Waking but not always crying - do I feed her?

[Bella & Abby's Mummy]

14 week old dd2 (angel/textbook) has been sleeping 7pm-7am for some time now (apart from clear growth spurts and when she had a heavy cold). However the past few nights she has been waking one or two times during the night and 'talking'! This cooing and chatting can last anywhere between 5 - 45 minutes before she either:

a) goes back to sleep by heself
b) escalates into fussing but then goes back to sleep by herself
c) escalates into fussing then into crying (my cue to go and feed her) she does take a full feed

So, I'm wondering if she is just so chilled that the 'talking' is telling me she is hungry - or do I do as I have been and wait? It's she is so damn loud with the chatting we could all go back to sleep much faster if I just went in there and fed her as soon as I hear her. I am more than happy to give her a night feed if this is what she needs but I am just not sure!

Any tips?

[Johanne]

My son is 7 weeks old and sleeps from 9pm - 6.30am usually. He always had a feed at 3am until he started waking at 3am and chattering but not crying. I didn't get him up for a feed unless he cried and that seems to have worked fine. I remember reading in Traceys book that some babies wake up in the early morning and then chatter before putting themself off to sleep - i guess mine just does it earlier. I am quite happy to give him his own space unless he demands the feed in which case he gets it. Often these days he appears to not chatter at all and sleeps straight through. This might be changing though because last night he went to bed at 7.50pm and sucked his fist until 10pm when he got distressed and I got him up for a feed - then he slept until 6.30am. He seemed quite active at 10pm - I think it's some sort of developmental spurt perhaps - that he has suddenly worked out howto control his arms?  So that's not the normal pattern. Unless she is distressed I'd just live with the chattering - at least she is capanle of putting herself to sleep!

[*Mona*]

hi

my dd is 18 weeks now and she does the same thing from time to time: wakes up in the middle of the night and has a "proper conversation" with herself... she's also rolling around in her crib...

I don't feed her unless I'm sure she can be hungry [as she's on 4 hrs EASY now no sooner than after 4 hrs from her latest feed].
so I suggest if your dd is just cooing [which can be loud...] and goes back to sleep eventually, don't try to feed her. she's practicing new skills probably. but if she starts to cry 3 or 4 hrs after her feed, she may be hungry. I guess babies tend to get hungrier when they're getting more mobile during the day [or day and night...  ]

HTH
Monika

[Kimberly®]

If your LO doesn't get to the crying state leave her be She's learning to resettle herself.

[Bella & Abby's Mummy]

Thanks guys
I will do as I have been and 'wait' to see if she actually cries before feeding. Will try and sleep through her chatting! lol.