11 week old still waking every 2-3 hours

[sheeplikessleep]

I'm looking for hope that I will get some sleep at some point! DS2 is 11 weeks old today and feeds every 2-3 hours during the night and has done since birth (he doesn't seem to be stretching out his feeds). He was 12lbs5 2 weeks ago (was 6lbs7 at birth), so I know he's doing well weight wise. Sometimes during the day he can sleep for 3 hours and I'm wondering whether to wake him? I'm keeping nighttime quiet/dark/boring and daytime noisy/light and chatting to him.

He's very windy, so I'm doing everything I can, but still losing this battle (Infacol, I've given up dairy, lots of massage etc). I think it's the wind waking him up to be honest. When he woke this morning at 4, I fed him, he then woke again at 5 (I then put him on DHs chest, where he slept until 8am).

Whilst I am not into 'routines' per se, I want to make sure I'm doing everything I can to encourage him to sleep for slightly longer stretches at night.

Any advice / help really appreciated. I've been awake since 4am this morning, resulting combination of DS1 and DS2, so desperate for some light at the end of the tunnel.

Thanks for reading.

I'm EBF

Gosh you poor thing. I sympathise as DC2 did this too - well more like every hour.

I got to 16 weeks before cracking up somewhat. We then introduced a bottle of EBM which helped in that at least it didn't always have to be me feeding him. Depends on how confident you are in your milk supply at the moment, your DS is still very small.

I wouldn't advise waking him up from daytime naps necessarily although you could see if he wakes naturally if you disturb him gently a bit earlier than normal. I've always hated waking a sleeping baby though as they obviously need and want to be asleep.

I don't think I can be much help here as the main thing to remember is that this time will pass. You are obviously doing a great job though, if that's any consolation.

Thanks for posting.

I introduced EBM with DS1 when he was a similar age, which did help him. However, I just can't see at the moment when I could express, both because DS2 is so erratic with his feeding still and also because it feels like I'm not spending much time with DS1. Once DS2 settles into a more predictable pattern, I am planning to start expressing. I hate waking a sleeping baby too, it just feels like his stretches of sleep tend to occur in the daytime, rather than at nighttime.

Every 3-4 hours would be lovely, but last night, I wasn't getting more than an hours sleep at a time. It feels like his longer stretches of sleep (i.e. 3 hours) are from 7am and at some point around lunchtime / in the afternoon. I'm trying to work out how to encourage these stretches to be at night, rather than the daytime. I haven't been to GP, I was going to get to 12 weeks, before then re-introducing dairy and seeing if his wind gets worse. TBH, I don't know how much of a difference me giving up dairy has made, but I read online that it can make some babies more windy.

I think I was lucky with DS1 - he screamed between 6pm and 1am every night, then stopped doing that and started sleeping through from 12 weeks.

Thanks for posting - I know this time will pass, I don't cope with sleep deprivation very well!

Until both my babies moved to solids they woke for a feed sometime between 10-11pm, then again at about 2am and then again about 6am, sometimes sooner. After solids began they started to drop the 2am feed but still need a dreamfeed at 11pm and then woke again about 5.30am - 6am. Often after that feed they'd go back to sleep for a short while.

9 months with both of mine they started sleeping right through at night, providing I still maintained 11pm dream feed, which they both dropped of their own accord and weren't interested in it anymore after a short while.

Every baby is different but at 11 weeks they sound pretty normal to me

Growth spurts are due at 3 months, 4 months and 6 months. I suppose you could try some cluster feeding in evenings to see if it helps stretch them out at night but tbh I think just go with your baby. It's a stage, "this too shall pass"

My babies at this stage slept at about 9am, 12 ish and again at 3pm ish. They just fell into this pattern until at about 6 months they changed again and moved to a nap at 10.30am and 3pm. Follow your babies lead. I know at this stage I longed for a better nights sleep but it will come!

