a year).

I know as a first time mum it seems like everyone you met has a baby who has slept through from 6 weeks, birth, 36 weeks gestation . Never deny a baby food, 3 y/o's are an different matter, they can get crisps out of the cupboard themselves .

My 20 week old DD3 wakes up for feeds during the night - I don't know when or how many - I just get her out of the cot, feed her lying down and put her in the cot when she's asleep. She sleeps on an extra flannel sheet so when I transfer her back to the cot she doesn't wake up from 'cold sheet syndrome'

It does get better, and you can actually get used to it. I found that once I accepted that I would wake several times a night instead of fighting it, it was all much easier to cope with. And breastfeeding floods you with lovely hormones so you should be able to go straight back to sleep too.

Be kind to yourself and nap in the day when your son does - it is tough being sleep-deprived. But countless mothers do survive it!

I am exceedingly jealous of your 3 wakings per night! My DS (who turned 4mo yesterday) usually wakes around 5-6 times a night and I rarely ever get even 3 hours sleep in a row.

So I can certainly confirm that night wakings are normal and in fact you are doing pretty well!

I'm sure that doesn't make you feel any less tired of course but knowing it could easily be a lot worse may hopefully give some comfort.