Author Topic: 3.5 Month old night waking - Is it normal?  (Read 1833 times)

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Offline stay11K

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3.5 Month old night waking - Is it normal?
« on: November 02, 2018, 21:19:34 pm »
Hello- I have a 14 week old who will wake 5-6 hours after her dream feed (usually given at 10 pm finished by 10:20 pm).  When she wakes at 3-4 am I have been feeding her and she goes right back down to bed but not sure if I should start to stop this (she will be 4 months old in a few weeks).  I thought at this age she should be able to last longer than 5-6 hours. She has given us a few nights where she hit 7 hours and one night where she STTN. She has been able to handle more awake time so we have transitioned her to a 3.5/4 hour easy schedule. She still gets fussy in the evening so sometimes I have to split the 7 pm feed up (will feed her one boob at 6:20 pm and the other at 7 pm). Please let me know if this is normal. This is my 2nd and my 1st was STTN, 7 am-7 pm, by the end of 3 months... I just don't see this happening with #2 if we keep up the feed at night and it's not moving past 4 am. Below is our typical schedule for the day. She usually takes 1 nap that is 1.5-2 hours and the others are 45-55 min. I have to go in and put the pacifier in to extend them to 1.5 to 2 hours which I'm always able to do. She doesn't need the pacifier to go to sleep and can put herself to sleep in 5 min or less for all naps/ bedtime. 99% of the time all naps are at home in her crib (I'm trying to make this as easy as possible for her!). She is swaddle with her non dominant, left hand, left out for day and night sleep. Have tried the right hand but she has a hard time making it past the 45 min mark with it out.

Questions/ possible issue I see:
Day feeds are short. Typically 10 min on one side and 5 min on the other. I've been trying to make her eat more but sometimes she just won't. I tried giving her a bottle of pumped milk to top her off and she takes it 50% of the time and it didn’t make a difference to the night sleep.

Another possibility is the DF. She many times wakes with really bad gas (legs kicking like crazy when she is crying/ fussing in her crib). Could the dream feed be giving her gas (we don't burb her after)?  I'm just afraid to stop the DF and she gets thrown off/ I think she still needs the oz.   

If she wakes after 45 min should I just let her stay up? I feel like I should try to extend her nap, as it throws off the routine (and she needs the sleep), but let me know if you think she may be getting to much day time sleep?

I'm just comparing her to DS who was a champion sleeper by this age.  Please let me know if my expectations are too high for a 3.5-month-old to be sleeping longer than 5 hours or so, or when I should try to stop feeding her at night. I feel like her daytime routine is pretty solid so would love the same for the night as well.  Thanks!

7:15 am Wake
7:20 am Eat (Feeds take 15-20 min.
7:35 am Activity
9 am Sleep (sometimes this is 45 min and I have to use the pacifier to extend, but most time it's at least 1.5-2 hours)
11 am Eat
11:15 am Activity
1 pm Sleep (45 min nap with pacifier extension or sometimes 1.5-2 hours) 1 daytime nap is usually 1.5-2 hours on her own.
3:00 pm Eat
3:15 pm Activity
4:45 pm Sleep (usually tired earlier)
5:30 pm Wake Activity
6:20 pm Eat (one side)
7:00 pm East (other side)
7:10 pm bathtime
7:30 pm asleep by 7:30
10:00 pm DF (done at 10:20 pm)
2:30-3:30 am Wakes for a night feed (typically a long feed, 15-20 min on one side, 10 min on the other)
7:15 am Wake her up to start the day again.

Offline Katet

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Re: 3.5 Month old night waking - Is it normal?
« Reply #1 on: November 03, 2018, 02:15:51 am »
I thought at this age she should be able to last longer than 5-6 hours

No 5-6 hours without a feed is pretty much textbook for a BF baby at 3-4 months old. Some babies do longer some do less. The fact she is doing the occasional longer one says she will probably lengthen it. I'd say also the fact she feeds for a longer time at night than in day is less distractions of light & noise, I know at 4mo my DS2 was very much about seeing what was going on & I needed to feed him in a quiet dark room in the day to get a decent feed. So that could help. Otherwise I'd say she's doing really well (& it is hard not to compare to another child). The other thing would be to maybe try only offering one side & seeing if that has any impact on day feeds or it results in her waking earlier, if she wakes earlier then it's pretty clear she needs that feed.
dc1 July 03, dc2 May 05

Offline stay11K

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Re: 3.5 Month old night waking - Is it normal?
« Reply #2 on: November 03, 2018, 20:38:39 pm »
Thanks for the response and reassurance that 5-6 hours is "normal."  I'll try feeding her during the day in a dark room to see if that helps and only offering one side until I feel it's empty before going to the other side. Thanks!