I fed mine every 3 hours in the day, or more if a growth spurt. Closer to weaning it became 2 hourly as they were very hungry

You're doing great, it's a tough time but it won't be long and they'll be on solids, sitting up on their own and sleeping better at night. Try and rest when you can, maybe get your H to do the dreamfeed at 11pm with EBM in a bottle? Just so you can go to bed at 9pm and sleep until the feed at 2ish?

The kellymom website is helpful for advice on bf and is mentioned on mumsnet a lot.

My second baby had terrible wind btw so I feel your pain!

This link is informative on gassy babies.

What about ensuring plenty daylight in the early afternoon. I read some research somewhere once (no time to find it for you just now, sorry, but I'm not making this up!) that babies who had a lot of daylight in the early afternoon were better at having longer periods of sleep during the night. So, pram or sling and get out for a bit after lunch.

I think the main thing is that every 2-3 hours is pretty normal for a baby of this age, exhausting as that is for you. The only comfort I can reasonably offer is that he might just change his mind tomorrow and start sleeping all night!

StewieGriffinsMum - DH keeps saying it's a growth spurt, but if it is, it feels like more of a continuous growth spurt! I did speak to my HV, but they all seem to say the same (as what I was told when DS1 was windy) ie massage, burping positions etc and nothing that ground breaking. It feels like whatever we do, we only get a fraction of the wind up. When he wakes, he tends to fart for like 5 minutes, about a dozen farts. He could rival a grown man. I know I shouldn't get fixated on sleeping through, I was doing fine until about a week ago, now I can't see the wood for the trees. Last night was particularly tough and I guess I'm just very tired now.

Teaandcakeplease - thanks for your reassurance! It is good to hear how normal it is (my DS2 sounds very similar to your experiences), especially as everyone around me seems to have night sleeping babies! I'm just desperate for a bit of sleep. I think I've read that kellymom link, but I'll re-read it to check things!

Ohexpletive - early afternoon is when DS1 has his 2 hour nap, which means it's a time of day when we can't really get out. I might try that at the weekend though, when DH is around. I might just try sitting with him in the garden maybe whilst DS1 is asleep. Worth a try!

Thanks for posting. Thanks for reassuring me, I know time passes quickly, I guess I thought he might be having maybe one 4 or 5 hour stint between feeds at night now.

More thoughts that are crossing my mind:

How's your latch? As that can cause them to take in more wind? Have you attended a BF clinic lately?

Have you tried gripe water instead of infacol? That seemed to work better for my boy.

By chance are your friends babies all smaller/ less hungry OR formula fed? It all makes a difference to sleeping. Try not to compare (easier said than done).

I think if you're tired, everything seems so much worse, he may also be waking as it's hot and sticky for sleeping too?

Keep your fluids up in this hot weather (stating the obvious). Drink plenty, don't be surprised if they want more feeds today (assuming you live in UK where it's hot today ) It's roasting here!

thanks teaandcakeplease. i haven't had latch checked this time, as it hasn't hurt at all, he's gaining weight and no problems with blisters or cracked nipples (in stark contrast to feeding ds1!). there is a breastfeeding clinic near me on a wed, so it might be worth me checking to see if they can advise ways to help with wind. i hadn't thought of that, thanks.

haven't tried gripe water. i did buy some about a week ago. but i'm getting confused with logistics (easy at mo!) - i need to sterilise syringe to give it to him don't i?

friends babies are all formula fed yes. i try not to compare, i guess its more because ds1 slept through quite quickly, thats where my impatience comes from!

i am drinking more today, it is hot here! i'm staying indoors to avoid the heat. i just tried lying down to see if ds2 will feed and nap whilst ds1 is asleep. but he thinks staying awake and pooing is more fun at the moment

thanks so much for posting, tis appreciated

Yes. Either boil it for 10 mins in water or chuck it in Milton.

I think from memory you give Gripe water after feed... But the bottle will tell you. Worth a try?

thanks, yes i'll try it - thanks for posting.

My son used to go in his baby bjorn after a feed when I was busy with his sister and the wind would come up in that after Gripe Water.

