Waking to feed every 2.5-3 hours!!!!!

[Mommy2Cait]

It's been 2weeks since I have gone cold turkey with getting rid of my 5 MO's paci. It has gone really well and she has found her fingers to self-soothe. She is on a 4 hour EASY during the day, but her nights have not been good. I typically BF (she's EBF) at supper and then CF one more time. She goes to bed between 6-7pm. I DF around 10pm but she wakes about 2 hours later.  I let her suck on her fingers for about a half hour to see if she will put herself back to sleep, but this never happens. I sh/pat after she starts to really fuss, but I ultimately end up BF her.

She will wake and feed one more time in the evening. So here's my question, is it okay to BF her b/c she really seems hungry. I will feed her, turn on low light afterwards and change her bum.  All the while she is smiling and cooing at me.  I reswaddle her, give her a few good burps and put her back into her crib awake. She doesn't cry or fuss, she just sucks away on her hand and eventually falls back to sleep after 20 mins or so.  Could this be a growth spurt?  But she can go 4 hours in the day between feeds. Every time I BF her at night, she always ends up falling asleep at the end on my breast but I always put her back into her crib awake. She wakes up once I change her or if I don't change her I wake her up when I pick her up to burp her.

I guess I'm confused about what's going on. I would like to get her to at least 4 hours between feeds at night.

Thanks!
Tish      

[Tweakster]

Hi there, it could definitely be a growth spurt.  It's around 6 mths but they can get there earlier.  Most definitely you should feed her if you know she is hungry.

It's also ok to feed to sleep at NW when she wakes, you really want to keep interaction and stimulation minimal, don't engage her and stay in the dark as much as possible.  If she needs changing or burping fine, but otherwise I would just quietly feed her and put her back in her crib asleep.  If she's awake and she goes off on her own that's great but I would not worry about making sure she is awake to go down.  You need to do that for naps and bedtime but otherwise night time is time for sleep and it's ok. 

If she's not hungry and is looking for feeding as a sleep prop/comfort, that is a different story :-)

Have you tried letting her wake on her own to see what she will do?  We didn't have luck with the DF and if we did a DF Finn always woke 3 hours later anyway.  So we just let him lead the feeding and he woke at 1ish and then again between 4-5ish to eat. 

[All4Love]

Mommy2C, I am in the EXACT same situation! 5 months today, EBF, goes four hours during the day, but every 3 hours at night. Not at the same time, but every 3 hours after the last feed.

My LO doesn't even make it to the DF if the interval is longer than 3 hours so I usually let him wake up on his own. I don't think my DS is going thru a GS b/c it has been happening for at awhile.

I just introduced oatmeal cereal for one meal and nothing has changed!

I must admit that I do feed him to sleep at bedtime!

I hope we can figure this out all together!

[All4Love]

Hi Wendy,

I just read this quote from you on another thread:

normally they are moving away from the 2 hr A times towards 2.25-2.5 hrs between 5th & 6th month.

You are aiming for 2x 1.5 hour naps and 1x 30-45 min CN to take him to bedtime.  I think the waking at 40 mins is fine.

And I have just spent the last few days frantic b/c after a really bad week (pediatrician visit=no nap for 4 hours, painting the nursery=sleeping in brighter so shh/pat didn't work and AP to sleep) my LO started sleeping under 4hours a day. Yesterday, with a lot of HTTJ he slept 5 hours.

Could it be that our LO's aren't sleeping deep enough overnight b/c they are getting too much daytime sleep. (Before the bad week he was sleeping thru the jolts on his own and sleeping 4-5 hours a day)

[Tweakster]

Hi there, it really depends on the LO and what developmental stage they are at.  At 5 mths Finn was fighting the CN every step of the way.  Most days he never got one.  He did sleep 10-11 hours at night though, with 1 or 2 wakings to eat.  He would only do 3 hours of napping a day and that was with shush/pat and HTTJ to get proper 1.5 hour naps - ahh the good ol' days lol.  And that's the most I could get from him.

Some LO's are high sleep needs, some are low sleep needs.  And some LO's just have a hard time getting on track with a routine when you start.

The best thing to do is log sleep over a 24 hour period rather than thinking about naps & night sleep separately - they are connected.  Do it over a week or at least 5 days.  You can then see what your LO is averaging.  It is possible that naps are robbing from night sleep.

[Mommy2Cait]

Thank you for all of your responses....very much appreciated!!

After the past few nights, I hate to say it, but I think I have become the new prop for my LO. She was doing so good with getting rid of her paci and sucking on her fingers to self-soothe.  It's been 2.5 weeks since we got rid of the paci and the bouncing to go to sleep.  I know that some regression can occur, but it's like we are right back at square one again!!  She sucks on her fingers, but it's like they don't do the trick anymore for her.  (the daytime is a different story, she naps well and self soothes well)

Last night was horrible, she never went more than 1.5 hours at a time without waking.  I was so exhausted that I did feed her some of the times and twice I did do sh/pat to get her back to sleep.  But then she would wake another hour later....ughh...I need reassurance to keep doing this!  I saw a paediatrician today for a different reason and told her that I have been doing sleep training with her for the past few weeks and have successfully managed to get her off of her soother and onto her fingers.  The doctor told me I should consider the soother again and not the fingers because the soother can be taken away and doesn't damage their teethe like thumb/finger sucking.

My mind is telling me to stick with it but my poor body wants to give in.  Good thing I threw the damn things out!!

I'm confused because she's on a 4 hour EASY during the day.  She has a good nap in the morning (1.5-2 hours) and another in the afternoon (1.5-2) and usually a CN (30-45 mins).  And she has no really difficulty going down in the day, same routine each time:  swaddle, dim lights, tell her it's sleep time, very little sh/pat and leave.   She goes to bed between 6:30-7pm and up at 7-7:30am.

The reason why I think I have become the new prop is because last night she would fall asleep on me after feeding for very little time.  SOOOOOO, how do I overcome this new challenge?

YAWN, thanks everyone!!

[Tweakster]

HI there, well it may be a case of her getting too much sleep in the day.  Are her naps usually closer to 1.5 or 2 hours?  She is doing well with more than 12 hours at night so she may not need as much day sleep as she is getting.

When Finn was that age the most we would get is 3.5 hours.  And even that was a struggle.  Most days more like 3 hours.

You could try capping her naps and see if that helps.

To resettle her at night you need to choose a method like shush/pat or PU/PD and be consistent.  If you give in and feed after trying a method then it will derail the progress. 

Was there a reason you needed to ditch the paci...was it a prop?

[Mommy2Cait]

her nap time is usually more like 1.5 hours than 2 hours.  i decided on getting rid of the paci because it was becoming too much of a prop.  waking every 45 mins at night to replug her.  and now it seems I am waking every 2 hours to feed her!!

last night seemed better, she had longer spells than the night before. i actually listened to her mantra cry and suck on her fingers from 3-4am and then decided to feed her at 4 because she had been awake for so long.

i will try and keep a better track of her napping times and see if that is the problem.  we are travelling on monday and wanted to have everything settled before then, but that probably won't be the case!!

[Tweakster]

HI there, yeah that makes sense about the paci if it's a prop.  If you are travelling then you will just have to go with the flow, take it as it comes.  And then when you get back she may be in a different developmental stage anyway :-)

Hang in there!