3 month old waking several times suddenly

[Jessleigh]

My 13wk DD suddenly started sleeping horribly at night just 2 days before turning 3 months.
Her daily routine:
Wake up 7am
E 7
S 8:15-10
E 10
S 11:15-1
E 1
S 2:30-3:30/4
E 3:30/4
S Cat nap 5:15-6
E 6
bath at 7pm
S 7:30 bed
E 8:15 (she usually wakes at the 45 min mark so i feed her and she's down for the night)
10-11 DF or sometimes she wakes up

A 6:30-7 and E at 7am

Her naps range from 1hr 45mins to 45 mins (split nap with EASASE or EASAE pattern)
For sleep when she gets tired i put her in the sling and give her a pacifier until her eyes are heavy. I then swaddle her and put her in her bassinet and shhh her til she's out

Bedtime routine is Bath at 6:45-7 depending on how tired she is then sling/pacifier then swaddle and sh to sleep
SHe's only breast fed and she nurses quickly for about 7 mins
Her A times are usually 1:15 mins Sometimes as short as 1 hr when she's tired or as long as 1.5 hours. We do brief tummy times, playing with toys independently and with me.

She was sleeping from 8:30 to 5am with 11pm DF. i would feed her at 5am and she'd sleep til 7am. suddenly shes waking like every 1.5 hrs at night and then wanting to start the day at 5:30 or 6. but ive been rocking her to sleepwhen she does this so she makes it til 7am. i end up feeding her 3x a night now.
thoughts?
thanks!

[Jessleigh]

A few more details...
When i put her in her bassinet she's awake but eyes are shutting and she falls asleep with the pacifier in her mouth, so i know she's hooked on it. I try to remove it so she's not constantly sucking in her sleep. She always wakes at the 45 min mark (for naps and bedtime) and has since 6 wks old. Sometimes I can resettle by shh/pat and paci and sometimes i actually take her out and rock her and hold her through the rest of the nap so she's not OT for the rest of the day. Other times I just go with the EASA pattern if she doesn't seem to want to resettle. During these recent NW I've been nursing, but if it's only been 1 hr btwn wakings I try just replugging the paci but she grunts and strains and tosses and turns so i end up BF her to go back to sleep. She sounds like she's uncomfortable and restless. Sometimes her eyes are still shut but she's tossing and turning and grunting and straining against her swaddle. Possibly more gas than normal? Could it be she's going through a growth spurt and needs the extra feedings? For now, I'm just feeding her cuz it works and I don't know what else to do. Plus my husband is out of town so I'm not sure I can handle trying to ween her from her paci right now, but maybe we need to do that? Thanks for the help.

[ZacsMumme]

Hi there, sorry it looks like your post was missed.

How you getting on now Hun? Things the same?

[Jessleigh]

Yep. Same issues. Wakes multiple times at night. Sometimes 2am and 4am. Last night was 12:30 and 3 bc no dreamfeed. Then she's up btwn 4 and 7 on and off. Really restless. I try not to feed again til 7am. I end up bringing her in bed to keep replugging the paci and keep her asleep as she stirs. So confusing bc things had been going so well right before turning 3 months. Not sure what to do. Wondering if I need to start transitioning to 4 hr easy. She's 15 weeks today.

[Jessleigh]

O and her A time is 1.5 hours. So the easy is a bit different than original post

[jennandsophie]

Exactly the same thing happened with my DS a month ago when he turned 3 months.  There's a thing called the 4 month sleep regression where their sleep patterns start changing to be more adult-like. It usually takes place some point between 3-5 months.

DS went from being up once or twice a night to eat at fairly predictable times to waking up every 1 or 2 hours through the night.  It continued on for about 3 weeks and I was going insane trying to figure out what the problem was.  Finally I read an article on this and figured out this is what was happening.  It doesn't happen to all babies.  My DD never had it.  To be honest there wasn't much I could do other than try to help him get as much rest as possible even though he was taking all 30 min naps from being so OT.  We did a lot of APing to get him back to sleep at night as well, using the pacifier and holding him back to sleep.  It all stopped after one night where I think his body just collapsed from the cumulative exhaustion and he slept a good long stretch.  After that he started sleeping long naps in the day and longer stretches at night again.  

Sorry if that's not too helpful, but if that's what is going on and you determine it's not a routine problem, you need to just ride it out.  It does end eventually.  I realized that it was a sign that we needed to transition to a 4 hour routine, which DS is on now.

[Jessleigh]

Thanks for that. It's encouraging to know I'm not causing it somehow. I think next week I'll move to 3.5 hr easy to see how it goes and then move to 4. She seems to be drinking way more at night now then during the day because she's so relaxed. She gets si distracted during the day and won't stay on the boob so she's trying to make up at night I think. Did u nurse during the night fir all NWs? Or just one? I think I'm gonna try to only nurse if it's been 3 hours or more. Just so tempting to nurse even after 2 hours cuz I know it knocks her back out. But I think I'm creating more problems by her not wanting to nurse as much in the day. Also how dud you transition to the 4 hr easy? I've read some of the posts about it but I'm a bit confused. Seems like it goes to more of a EASAE pattern.