Funny the things we do to get by. My 2 DCs are 17 months apart, so it was pretty full on and I got quite emotional as I got so tired in the early days.

Sending you ((hugs)) and good vibes x

My DS2 is 5 weeks old, so I caveat this advice given the difference in ages between our two babies.

BUT mine was doing exactly what yours is doing - sleeping longer in the day than at night - feeding 3 hourly in the day and 2 hourly at night. I took him to the local BF clinic (Stoke Mandeville in our case) to see if they could suggest anything.

The BF counsellor told me to wake DS2 every 2 hours during the day to feed, and to ensure each daytime feed is as quiet as possible so he doesn't get distracted and break off the latch to look around. She also recommended breast compression toward the end of each day feed to push more calories in. She said it might take up to 4 weeks to re-orientate his day/night feeding patterns, but in fact it only took a week to see a difference - he now goes 3.5 hours between feeds T night (he feeds at roughly 7:30, 11, 2:30 and 5:30, give or take). I also notice that his night feeds are getting shorter, and that he's much easier to settle at night compared to during the day. I can put him in his basket awake after night feeds to self-settle, but he'll only sleep on me during the day.

It has helped enormously that DP is doing the 11pm feed as a bottle. I use EBM, but frankly would use formula if I needed to. In fact, my BF counsellor specifically told me to use formula if necessary because exhaustion can adversely affect milk supply. She put it this way: if DS2 has one formula feed per day then he'd still be getting 85% of his milk from me, but 99% of the benefit. And that's from a trained BF counsellor. She also said not to worry about one missed feed per day affecting my supply.

Re the wind, it should start to improve soon by itself. One thought though - could it be overstimulation, especially as you have an older child? Obviously my DS2 is much younger than yours, but he does get very over-stimulated if he's awake when DS1 is around and the resulting screaming looks very much like wind. My solution is a Kari-Me sling - DS2 relaxes in it next to me and I have 2 hands free to play with DS1. DP also takes DS1 out and does his bedtime as often as possie to give DS2 more quiet time out of the sling.

Hope something in this post helps!

CinnabarRed - your post makes very interesting reading! Sorry haven't posted before now - DH got home and I had an hours nap, before DS2 was up and feeding again.

How fantastic for you that you've seen such a marked difference, you must be chuffed. I will think about some of your thoughts - definitely about making sure he gets 'tanked up' during the day more. I've tried that breast compression, but I'm not sure if I'm doing it properly. I'll look at it again.

He probably is getting a bit overstimulated too. I think I need to start having 'wind down' time in the evening (although that is when he is at his 'fussy' time) in a dark bedroom.

Thanks for posting

Just saw this. My DS had bad wind for the first 12 weeks but it completely disappeared one day after 12 weeks. We tried both infacol and gripe water. Gripe water works much much better! We used the infacol syringe and bottle for the gripe water. Just cleaned it out and used it. We didn't sterilise any of this. We just thought we used the infacol bottle so why not use the same for gripe water.

As for sleeping through - you seem to be in a much better place then I was when my DS was 11 weeks. I'm still doing 2/3 hour feeds day and night, sometimes every hour. It is only after bath, massage, book that DS will do a 4/5 hour sleep without feeding. Just in the past week I've tried expressing, was waiting for wind to pass before introducing a bottle, but DS doesn't like it, creates a fuss and DH has to wake me up to feed. I know what you mean about being tired. I'm exhausted. I'm just listening/relying on MNetters when they say this will all pass!

Bena - my son didn't like bottles at all. Found one by NUK he'd take at 6 months old. Worth a try, it's very different from others teat wise. But he took it like none of the others with EBM in.

Bena1 - now your post has definitely given me hope! How I'd love his wind to just disappear in a week, that would be fantastic and would make me the happiest ever!

I agree with you also about putting gripe water in the infacol bottle - what a good idea. Hadn't thought of that. The idea of putting the steriliser on every feed just for a little syringe seems a bit of an effort .

