Night wakings - 14 week old

[monkeyandbean]

Hi there. My DD2 is 14 weeks old - at 10 weeks while we were on holiday in S/AFrica she started sleeping thru from 6:30pm to 5:30am - we didn't hear a peep out of her the whole night and we were soooo excited as DD1 didn't sleep thru regularly till she was almost 1! Since we got back 2 weeks ago, its all gone pear shaped! She started out waking earlier at about 4am and then this last week we've had Tue 3:30, Wed 2:30 and 5:30 Thurs 2:00 and 5:00 and then last night 1:00 and 4:00!! And I dont know why she is waking up twice again after sleeping thru. She sleeps well during the day (usally 2 long naps and one cat nap), feeds every 3 hours off both sides(although she does seem to finish a side in about 7 mins these days and is more interested in whats going on around her than feeding) and is generally a very happy baby! Today I started pumping an hour after each feed to see if I can get her to take more each feed.

Any ideas on the night wakings? - after DD1 being a bad sleeper (and still not great) I really would like to get her back on track.

thanks in advance!

[monkeyandbean]

PS - only just saw the 'read this before you post..sorry'.......Bath time is 5:30, b/feed at 6:00 (both sides about 10 mins on each), in bed, swaddled (underarms tho as she sucks her thumb)  awake but drowsy by 6:30. When she wakes, she seems to be hungry which is why I have been feeding her. Ocassionally she will take a dummy so I have tried that and her thumb first but its not worked.

[lilac83]

At this age, especially with BF babes, it's not uncommon to still need 1-2 night feeds. Also, around 4 months, there's a growth spurt. So you may very well be dealing with that right now. It looks like her wakings are 3 hours apart, so I'm thinking she's genuinely hungry right now. However, if you would like you can post what a typical day looks like and we can go from there. Are you doing a dreamfeed?

E - when and how much
A - how long awake
S - time LO fell asleep and how long she slept

[monkeyandbean]

thanks for replying. Not doing dream feed - stopped at about 4 weeks as I found it impossible to get her to latch on and I even tried to wake her but she hardly took anything.
Typically a day would be as follows (tho start really depends on when she wakes up in the morning):
8 - wakes, nappy change, b/feed (both sides, about 10 mins on each), then activity time
9 - in cot, swaddled, awake (she is very good at falling asleep on her own, tho she does suck her thumb)
11 - wakes (I sometimes have to wake her to keep with the 3 hourly feeds), nappy change, feed (both sides, about 10 mins), then activity time
12:30 about - in cot, swaddled, awake
2:30 wakes, feed (both sides about 10 mins), then activity time
4 - at some point around 4 plus or minus, she has a cat nap.
5:30 bath
6:00 - feed both sides (time varies - usually 10-15 mins)
6:30 - swaddled in cot, ready for sleep

She struggles to stay awake for much more than an hour - hour and a half at the most (not sure if thats normal for this stage) during the day.

Have tried topping her up at 6:00pm with 2 ounces of expressed milk but it doesn't seem to make any difference.

[lilac83]

Your routine looks good! At 3 months 1.5 hours is average and then at 4 months most LO's start working towards the 4 hour EASY with 2 hour A times. One thing you could try doing is let her sleep longer for her 3rd nap and then move bedtime a bit later. Most LO's do best with a 12 hour day and a 12 hour night. So if you can get her to stay up a bit later and take one more good feed, she may only need 1 feed at night instead of the 2.

[monkeyandbean]

Thanks..I will try find a way to change her bed time....she goes down at 6:30 as I have a toddler whose dinner/bed/bath starts at 6:30 and its easier to have DD2 down before I start with DD1 and doing DD2's bedtime after DD1 meant we weren't eating dinner till about 9 by which time I just wanted to be in bed :-)

[lilac83]

Would it work for you to put DD2 down for nap at 6:15pm for 30/45 minutes. Get DD1 fed during this time and then wake DD2. She would then just need some low key A time so perhaps sitting in a bouncy chair watching DD1 get her bath. Then bedtime at 8:00pm.