4 month old waking every three hours at night and only feeding 4 min

[Snu]

Hi there,
My almost four month old daughter (EBF) has been waking every three hours at night. Prior to one week ago she would sleep 5-6 hours at night without a feed.

She has always been efficient nurser (5-7 min on one breast), but now when she wakes at night she only eats for 4 min,goes back to sleep then is up three hours later.

She is on the 3hour EASY and for the past two weeks only naps in 45 min increments. I can get her back to sleep if I soothe her (rock her,hold her) but it is hard with a three year old in the house!

This is her routine give or take 30min.

E 7am
A 715-830 or 9
S 9am (45 min)

E 10am
A 1015-12
S 12pm (45 min to an hour)

E 1pm
A 115 - 230 or 3
S 3pm (45 min to an hour)

E 4pm
A 415-530
S 530pm catnap 30 min ( has been fighting this the last two days)

E 7pm
S 730pm

Dreamfeed 1015-1030pm ( for the past five days she had been waking btw 930-10pm and I give her the Dreamfeed then because she is so upset). Prior to five days ago, when she took the Dreamfeed at 1015pm, she slept until 3am. Now she only sleeps until 130am.

Then she is usually up at 130, 430, 630am

What should I do? Is it time to move to a 4 hour schedule? Should I drop the Dreamfeed?

Any suggestions are appreciated!

Thanks,

[Layla]

Hi there,

I would start working towards 4hr EASY first (before ditching the DF). I've attached a link for you to read through - Time to Transition - 3hr, 3.5hr or 4hr EASY

Having said that, if she's BF, you might find she won't be able to stretch 4hrs between feeds so its ok to stay on 3.5hrs between feeds.

With regards to her taking short naps.... would you say she knows how to go to sleep on her own or do you have to rock her, etc... to get her to sleep?

[Snu]

Hi layla,
Thank you for your response. A few changes I wanted to tell you about. Lo for the last two nights has been fed at 7pm, then wakes at 930pm, 130 am, and 4am and takes 5-6 min feeds which is her normal feeding length. But then when she wakes between 7-8am she refuses a feed.

How do I keep her on EASY when she is not eating in the morning? Should I not give her the 4am feed so she is hungry in the am?

Should I still transition her to 3.5 hour easy?

For naps I give her a few cuddles and put her down awake. She sucks her thumb to sleep. Night wakings are harder, she always wants the breast and sometimes only nurses a few min then I put her down.

Thanks,

[Layla]

I used to offer both sides except for the last/early morning feed, where I would do 1 side only and then offer the other side (so a top up feed) when she'd wake for good in the morning. I would count the E from the morning E and that seemed to work well for us.

Is she still taking short naps? Her A seems to be age appropriate but she may be one of those babies than need more A than average. If she's a self soother, I would leave her in the cot up to another 15-20mins from when she wakes from the nap to give her a chance to put herself back to sleep.

[kaynay]

we were in the same boat and started offering expressed breastmilk in a bottle for the last 2 feeds of the day and it helped.
we are the same age and have moved to 3 hour 45 min and 4 hour feeds we are no longer at EASY we are more like in the morning A a little bit then feed 15 mins later or so...she still cries when she wakes up but after a few minutes is happy so we wait for her to wake fully then show a sign of fuss or hunger then we feed but not immediately in the morning that seems to have helped her nap too since it has given us a little more time for her sleep without worrying about her being hungry.
the expressed breastmilk has helped since we are able to track how much she is having and really know how much goes in  before bed...we are still at 2 feeds a night though...

[tazz]

Hi there,

I dont have any advice but just wanted to let you know that I am in exactly the same boat.  My DS was 4 months old yesterday and has been doing this for the past month.  Last night he fed at 6:15pm, then woke at 10pm, 1:30am, 4:30am and then was up for the day at 6am.  I feed him every time becuase I am too tired to try anything else.  My LO also sucks his thumb to go to sleep and is a great self settler (this has only started in the last week) his day time sleeps are inconsistent anywhere from 30 min throught to 2 1/2 hours.  He is quite an efficient feeder also, about 5-8mins per breast and I always offer both sides at a feed but the same thing at night he feeds for about 3-4mins then falls asleep.  I try and do everything to get as much into him as possible but nothing seems to work.  Last night I had to change his clothes and sleeping bag (nappy leaked) so he was wide awake for the second side and he only fed for 3 mins then wanted to play.  I just put him in the cot and left him, I assume he went back to sleep becuase I didnt hear from him until 4:15 (2hrs from when I left him) and he was trying to put himself back to sleep (it worked for about 5mins) I gave up at 5am and fed.  I have heard some people say that the 3 month GS and 4 month GS can become one long GS.  I have started my LO on some rice cereal yesterday, I checked with my GP and it was her suggestion.  I figure that starting this early will mean that it will be very slow going so it will be a long time before it has any effect on night hunger.  I also tried a formula top up but it didnt make a difference so I stopped that.