what is going on?

[clairebear19]

Hi there,
Not sure if this is the appropriate board or not.

My DD is 8 weeks old. I do the bedtime ritual around 7:00pm. She goes down easily and sleeps well until about 1:00am (it can range from 12:30-1:45am depending on the night). At that point, I try to give her the paci, and pat her back but she is clearly awake and unsettled so I BF her. She eats well so I know she must be hungry. Most nights, after I feed and burp her it takes another 45min to hour for her to finally fall back asleep. It appears that she is still on the daytime "activity" schedule after eating. Then, about 3 hours later she wakes again, unsettled and hungry.

My question is this: If I put her down later, say 9:00pm, would she sleep until 3 or so and then only have 1 night waking? I honestly think she is hungry when she wakes b/c she BF alot! What about a dreamfeed? I did try this one or two nights but she still woke up 3 hours later hungry. We follow a 3 hour EASY schedule during the day and I do my best to keep her to it.

Thanks for any suggestions to get her night sleeping stretched out more.

[Shiv52]

She goes down easily and sleeps well until about 1:00am (it can range from 12:30-1:45am depending on the night). At that point, I try to give her the paci, and pat her back but she is clearly awake and unsettled so I BF her. She eats well so I know she must be hungry. Most nights, after I feed and burp her it takes another 45min to hour for her to finally fall back asleep.

Can i ask why you give her the paci first?  If she last fed before 7pm and last to 1am then she has lasted 6 hours which for 8 weeks is amazing.  I would feed her right away and get her back down.  You are probably having that long settling period after because she is wakening up too much before you feed her. 

I think TBH 2 night feeds is totally normal for 8 weeks, even 3 is normal.  I wouldn't keep her up to 9pm as she will end up OT and then you may get OT NWs. 

You could try a DF again and see does it help her get through the night but I would still expect a NF at 3/4am at 8 weeks even with a DF. 

HTH

[clairebear19]

Thank you. I give her the paci when I go into her room and she is still sleeping (eyes closed) but wiggling and grunting. I guess I figure that she is not awake yet and maybe the soothing of the paci will help her sleep for a bit longer. And I agree, 7-1 is great for her age, I just thought that having that stretch would be much better if it was from 9-3 or 10-4. I think I will attempt the dream feed again.

[Rebekahb]

hi, we did the DF with my LO right from the start and by 8 weeks she was doing her long stretch from the DF around 10:30pm until 4ish and then we would wake at 7 to start her day.  Definitely think it is a good idea to start a DF and stick with it for at least a week before deciding if it helps or not good luck!