Habit or Hunger?

[Nora]

My 4 month old daughter wakes up at 4am sucking her hands and if I dont go to her she starts to cry around 4:30. I put her back to sleep but she might wake again an hour later and again an hour after that until I feed her about 7:30/8am.

I don't know if it's hunger as some mornings after doing that she will wake at 7:30 and play happily until I feed her at 8. And in the past when we fed her at 4am it seemed to put her off her 8am feed. I'm also afraid if I start feeding her at 4am it will reinforce the habit (if that's what it is).

Her routine is EASY with feeds generally every 3.5 hours at 8, 11:30, 3, 6:30, and 10. At each feed she takes between 4 and 5 ozs. She goes to bed between 7 & 8 and settles well for the night, waking up at 10 for just enough time to feed and burp.

She seldom sleeps more than 4 hours during the day time. She will have 1x2-hour nap (usually after morning feed but that varies) and 2x1-hour naps.

Can anyone tell if her 4am wakings are habit or hunger?

She was delivered by emergency 5 weeks early because I had pre-eclamsia for some time but wasn't detected. At 3lbs7oz she was pretty tiny but has caught up well and is now 13lbs. It bothers me that she might be hungry - poor thing didn't get much nutrition for her last few months in the womb...

[Kimberly®]

Have you tried w2s?
It may be hunger, but I'd suggest you try w2s and see what happens. If she still wakes then you'll know its hunger

[Nee]

My DD would do the same and if I didn't feed her, she would wake every hour thereafter.  In the book, it says if Lo wake at different times each night, that it means hunger but if it's at the same time like clock work, then it is a habit and to do W2S.  I would just feed my DD cause she would wake at different times but more often it would be 4Am.  She has been sleeping through the night now for 3 days now.     

Hope this helps.

[Nora]

i've tried w2s a few times but when she woke again i presumed i'd done it wrong!!
Last night i did it again but she just went to sleep for another 40 minutes and then was basically awake from 4 to 7 with small naps in between. It would be easier on us all just to feed her :-)
Looks like it's hunger so I'm going to do a top up at 9 and then feed her during the night if she wakes up more than once.

[rinajack]

I would feed her.  Particularly if she does not settle back to sleep. 

My DD also is happy not to eat when she gets up, but I have discovered that she is pretty much happy not to eat as long as she is occupied, so don't take this as an indication of not being hungry.  If I wait for my DD to seem hungry it takes forever, and by then she is STARVING!!!

If you find it affecting the first morning feed, offer a little less in the night feed and see if that helps.

Do you Dream Feed - that might help too.

[Nee]

I agree.  My DD was the same way I would feed her anywere from 2Am to 4 Am but I would only feed her once in a night.  You Lo is still young and is quite normal for her to be hungry at night.  If I ended up feeding at 4am, I would just top her off at 8am.  I BF so she would only take on side and she would then fall back into her routine.