paci to help baby sleep through the night

[Ollie76]

My 15 week old typically wakes up once at night (around 5:00 am) is fed and goes back to sleep.  However, the problem is that she was taking a HUGE feed at that time and not taking much in the morning.  One of the moderators suggested diluting that feed (and I tried it a couple of times).  So far she has managed to sleep through a couple of times - BUT.....here's my question.  She has been able to sleep past that feed only with the help of her pacifier.  The thing is is that she does not use a pacifier to sleep just when she wakes in the night.  In fact, we weaned it about 3 weeks ago.  Sooooo I'm just wondering if this has this been effective for anyone (in terms of eliminating night wakings)?  Could this end up being a problem down the road?

Thanks for your thoughts!

*just a note:  she will not take the paci when she is actually hungry in the middle of the night

[Tatumsmom]

I think that if she has been able to sleep through a couple of times, it might just be a matter of time before she is able to all the time. Do you have to get up and give her the paci??  That might lead to her depending on you to go back to sleep. I think for 15 weeks you are doing great for sleep. I'm defiantly not an expert as my dd just started sleeping through and shes two .
 I think that you are on the right track with the diluting the feed, have you tried wake to sleep that might work if she always wakes at five. At 15 weeks she might still need that feed, but if you have had success with not feeding her then I think you might just need to break the cycle of her waking at that time.

Kim

[Ollie76]

Thanks Kim.  The time can range from 4:00-5:00 a.m. sometimes it seems like true hunger and other times not so much.  One thing that has also helped was that she has started to take more at her dream feed.

In terms of getting up to give the paci - yes that's what we have done     I'm hoping that she'll just learn to take more food during the day.

[Sarah - Enfys' Mum]

This may sound strange, and I'm not sure where I got this idea...
Enfys was down to one feed at 5 am around 12 weeks and it was the same, she was hungry then but wouldn't be at 7 or even 8.  She didn't take a whole lot at her dream feed either, so I just didn't give it to her for a couple of nights.  She woke up hungry around 1 so I fed her and she had a whole feed.  I went back to giving her dream feed after about three nights and she would sleep through then.

[Ollie76]

That might be worth a try!  Thanks.

[Sarah - Enfys' Mum]

We may just have a strange baby but in my sleep deprived state it DID make sense at the time!