Confused by 4 month old waking in the night!

[IndigoJaguar]

My four month old used to sleep brillantly......before we put her on EASY a month ago. She napped horribly, but her nights were great. Now she is waking more in the night. I thought she already went thru her growth spurt a week or two ago, but now she is df at 11 and wants to get up at 2:30 or 3 and then again at 5 or 6. She eats at those times, but sort of half heartedly. I'm confused because she never eats well even during the day, so it's really no different. Does anyone else have trouble knowing what their cries sound like?? I want to make her go back to sleep and I don't have a problem doing shh/pat with her, but I don't want to starve her either. When she does wake up, I give her her pacifier, but it doesn't really do any good. She just cries and cries for 20 min or more. I don't want to set a habit I have to break, but I don't want to starve her either! HELP!

[srkosturos]

I'm just starting EASY with my 11 week old and this is my biggest concern. She usually wakes twice in the night for a feed. Last night I tried shh/pat a bit, then nursed her because her cues showed that she was hungry, put her back down but she still seemed hungry so I got a bottle (we are supplementing due to my low milk supply) and she gobbled it down. I would love someone to help answer OP's question regarding night feeds. I'm sure it applies to many more of us. Thanks!

[IndigoJaguar]

The baby whisperer book says if they take a full feed, they need to eat and it will not be a habit. My problem is I can't tell what a full feed is because she eats so poorly all the time. At night she probably eats just as good at night as she does in the day. It's just hard to tell in the middle of the night. LOL

[ZacsMumme]

Ladies beware the 4 mth sleep regression
http://www.babysleepsite.com/how-we-sleep/4-month-old-sleep-regression/
Also a developmental leap and GS time. 4-6 months is tough

I'm just starting EASY with my 11 week old and this is my biggest concern. She usually wakes twice in the night for a feed. Last night I tried shh/pat a bit, then nursed her because her cues showed that she was hungry, put her back down but she still seemed hungry so I got a bottle (we are supplementing due to my low milk supply) and she gobbled it down. I would love someone to help answer OP's question regarding night feeds. I'm sure it applies to many more of us. Thanks!

2 x feeds is normal at 12 wks Hun. Feel free to post on the E boards though for specific support or advice

IJ can you post EAS? X

[IndigoJaguar]

IJ can you post EAS?

Sure. Here is yesterday's routine. I have been writing down every day for a couple weeks.
W/U- 7:45
E- 8:30
A- 1 hour 50 minutes
S- 9:35-11:10
E- 12:30
A- 1 hour 55 minutes
S- 1:05-1:30 resettled 1:40-3:50
E- 4:15
A- 2 hours 5 minutes
S- CN 5:55-6:40
E- 7
A- 2 hours 10 minutes
S-8:50
DF- 11
restless at 2 but resettled. Fed at 4. Slept until W/U at 7.

[ZacsMumme]

/your day looks awesome! Great work.

Only tweak I can see you could make is to cut the CN to 30 mins and pull BT earlier with a shorter A to BT. Maybe try 1hr30/45

How so you do the resettles and is your LO an independent sleeper at nap and BT?

[IndigoJaguar]

Yea. We have trouble with our last A time getting too long.  It just seems like the evening gets away from us.
I resettle by shh/pat. I think she is an independent sleeper. What exactly is the definition of that? Able to transition herself? Up until the last few days, she had been waking at the 30/45 minute mark at naps and having to be resettled to sleep an hour or so longer. Now she is doing long naps without waking and bedtime is good too. I rarely have trouble with her. She goes down and sleeps constantly until dream feed or longer if I don't dream feed her, but it's after midnight that it gets a little crazy. She is restless and may wake up twice or more. If I feed her tho, she goes right back down for another three/four hours. I just wasn't sure a seventeen week old needs to be eating twice? Tracy makes it sound like in the book that she should be sleeping ten hours straight without waking after midnight.

[ZacsMumme]

When you pd for naps and BT does she go to sleep in the cot on her own? Or in part on her own? Or do you rock to sleep etc.

Are you bf or bottle? Ill get some E eyes on this for you

[IndigoJaguar]

Oh. Yes. I rock as part of wind down, but put her down awake. 
She is breastfed except for one bottle at bedtime or dreamfeed.

[Erin M]

There's a lot of info here on night feeds: Night Feeds and the Breast Fed Baby

The whole concept of sleeping through the night without feeding (or with only feeding once!) is one that has changed over the years and can vary widely from baby to baby -- at 17 weeks, her behavior sounds totally normal.  All we expect them to be able to do at this age is to go as long at night between feeds as they can during the day.  If they go longer, that's great but that's more of a bonus than anything else. 

I always found that if I could resettle and they'd go right back to sleep and stay asleep, then it probably wasn't a hunger waking.  Or if I were to feed and they didn't go right back to sleep and stayed awake after that instead.  If I resettled and they woke up again and again and again, then it was likely a hunger waking.  At 4 months, only one of my 3 could go dream feed until morning without waking.  Dd2 had the df and a night feed and ds may have even had a df and 2 nfs at that point.