Help with Sleeping through the night!!!

[Mom2Ben]

My DS is 3 months, one week.   He is on a great EASY schedule during the day, slowing moving some of his cycles to 4 hours!   Napping has fallen into place, but I am struggling with what to do with him at night.

He goes down about 8pm, give or take 15 minutes on either side.   Four times in the last month he has slept through the night!   But other than those four nights, he is all over the map!   He sleeps anywhere from 5-8 hours, feeds, then goes back down easily for another 3-4.    My question is though, if he can sleep through the night a few times, why can't he the other nights?   Its such a tease!!!!   Those nights were no different leading up to his sleep than any other .  Same amount of formula, cluster fed, etc.   Tracy says in her book if they are not waking at the same times, then it is hunger.  But what I can't understand is why he then is hungry after 5 hours, or after 8 when he has had the same amount of formula?

Oh, and he DOWNS the bottle in the middle of the night.  No matter what time it is, he drinks it like it is the first food he has ever had!

Any advice?

Should I try giving him the dummie?  Let him CIO?

Thanks!

[Katet]

Sorry hun, I would have to say if he downs the feed, you need to feed him, he is only 3mo & 5 hours is sleeping through the night for a 3mo, so the 8hours you are getting is a bonus... try offering more in the day but in all honesty if he takes a full feed he needs it & at 3mo my ds#1 was lucky to do 4 hours & ds#2 also swapped between short & longer spells
BTW all CIO will do is make your lo more hungry & break his trust in you. He will sleep through exhaustion & not through being "ready to sleep"

[Mom2Ben]

Thank you Kate.   I guess I will try to hang in there...

[Deb_in_oz]

just to reassure you that it is not just your lo.  my first daughter started sleeping through between 2-3 months old but woudl wake hungry every 3 days or so and then go a week with no feeds and then wake again for a couple of nights. i think it took 3-4 weeks of irregualrity before we never heard from her again 

 i think there are more variables that go into whether they will sleep through the night besides food.  if it came down simply to amounts of food only then there would be more consistency with children across the board instead of a huge age range of when children sleep through without feeding in the night. so many people's little ones take enough food in the day but still cannot be sustained through the night - perhaps all that overnight development uses up the calories...

he is doing great for 3 months old and will only increase the length of his sleeps - at least when he does wake for a feed he goes straight back to sleep - that is a blessing!

[emaches]

What does Tracy say if the baby IS waking at the same time every night?

[Mom2Ben]

Thanks Ladies.   I think I am just feeling like something is wrong with my lo because my friends around me happen to have los that sleep through the night at very early ages.    Ben seems really behind compared to them.   But I guess he is normal for "him".  Thanks for your support.

[kdruve]

I have a 3month old who is on a 4hour easy routine during the day. I try to feed him as close as possible to 7am 11am 3pm and 7pm. At night he has a bath at 6pm and almost always goes to sleep after his bottle at 7pm.  Have tried to do a df at at varying times between 10 and 11pm, but regardless he always wakes up around 3ish and needs another bottle to get back to sleep. The problem is giving him another bottle after the df means he is getting 6 feeds/day, and is having too much formula. Whether I do the df or not, he still needs a bottle somewhere before morning to get back to sleep. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do? Staying up till 11pm do the df and then again before morning with the day starting at 7am and my lo not having very long naps during the day is getting too hard for me. Am thinking of trying an earlier top up around 930ish before I go to sleep and see if that makes a difference.....Would love to hear from anyone else who was in a similar position or has ideas on how I should tweak his routine.
Thanks karen

[Smarti]

I feel like I am talking to myself... My little guy is 4mo old and not sleeping through the night.  He was waking up at 3am and I was giving his a full six ounces.  On the verge of going insane with not more than 4 hours of sleep at a time I picked up Tracy's book again.

It has become a habit to him.  So in order to break the habit you have to feed less at night and more during the day.  What I did was cut his 3am in half for the last 4 nights and in turn has been eating more during the day.  And guess what??  He started sleeping until 5:30.  So when he wakes tonight I will only feed him 2 oz. and do that for 3 or 4 nights until he can make it til 7 am.

And of course wouldn't you know it right when I am trying to do this he is learning to roll over and daylight saving time hits.  So were not there yet but I hope we're on the right track!  Hope this helps

[Deb_in_oz]

  The problem is giving him another bottle after the df means he is getting 6 feeds/day, and is having too much formula. Whether I do the df or not, he still needs a bottle somewhere before morning to get back to sleep.

karen - i am not sure why you think this is too much formula at 3 mo - most babies are still feeding 3 hourly at that stage which would lead to 6 bottles inclluding DF without even dealing with feeds between 11pm and 7am - what is his total intake for the day - is he taking a full feed at each daytime feed?  if so, then i think if he is still hungry overnight at 3 mo this is normal and you shoudl offer a bottle.  if he just takes a little bit and/or is just waking out of habit (meaning he wakes at approx same exact time every night so if 3:20 or so every night = habit, if 3am, 3:40, 4am etc it is not habitual) you could try waketo sleep.  if he is not taking full feeds in the day or you don't want to add calories overnight - can you try offering feeds at 3 - 3.5 hrly so you get the 6 feeds in between 7am and 11pm?

[kdruve]

Debra,
Thanks for your reply. In answer to your question, my lo has 200ml 4 times per day, and at his 7pm bottle I make it up to 210ml. He normally drinks somewhere between 170 and 200ml at each feed. He weighs 7.2kg. Then, I give him a bottle somewhere during the night when he wakes up somewhere between 2 and 3am. He does not cry but wakes and if I give him a bottle he has approx 140ml. Do you think I should reintroduce the df? If I do, he just ends up still wanting another bottle during the night, but if I leave him he still only has the 1 bottle till morning. I have been told I should take his wait 7.2kg multiply it by 150mls and divide by the no. of feeds and that is how much he should have each day. So his quota is reached with 5 feeds/day not 6. (7.2 * 150mls = 1080)
I want to make sure he is eating enough, because he is not crying at night I want to encourage him to sleep through the night too....Any thoughts...