[jennandsophie]

I tried to nurse no more than 2 times in the night, usually around the times I would have previous to the madness, so around the time of the DF 10-11pm and then early morning, no earlier than 4am.  Other times I would just pat/shush or DH would walk him around a bit and hold him until he drifted off.  I didn't want him to get in the habit of consuming all those calories in the night by feeding him back to sleep.  Like your DD, he eats way better at night.  Daytime feeds were horrible at 3 months because he wasn't hungry enough and he's so distracted by the slightest thing.

Transitioning to the 4hr was really hard during this period because DS because became so chronically OT from the bad nights that every nap became 30 mins.  So, my rule was I would get him back to sleep after every 30 min nap, even if it took another 30 mins to do it.  I would usually give him the pacifier and see if he would be willing to go back to sleep.  If he keeps crying, I would pick him up quickly before he fully awakens or it's game over.  Sometimes he would drift right back to sleep and I'd get another 45 mins out of him.  

Anyway, I would suggest starting with keeping the feed times at 3.25 or 3.5hrs, so it's more of a EASAE pattern.  Keep the activity really low-key before the feed.  Start trying to stretch the A times.  If your DD is the type to get OT easily, do it only in 5 or 10 min increments every few days.  At 3 months, 1.5hrs is average, so I wouldn't push it too much.  They just naturally start being able to stay awake longer and even nap longer if you get the A time right.  What will eventually happen is you won't have enough time in the day to do the catnap so you will be forced to drop one nap.  The days are wonky for a bit when that happens but eventually it evens out as they start staying awake longer.

The weird thing is that I was so anxious with both kids to get them transitioned and really in the end they did it naturally in their own time.  DD wasn't able to stay awake 2 hrs until almost 5 months while DS is already capable of it and he's just turning 4 months.  Just be patient and don't get too crazed because each day is a bit unpredictable for a while.

[ZacsMumme]

Then she's up btwn 4 and 7 on and off

THis is common in young LOs when they have wind/gas. Have you tried giving your LO a big burping session after NF....

Re the other wakings every 2-3hours....Jennifer is right ;

Exactly the same thing happened with my DS a month ago when he turned 3 months.  There's a thing called the 4 month sleep regression where their sleep patterns start changing to be more adult-like. It usually takes place some point between 3-5 months.

heir sleep cycles change, they stir more at night and come to every 2-3hours. This is when things like the paci becomes props as your LO needs it to get back to sleep.

You may need to think out if you want to keep the paci, and potentially replug a few times a night until your LO can replug on her own (usually 6-7 months) or wean it....

Not sure if you BF or Bottle, if BF some Los can take longer to get to 4hr feeds so as Jennifer says go wit hthe flow a little

[Jessleigh]

Thanks ladies! Last night she did better. Dreamfed early at 9:30 bc dh and I were so exhausted. She woke at 12:45 and then at 4:50 so better than every 2 hours. Then stirred at 6 and I gave her the paci til she came to naturally at 6:55. Every night's a new adventure! not quite ready to wean the paci so I guess I'll be stuck replugging for a bit.
Another question:
So as she wakes at the 45 min into all naps, sometimes it take a bit to resettle. And then it's almost time for her next feeding by the time she's back in deep sleep and I feel bad about waking her. Should I wake her to stay on her routine? Or let her sleep til she wakes naturally again? Not sure which would help her more.

[jennandsophie]

Good news on the better night!    Expect a bit of ups and downs if she is really is going through the regression.  We always had one or two better nights a week and then horrible ones in between. 

For naps, I always let both of them sleep past their feed time if it's an extended nap.  I figure 30 mins here and there variation is fine in any routine. I thought the extra sleep was more important than sticking to a strict feed time.

[Jessleigh]

Thanks. That's what I've been doing too. Seems better to have her get the sleep she needs.

[ZacsMumme]

For naps, I always let both of them sleep past their feed time if it's an extended nap.  I figure 30 mins here and there variation is fine in any routine. I thought the extra sleep was more important than sticking to a strict feed time.

I agree As long as she is healthy and gaining weight let her sleep.

[Jessleigh]

Well she's now 16 weeks old today and finally getting back on track. The last 3 nights she woke only 1 or 2 times and slept til 6:30/7 instead of waking on and off from 4-7.  Maybe it was a really long gs or just her sorting out sleep again or both. Guess this was one I just had to ride out. It helped that I went to bed at 8 after she did. kept me functioning! Thanks again for the tips and encouragement.

[ZacsMumme]