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SLEEP => Night Wakings => Topic started by: dankon on March 04, 2012, 11:32:27 am

Title: 3 month old wanting to feed every 3 hours at night
Post by: dankon on March 04, 2012, 11:32:27 am
hello
this is my first time posting on this...i have finally decided we need some help!!
my daughter is 3months old and breastfed. She has awake time of 1hr20 mins in the day and usually settles well for naps, (between 1-2 hrs, and a catnap at about 4-5 (depending on how the day goes and what time she wakes up) i then feed at 5-5.30, then bath, feed again bed at about 7-7.30...
sometimes she will manage to stay asleep and i do a dreamfeed at about 10.30 whereas sometime she will wake for the dreamfeed,though usually settles back easily aftre and then wakes every 3 hours and takes a full feed, then usually wakes at 5.30 ready to beging the day!
i have tried settling with shh/pat n the middle of the night but she doesnt calm without a feed....
could this be habit waking? or genuine hunger? i sometimes give formula at the dreamfeed and she can go 4 hours...

any thoughts??
thanks!
Title: Re: 3 month old wanting to feed every 3 hours at night
Post by: ZacsMumme on March 05, 2012, 00:53:10 am
I suspect she may still be hungry...SOme LOs cant go as long as others through the night. Is she still feeling every 3hrs during the day? - It could be she is ready to transition to a 3.5hr easy...this would mean she is taking in more at her day feeds and needs a bit less to get her through the night.

What do you think?
(Have a look at these links too :) )
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=120362.0
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=63161.0

Ill also see if I can get some more eyes on this for you hun
Title: Re: 3 month old wanting to feed every 3 hours at night
Post by: *Kara* on March 05, 2012, 04:06:35 am
I agree that she is likely hungry too.  Given that she does go a touch longer with formula - it would make sense that she is waking from hunger after a few hours since her last BF.  There is a growth spurt at the 3 month mark so this could be part of it right now... it almost runs into the 4 month growth spurt so it can be a tough few weeks!
Title: Re: 3 month old wanting to feed every 3 hours at night
Post by: Fiver on March 05, 2012, 21:29:21 pm
2NFs at 3m is pretty normal.  :)
Title: Re: 3 month old wanting to feed every 3 hours at night
Post by: dankon on March 06, 2012, 05:28:23 am
thanks for the replies....ill give it a try doing 3.5 easy, yesterday i didnt cluster feed as she began taking less in at the 7pm feed we will see if also that makes any difference
thanks :)
Title: Re: 3 month old wanting to feed every 3 hours at night
Post by: dankon on March 06, 2012, 13:27:24 pm
what do you think about dropping the dream feed? shortly after i started doing it she started waking at about 9/30-10, now she does almost every night, before that she was sometime going until 11/11.30...
maybe if i dropped it she could hang in  a bit longer and have the night feed that bit later and hopefully then make it until 6.30 /7 (which would be very acceptable!)
Title: Re: 3 month old wanting to feed every 3 hours at night
Post by: ZacsMumme on March 06, 2012, 17:43:46 pm
I would give it a go, some LOs around this age do better without the DF
Title: Re: 3 month old wanting to feed every 3 hours at night
Post by: *Kara* on March 07, 2012, 04:46:25 am
I never did a DF... DD woke at the same time regardless.
Title: Re: 3 month old wanting to feed every 3 hours at night
Post by: dankon on March 19, 2012, 09:35:49 am
so i dropped the dreamfeed and often she will go to 11/30/12 (but sometime she will wake at 10 so i feed) however we have no progress with NWs :( still every 2-3 hours! shh pat just does not work for us in the middle of the night as she screams and screams until  i have to give in! (which usually doesnt take very long!) on the one hand i am sure she is using me as a prop, on the other hand she takes full feeds..... should i be stronger and refuse to feed under 3-4 hrs? ...
Title: Re: 3 month old wanting to feed every 3 hours at night
Post by: clairebear19 on March 19, 2012, 12:40:36 pm
I don't have a suggestion, just that I feel your pain. My DD is 2 months old and does the same thing, wakes every 2-3 hours and BF, clearly she is hungry. I put her down at 7, dreamfeed with formula at 10 and she sleeps to 2 (eats) and again at 5 (eats).  I read that a good plan to tackle this is to be sure the baby is getting enough during the day and that night wakings that are for hunger or a result of not enough food during the day. Since I breastfeed, that leaves me confused. I BF every 2-3 hours. I am beginning to think I may have a supply issue.
Title: Re: 3 month old wanting to feed every 3 hours at night
Post by: Fiver on March 19, 2012, 14:18:15 pm
At the 2 and 3 month marks, 2NFs are norma especially for BF babies. :)l
Title: Re: 3 month old wanting to feed every 3 hours at night
Post by: *jazzberry* on March 19, 2012, 14:36:57 pm
It does sound like hunger to me, especially as you are saying she is takes a full feed every time. Babies do vary and although some can go longer at this age it is also normal for them to need feeding every 3 hours at night. My ds2 and dd were certainly having at least 2-3 NFs at this age. How many feeds are you doing in the day?
Title: Re: 3 month old wanting to feed every 3 hours at night
Post by: *Kara* on March 19, 2012, 14:49:33 pm
I agree - it is perfectly normal for them to feed 2-3 (or 4) times during the night at this young age.
Title: Re: 3 month old wanting to feed every 3 hours at night
Post by: Shiv52 on March 19, 2012, 14:52:05 pm
At the 2 and 3 month marks, 2NFs are norma especially for BF babies. :)l

Totally agree.  Mine were both doing DF and 2 NFs at this age.  Very normal.  I'd say the general rule I was followed was if they woke 3hours or more after their last feed I assumed hunger and fed.

Title: Re: 3 month old wanting to feed every 3 hours at night
Post by: dankon on March 19, 2012, 18:57:47 pm
thanks for the support! in answer she is stilll feeding every 3 hours during the day...
Title: Re: 3 month old wanting to feed every 3 hours at night
Post by: Shiv52 on March 19, 2012, 20:10:28 pm
Thats totally normal too.  I found with both mine things evened out after 4 months.  Once we got that big 4 month growth spurt out of the way things settled down and we started getting longer stretches at night.  Hang in there xx
Title: Re: 3 month old wanting to feed every 3 hours at night
Post by: *Kara* on March 19, 2012, 20:18:53 pm
There is also a GS right around 3 months as well and I found it almost blended into the start of the monster 4 month GS :)

Things greatly improved in terms of night sleep here at about 4.5 months :)
Title: Re: 3 month old wanting to feed every 3 hours at night
Post by: dankon on March 20, 2012, 11:45:59 am
thanks for the encouragement! will keep you posted!