It is shattering isn't it. It's incredible how affecting sleep deprivation is. But it does pass and I remember with DS1 the feeling and total joy when they do start sleeping well. I feel like a different woman just for an hours kip this afternoon.

Hope your LO will start sleeping better soon. You're definitely doing better than me with the sleep routine, I keep thinking I need to get him in the bedroom from 6.30pm in the dark and try some sort of consistency (instead of him staying up watching the tv with us!). Thanks for posting.

I'd really recommend the bedtime routine - TV is notorious for getting kids wound up so think how much more overwhelming it must be for babies - flashing lights, fast action, loud noises... One tip if you can't stand withdrawing to a darkened bedroom for hours on end: try watching TV in a dim room with the volume very low and subtitles on. Not ideal but a reasonable compromise.

Oh, and we managed to get DS1 to take bottles by coating the teat in Infacol the first few times. He associated the taste of Infacol with feeding. After about a week we didn't have to bother with the Infacol anymore.

Final thought: crying itself gives babies wind because they gulp down air as they wail - so if you can reduce crying then you should also get less wind. I know that's easier said than done - but you may find a sling very helpful in that regard.

It took with my second baby who was very windy to up to 10 weeks to settle easier. So I'm really hoping Sheep that you will soon see the back of this stage. Even at feeds at night he'd squirm with wind after and be uncomfortable for ages. Despite winding to my very best ability.

My second child cried for 2 to 3 hours a night until aged 10 weeks and I spoke to my health visitor about it, she agreed it was probably colic and her tips to try were:

Warm bath covering tummy.
Lying him on his tummy with a warm (not hot) hot water bottle under him to soothe tummy.
Cycling his legs whilst he's on his back. Holding feet palm to palm and rocking legs sideways, whilst lying on floor or lap.
Or scooping with right hand down his right side whilst holding feet palm to palm.
Or rocking him face down well supported on legs.

She also said don't eat anything that gives you wind such as brocolli, cabbage, caffeine, cauliflower, garlic or other stimulants. However the Kellymom website does refute that theory?!?!? But I did try changing my diet, not that I really saw any visible results from that personally. She said if none of the above did work I could try buying Colief drops from a chemist and mixing in with feed by expressing it first, as she said sometimes colic is caused by a lactose intolerance. However I never needed to buy those in the end.

I found that out of all of those the cycling the legs was particularly good.

The warm bath in quiet room was also a real help. Every night at the time he started to get agitated I would put in the bath, in a bath cradle and keep putting warm water on his tummy and every now and then top the bath up with warm water, so it wouldn't get too cold for him. Once or twice he was in the bath for 2 hours in the early days as it was really calming for him. Once he started doing big yawns and it was bedtime, I'd take him out into a dark bedroom and change him and BF him quietly and then often he'd go to sleep straight away. Once I discovered long warm baths were the solution, suddenly my evenings got a lot less stressful for me.

I really hope from all the great advice on here you will soon be sailing and find something that works for your LO, lovely of your H to give you a kip today x

I wake LO (11weeks, exclusively BF also , though with EBM mornings and in the day if i'm out) after 2hrs sleeping or 3-3.5hr between feeds in the day. By wake, I mean unwrap her gently pick her up, hold her close to me and walk downstairs. At that point she's normally crying for food. I do it gently so that if she is tired and goes back to sleep, then i'd leave her, but that has never happened. At night, after I feed her at 6ish, she has a bath and is put to bed. I dreamfeed her (by breast not bottle) at 8 and 10 (sometimes 9 & 11). Sometimes she's awake for the 8 feed, but the feed itself sends her to sleep. Normally she'll then wake once before 6, could be 3 hours could be 5.5 but nearly alway goes through to 6am afterwards regardless. Sometimes if I know she's not due a feed, she wakes (mainly cos she becomes unswaddled) earlier but a quick cuddle and maybe dummy puts her back. In the dreamfeeds, she rarely wakes and is never winded despite being very windy and finding it seemingly traumatic in the day. hth