3.5 mo old waking every 2 hrs.

[mluukkonen]

My girl is 3.5 months and we've always struggled a bit with sleep. Recently she's been waking up every 2 to 2.5 hours at night. She previously slept 5.5-7 hrs. (She has also started taking shorter naps too). I'll try to get all the info in here!

General Routine:
8am: awake, eat, activity
9:30am: sleep

...

She used to take 1.5 to 2 hr naps, but has recently started napping only 30-45 minutes. She always goes back down after 1.5 hours of being awake, no matter how long she slept previously. She gets fussy and tired almost like clockwork.

She is exclusively breastfed and was on a 3-hr schedule until recently. She now acts hungry around 2-2.5 hours. She eats for 10 min, then seems satisfied, happy and very smiley.

During her activity time, she usually spends some time in a bouncer, some time being held and interacted with, and might go for a walk or two outside.

At night, she gets a bath, dressed for bed, breastfeeds for approx. 10 min, then I put her in her crib mostly sleepy after some sh-patting. For the past couple months, she has fallen asleep with the pacifier in, then lets it drop out after she's asleep. She doesn't wake up when it falls out.

Now that she started waking up every 2-2.5 hours, I've wondered if she is going through a growth spurt, or if she is just getting into the bad habit of waking often and is unable to soothe herself back to sleep. I have been breastfeeding her when she wakes up because she does act hungry.

Phew, I know there's a lot of stuff in here, but I just thought I'd throw it out there to see what you think!! Thanks

[mmom]

((HUGS)) There is a major growth spurt at 3 and 4 months and it can cause real chaos!  Plus this is a period where a lot is happening developmentally.  My LO was a dream sleeper until this age and then it all went to pot.   I was actually talking to a coworker today whose LO is the same age as yours and she is having the same problem.

Are you cluster feeding in the evening?  I would think any way you could get more calories in your LO the better.

Are you noticing any discomfort or just wanting to eat?

[mluukkonen]

Thanks for the reply

As I've talked to more and more friends/family, I'm learning that a lot of babies have done similar things at this age! That's somewhat reassuring.

I do cluster feed at night, but one thing I forgot to mention is that she has mild reflux. She isn't being medicated for it, because the doc advised against it since she's growing well and doesn't have an aversion to eating. So, I noticed that if she eats too often before bed, she seems uncomfortable and wakes up lying in a pool of spit up.

Occasionally, she has refused to nurse, which is definitely not like her! At those times, she did seem uncomfortable. She would go to the breast like she wanted to eat, start to suck, then come off crying very intensely. She's drooling a lot and sticking everything in her mouth. I can also see her two bottom teeth under the gums (but I've been able to for a while). So, I thought this might be some early teething. On these occasions, I have given her homeopathic teething tablets, and they seemed to help her calm down and get to sleep. Most of the time, though, she doesn't seem uncomfortable.

She is definitely more aware of her surroundings these days, and she's been rolling from belly to back for a while. She sleeps on her belly and sometimes rolls onto her back at night. When she does this, she seems scared or startled, but I've always ended up nursing her back to sleep when that happens...

I guess the main thing I'm trying to figure out is whether nursing her when she wakes up is creating a bad habit- but I don't want to NOT nurse her if she needs it! I'm a bit of a sucker and it makes me sad to think my baby could be hungry and I'm not feeding her. I guess that's the "poor baby syndrome," right? I'm not sure how to get her more calories during the day, cause we've already shortened the gap between those feedings (and she won't stay on for more than 10 minutes- whenever she does, she just spits up a lot immediately after).

[Khalam's Mama]

I wonder if she had a gs and has now become a snacker. I would try to stretch her feeds so she stretches her tummy and can go longer between feeds. My Ds has reflux but is gaining well. It is a common mistake Dr make thinking it cant be reflux. If lo is having some feeding issues where she comes off when she starts i would go back to the Dr and ask to try something like a thickener to help keep feeds down. The shortening naps may indicate a need to move to a 3.5hr easy. Look at the faq in the easy board and there are some helpful stickies.

[mluukkonen]

After reading the FAQs, I think I may be more confused than before!

-Is 10 min. really fast for a 3.5 month old to b/f? I've talked to a couple other moms with babies this age, and they are eating for that long as well. (Granted, I don't know what the rest of their routine is like)

-If I want her to sleep longer at night, and I want to increase the amount she eats during the day, would trying to transition her to a 3.5hr easy get her enough intake? (I guess the idea here is that she would be eating more at each feed?) I don't know if it makes a difference, but she definitely seems hungry every time she eats- she's not a lazy eater...in fact, I wish there was a way to slow her down sometimes! By watching her, you'd think she was afraid the milk was going to disappear if she didn't gulp it down right away

-When she wakes up, she usually wants to eat right away- I think that's partially why she started eating every 2-2.5 hrs during the day- as her naps got shorter, she woke up before she "should" be eating, but she wasn't happy until she ate. (She'd try to suck on whatever part of me that got near her mouth...arm, face, etc.) Sometimes when she wakes up early, I can play with and talk to her for a little while, but she always acts like she's trying to get to the food source.

-Are there any ideas regarding whether or not babies have differences in metabolism like adults do? Meaning...my husband's family eats a LOT of food (nutritious, but still- a lot of it), and they are all very thin and fit. My nieces and nephews on that side have always eaten a lot more than most kids their age, but they are still on the small side weight-wise. Is it possible that babies inherit faster metabolisms? Orrr....am I just trying to come up with excuses so that I don't have to try to train my baby, haha?

[mmom]

Sorry I am just getting back to you.

I think some BFing LOs take a tiny bit longer to transition to a 4 hour EASY.  I also think that once you get past the 3 month growth spurt, you hit the 4 month growth spurt which was crazy for both of my kids.

Honestly, if it were me and I thought my LO was hungry, I would feed.  But only you know your LO - are there hunger signs?  Have you tried to settle? 

Having said that, I think 2-2.5 hours is a bit too much.  Maybe your LO is soothing the reflux? FWIW, both of my LOs had reflux, didn't have problems growing or feeding and needed meds.  Remember, reflux peaks between 4 and 6 months, so this could be part of the frequent feeding.

As far as different metabolisms, I have no idea.  I think at this age it is more of a matter of growth spurts, developmental milestones, and other issues contributing to feeding.  Also, if you are always feeding to soothe, your LO will come to expect that. 

[Khalam's Mama]

My 5mo only ever ate for 10mins since birth and he was on a 4hr easy by 3.75mo and is huge so it doesn't necessarily mean anything.

[mluukkonen]

Thanks for all the input!

I've been able to stretch her feedings back to 3 hrs during the day now by keeping her up a little bit longer between naps & getting longer naps as a result. I think that getting her naps back on track has actually been part of the answer to all the other issues.

Last night, she went 6hrs & 45min before waking up to eat, so I'm hoping that things are starting to settle down with her night wakings- I guess we'll see how the next few nights go!

When she was waking up multiple times, she did act hungry. I tried to settle her without BFing, but she would get very upset. It's hard for me to tell if she's really hungry or just wanting to be soothed by the BFing, but she did take full feedings each time. Since she did really well last night, I'm praying that it was just a growth spurt and I didn't reinforce any bad habits!

[mmom]

I am glad you are getting back on track!  There are so many growth spurts along the way it is hard to tell what is what.