Night wakings at 12 weeks

[Harrysmum2015]

Hoping someone can help me…

My son is 12 weeks old and has been going through a growth spurt for the past three days and nights during which he went from one night feed (at about 1.30am) to two at about midnight and again at 4am and having 6oz bottles (which is unlike him). This continued for three nights however yesterday during the day his appetite reduced significantly which signalled to me that his growth spurt was over and so I was keen not to make the twice nightly feedings a habit. Last night he woke at 11.15pm, 12.15am and 1am and each time I gave him a dummy which sent him back to sleep for another sleep cycle. Then when he woke again at 1.45am (his usual waking time pre growth spurt) I gave him a bottle. He then went until 5am (when I gave him his dummy) and then slept again until after 6am which was the same pre growth spurt. My concern/question is - am I doing the right thing in continuing to give him his dummy even though it means he is waking up between each sleep cycle until I feed him? By doing this am I almost encouraging him to wake (whereas normally he sleeps through between feedings).

I'm not DF him because he won't take to it yet - I'm going to persevere though (as a separate point, any advice on how to successfully DF with a bottle?). Also I'm trying to increase his formula intake in the day (he eats every three hours) but he will only take what he wants and simply spits the teat out so I can't really increase his calories during the day. In any event, from last night and pre-growth spurt it seems he doesn't need that much in the night as he only take about 4 or 5 oz during the one night feed.

One other thing to know is that he has also been going through a developmental milestone as yesterday he rolled over for the first time and also started grabbing a toy and lifting his head a lot higher during tummy time which is all new.

Any help or advice hugely appreciated.

[LovelyLilyandJack]

Hi there, welcome to the forums!  Sorry your post has been missed. How are things now?

I don't have any experience with dummys I'm afraid,  but generally I would say that if you think it's interfering with sleep, now might be the time to wean it.  But the NWs could easily be developmental too, so I'd probably wait to see if they stop by themselves in a couple of weeks.  It could also genuinely be hunger - the growth spurt might be / have been tailing off rather than suddenly stopped.

WRT dream feeding with a bottle - my two always woke up I'm afraid!  It didn't matter with my daughter - she took the feed and then slept through from about 4/5 months, but it disturbed my son's sleep for the rest of the night, so we stopped doing it with him.  Will she not take it at all, or is it that she generally wakes up when you do it?