How to pass from a bottle at 3:00 AM to sleeping all night

[alinesfather]

Hi everyone,

This is my first message in this forum. My daughter is 4 months old (just completed) and she has a routine that differs from what I've been reading about her age.

She goes to sleep around 9-10 PM... before her bath (around 7:30-8:30 PM) we feed her with 150ml of formula (no dream feeding, she is awake at this stage). The thing is, even been fed, she wakes up at 3:00 AM (always 5 hours after her last meal).

I was wondering how can we manage to make her sleep thought the night.

How does the dream feeding works? And what if she wakes up @ 3:00? What should we do? I have the feeling that she does not "need" to eat at this time, but she is "used" to do so.

She is really into the E.A.S.Y thing during her day but I think we are slipping at night. How do you guys "fix" this

Anyone has already had a similar case?

Thanks in advance

Rodrigo, Aline's father

[alinesfather]

Hi there and thanks for your reply.

We've managed to not give the 3am bottle (giving a bit more to eat around 11PM) and now she is sleeping the whole night.

I think the whole problem for us is the fact that her E.A.S.Y day is starting too late.

Example yesterday:

9:18 E
9:45 A
11:35 S

13:05 E
13:35 A
15:35 S

17:20 E
18:00 A / BATH
20:00 S

21:20 she woke up and after drinking 190 ml she slept the whole night.

She (and us) is pretty new to E.A.S.Y so I'm not sure this day represents much.

I'd love to have more data about an "E.A.S.Y. template schedule" for a 4 MOTHS old baby.

Thanks again for your help

Rodrigo

[jana224]

Hi there
Here is a link to other people's EASY routines for your daughter's age: http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=10385.0

I think the key problem is what you already mentioned:  waking too late (9am) and going to bed too late (9-10pm).  Starting the day around 7-8am and having a bedtime 12 hours later "ish" is much more effective for getting babies on good sleep routines.  The other problem with a 9am start to the day:  not enough opportunities to have milk/formula during "daytime".  Most babies her age are having milk/formula 4 x's during the day, and some are taking an additional dream feed around 11pm (and of course, some others are still getting one extra feed through the night.)  A 7am, 11am, 3pm, 7pm feeding routine, plus a DF if that works for you, will probably help you out tremendously.)

As for the night wakings to eat at 3am, I agree with you that if you can set a clock by her, she's probably waking out of habit, but if her wake times are at all erratic, it may be a genuine hunger need, as some babies take a few more months to sleep through the night.

Good luck!

[Antoinesmom]

Have you tried cluster feeding? Upping her intake during the day should help her do her nights,
Is she eating foods too? Maybe it's time to start.

Our son, would regularly wake up at 3 as well, one night I decided against feeding him and try to get him to fall asleep, it took a while but he did and woke up at 5am. This went on for about 5 nights and then he just started to sleep through and eating more during the day as well. With time the 5 am wake up pushed to 6 and then 7.

Marty