How do you get them sleeping through the night?!

[PeanutSmith]

Hello there,

My lo is 12 weeks old.  She sleeps independently and is pretty much the perfect baby by day, but she is still waking quite a few times at night, and my energy reserves are starting to dwindle!  I've had her following an EASY pattern since birth, but I don't think we have it quite right.  Can anyone give me some advice.

I started logging our days a week ago, but the last few days we've have been out quite a bit so I haven't been logging.  She wakes from 5:30-7:30 and at the moment wakes at night at 21:30, 12:00, 03:00 05:00/06:00.  Sometimes the times change but that's the general times, gosh it doesn't sound so unreasonable when I write it down, but during the night it feels quite excessive.

A typical day looks as follows:

E 6:30
S 7:05 (1.25hr)
E 8:30
S 9:45 (1:30hr)
E 11:15
S 12:25 (2:00hr)
E 14:20
S 15:30 fell asleep 15:50 (1:20hr)
E 16:50
S 17:40
E 21:40
E 1:40
E 3:15
E 6:00

She swaddled and fully bf.  She uses a dummy if she's fretful before sleep, but doesn't sleep with it in.

The last few days she's been going to bed a bit later at 18:00ish.  During the day she sometimes has a longer nap for about three hours, which is normally in the afternoon.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Catherine

[petram]

Hi, im no expert, and my LO is now 15 weeks and bottle fed from 8 weeks so I can only go on what I know from experience.

Looking at you day tho your LO doesn't seem to feed much in the evening

When i was still bf i used to feed very regularly 2 and half-3hrs during the day, in the evening i remeber my LO would E around 4pm, then i would feed again at 6.30 before a bath and then again 7.30 and put to bed, i would then do a last feed at 10.30ish and this used to take us to between 3am/4am and the next one would be 6.30/7ish.

You have a long stretch at 4.50pm-9.40pm and another good stretch 9.40pm-1.40am you need to get these in the night not in the evening, so if it were me i would continue feeding during the early evening and then stop when its bedtime.-hope that makes sense.
Not sure how you go about changing routine tho so as not to upset LO too much.
The idea is that you give them all the callories they need in the day.

I still do this routine with my LO now, E regularly 3-3.5 hrs through the day, E at 4ish, again at 6.30(usually just half a feed), bath and another feed at 7.30(sometimes a full feed sometimes not quite) and then a last feed at 10.30pm til 7am next morning.
When we started dropping the night feeds i just gave him the dummy and after a couple of nights he was fine.
 
Any way hope that helps and you get some sleep soon!! x

[PeanutSmith]

Thanks for the reply.  I don't really know how to move her bedtime back any further, she seems to be doing it gradually as the last few days she's been going to bed at 18:00.  Can I dream feed her cluster feeds?  There is only so many times I can fit feeding in before a 6pm bed!

[gabrielsmommy]

I am no expert either being a new mom myself to a 3 1/2 month old, but maybe you should try extending her feedings out to at least 3 hrs apart even if she is awake for a bit before you feed.  My son rarely ever eats as soon as he gets up unless he takes a 3hr nap which he does a lot.  My son still wakes twice at night to eat on most nights.  He has been formula fed since 2 months old also.  I don't let my son nap after 6pm either because he wants to go to sleep between 7-8pm for the night.  I try to keep him up for at least 1 1/2hrs before bed.  Also, have you tried just giving the pacifier to extend her for longer periods at night.  I can see where this is very frustrating for you especially at night.  That is a lot of feeds.  She seems to nap a lot more than mine every has.  My son take 2 long naps and maybe 1 short nap in the evening.  Will she not stay awake any longer without getting fussy?

[PeanutSmith]

Thanks, I put her down for a nap after her three yawns or if she starts staring.  She only gets fussy if I really get her OT.  She's a really good baby and it takes a lot to make her cry, so I suppose I could try and extend her awake time.  I tried it tonight and she went to bed at 18:30-the latest I've managed.  She woke from nap at 16:45 and I fed her as much as I could until she went to bed, she is tanked up to the top I'm wondering if that will make any difference.  I'm a little hesitant to plug a dummy in the extend sleep time at night, wouldn't that make it a prop?  I fell in that habit when she was a few weeks old of re-plugging.  Thanks for the advice, lets see if a later bed time works better.

[PeanutSmith]

Tanking her up last night didn't work, she still woke at 21:00, 01:00, 03:00, 04:30 (resettle self after 15 mins-no feed) and woke up at 07:00.

Tonight she went to bed at 17:00, I woke her at 18:00 and fed her three times before putting her back down again at 19:15...She was super tired but went down without a fuss.  Not sure if this was the right thing to do.

Anyone got any ideas?

Thanks

[petram]

how did she sleep last night after those evening feeds?
Did you dream feed?

[PeanutSmith]

When I went to df her the poor kid was covered in puke, I'd obviously over stuffed her before bed.  She didn't wake up bless her, she was just sleeping on wet sheets.  Last night she df at 22:00, fed at 01:00, 05:00 and then woke up at 07:30.  So no 3am wake up last night.  Improvement yes, but I'd love to get rid of that the 01:00 wake up.  Am I expecting too much from her do you think?

[PeanutSmith]

So last night I woke her at 18:00 and put her back to bed at 19:15, she df at 23:00 and then slept until 04:00-brilliant!  I feel horrible waking her up in the evening, she is soooo tired, but it seems if I want to sleep at night I think I have to.

[petram]

Sounds like youve got it sorted.

It is horrible waking them but its better than all the night wakings-at least you and her get a good nights sleep.

When i first stated the extra feeds in the evening we had a few sick episodes but they either get used to it or you get used to when they've had enough.

Anyway, hope it continues x