5am wakings - 9 week old - why?

[supershelley]

Hi All,

I am new to the forum and joined in hope that someone can help me understand my baby a bit better!

He is 9 weeks old. 

Has a bath, bottle and bed at 7pm.

Asleep by 8pm.

Dreamfeed at 11pm.

Bottle at 3am.

And that should be it until 7am....however he keeps waking at 5am, well between 5am - 6.30am

I know he is only 9 weeks old and we are pleased he has settled himself onto 4 hourly feeding and that he is now asleep by 8 so we have an evening but I just dont understand why he wakes at 5am.

It cant be hunger as he was fed at 3 and is more than capiable of going to 7.

Nothing seems to settle him at 5 and I just dont know what to do or try.  The shhhhing and patting doesnt work.  He appears tired as his head moved from side to side, his eyes start to close and he opens them again but he just screems.

My husband and I dont go to bed until we have done the dreamfeed and so every night were only sleeping between that and the 3am feed.

Do you think thats just the time he wakes up?  I just wish I knew what he was trying to tell me!  Its crap because I feel bad for not knowing whats wrong!

Thanks people 

[supershelley]

Oh, FYI he is bottle fed, on Cow and Gate Comfort.  Eats at 7, 11, 3, 7, 11, 3 etc.

[Ima shel Alon]

I am no expert, but why is he on a 4h EASY? He is so tiny...
How much he is taking in every feed? He really should be getting enough in him at this age if he eats every 4 hours.
Have you tried to feed at 5:00 and put him back to sleep? That would be the obvious solution for me.
I think this is normal that he wakes up early, some babies are simply early risers, but you are right, you can try and put him back to sleep. My LO is 4 months old and only now we have the same nights like yours, you are a lucky woman as far as I am concerned.

[supershelley]

I didnt put him on the 4h, he did, from about 5 weeks hes been feeding every 4 hours.  He has about 180mls each feed.  He was 8lb 11oz when born and is not 12lb 10oz at 9 weeks.

Like I said, I just wanted ideas on why he is waking and how I can help him get back to sleep as he appears to be tired still.

Its surprising you say his sleeping is good, people have just said to me (including HV) that he should be capiable of going 7 - 7 by now and so ive been thinking were doing wrong somewhere!

[Ima shel Alon]

If you read some of the posts in the forum, there are so many moms who their LO's wake up at night and they are much older than yours. This is totally normal. But perhaps reasurrance from other moms will help. Only very few babies sleep through the night in early weeks.
I found this, hope it will help you:
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=52878.0
and this
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=53450.0

(((Hugs))), there will come a time when our LO's sleep through the night. My DP always jokes that there will come the day when we beg them to wake up

BTW, have you tried W2S?

[mmom]

The PP is right.  He should definitely be on 3 hour feeds.  Most LOs don't move to 4 hour feeds until 4 months.  If he is not eating enough during the day, he will wake for feeds at night.

That said, your NWs look great for that age.  You will find that the first stretch is the one to lengthen and then the last stretch will be shorter. 

Both my LOs were big - 9 pounds at birth - to this day 85%.  But they were on 3 hour feeds until they were ready.  http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=63161.0

[Jen114]

Just a suggestion my ds slept 7-7 with dreamfeed from 9 weeks bit he has more milk in day it would e 7-10- top up at 12 for nap time, 2, 5,  top up at 630 before bed then dream feed 11 looks all over the place but it works


Mow ds is 8 months we do 7,11,3,5,7 (tanking up before bed )

[mmom]

Cluster feeding is great for the evening hours, but I would stick to 3 hour feeds during the day.

[creations]

Shelly I think you're lucky to have nights like that. Some babies are up every 2 hrs through the night for feeding at 5 months!  I do not know how those parents manage at all.

I've also been lucky in many ways with my LO, he cut his night feeds himself by about 6 weeks although this did involve having early wakings.  I think you'll find that things just keep on changing, as you get used to one routine it changes in some way (not always for the better either).

Are you totally sure he isn't hungry at that EW, just because he can go 4 hrs in the day doesn't necessarily mean he's not hungry.  My LO is nearly 5 months, still on 3 hr EASY as he just can not go longer without food which is a bit of a drag in the day, but swings and roundabouts I get to sleep from about 11.30pm (DF at 10.30pm) until roughly 6am without disturbance and feel ever so lucky.

Also just wanted to say - pinch of salt on what people might be telling you about night sleep etc unless they actually have a LO roughly the same age or are known for excellent memory, or are v active on a forum like this, in my experience people (including some HVs) forget very very quickly what babies do at what age.