Habitual Waking or Hungry

[mrsduner]

I have a 4+ month old who is really a pretty good baby. We just got him off his paci dependency but he still wakes twice during the night. He wakes up about every 4 hours (which is how often he eats during the day - he's BF). Since he goes to bed about the same time every night (7:30) he's waking up the same time. So I'm not sure if he is just habitually waking up or if he is really hungry.

I just started to try and give him more during the day by pumping an hour after nursing and then adding those ounces to the next feed. The crazy thing is when he finishes the bottle after nursing he cries like he is still hungry so I put him back on the breast and he's done in less than a minute (probably because he's not getting much).

During the night I've tried to only give him half a feeding, but again he cries like he is still hungry.

Any thoughts about whether he's just used to waking up or hungry? Thanks!

[deckchariot]

are you cluster feeding or doing a dream feed with him?  How many daytime feeds is he getting?  My dd had 4 bfs in the day (7:30, 11:30, 3:30, and 7:30) plus a df at 10:30.  We phased out the cluster feeds as we transitioned to a 4 hr EASY, so sometimes she had feeds at 3, 5:30 and 7:30 in the evening.  It's really common for bf bubs to wake 2x in the night still at his age.  here's a link that is really helpful:  http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=98183.msg0#new

If you've tried only giving him half a feeding but he still appears hungry, I'd guess that he probably is.

hth
michelle

[Catzsz]

Dont forget theres a growth spurt about now.

[mrsduner]

Thanks.
He is BF and gets 4 feedings during the day (8, 12, 4, 7) and then a DF about 10:30. It was good to see when other babies started to sleep through the night (above link). I just kept ready that a 4mo should be able to go for a long time at night without eating and my LO wasn't able to do that.

[Catzsz]

If its any consilation my ds, also bf and on a 4hr routine, df at 10.30 has on average 2 wakings a night too. We're starting to get the odd night where he will have the one nw between 3-4am which will hopefully get more and more often.
My older ds started sttn at 4 months, reguarly by 5 and my older dd didnt drop the last night feed til she was just under 6 months, your doin great.
I'm gonna try an experiment if your interested, to get up 30 mins/1hr before de's first nw and feed him then. I seem to remember someone suggesting it to me with dd1 and I think that was how we got rid of that last nw?
I'll let you know, could be the new W2s! sorry feeling a bit manic.

[mrsduner]

Yes, please let me know how your experiment of waking an hour before first nw works. It's not so bad waking in the middle of the night, but of course I would LOVE more than 4 hours of sleep at a time if possible.

[Catzsz]

Hiya!
Well I fed him an hour before and the next nights he woke at 5am, slept til 7am after! Felt like a new woman. However last night it was buisness as usaul.
I think I'm goin to do w2s instead for a few nights on the trot to shake it off, maybe it will work for you or you can just do w2s 30 mins/1hr earlier? Tracy always said the 2am feed was a common stickler.