Sudden Night Wakings

[Pendle Girl]

Sorry this could be a bit long!

My dd has just started to wake in the night and won't resettle until she's fed.  She'll wake up anytime between 4 and 5.30am.

Her normal routine is generally something like this -

7.00am Wake and feed
Activity
9.00am Sleep
10.30am Feed
Activity
12.30pm Sleep
2.00pm Feed
Activity
4.00pm Sleep
5.00pm Feed
Activity
6.30pm Feed
7.00pm Bath
7.30pm Bed
10.30pm Dream Feed

I've just referred back the the BW Solves All Your Problems and found that I shouldn't be cluster feeding anymore as it encourages less intake at the dream feed - and that's exactly what's happenning.  DD takes around 5-6oz per feed except for her dreamfeed when she takes 3oz or 4oz at the very most (so around 28-34oz a day).  She's also started resisting that bottle which used to be my easiest feed.

So it advises 6 feeds per day plus a dreamfeed, but keeping a 3 - 3 1/2 hour schedule - maybe I'm missing something but how can I fit 7 feeds into a 3 1/2 hour routine and drop the cluster feeds?  Then when she gets to 4 months it advises a 4 hour cycle and 5 feeds plus the dreamfeed and says a baby should sleep around 10 hours a night which leaves 14 hours to fit in 6 feeds - I don't understand it. 

I don't want her to go back to less than a 3 1/2 hour cycle if I can manage it, but i've got very used to my undisturbed nights (!)and don't want to keep getting up to feed her.

So would I be right to drop the cluster feeds and try and maybe get her to take an extra oz in each bottle and feed at 7am, 10.30am, 2pm, 5.30pm and 10.30pm which would hopefully take her to around 30-35oz a day?

I'm confused!! :?:

[Katet]

Looking at her age & the routine....GROWTH SPURT... up the amount in her day bottles.
BTW if she is going from 10.30 - 4ish she is sleeping through the night 5-6 hours in a baby under 4mo is considered very normal & is sleeping through the night
Sounds like you are doing better than average for a 3mo to have your lo sleeping from 10.30-7 at such a young age

[Pendle Girl]

Now that I've re-read the BW I'm still confused about how to fit in the number of bottles suggested -

At 3 months 6 feeds per day plus a dreamfeed and at 4 months 5 feeds plus the dreamfeed. 

Am I missing something?

Thanks again.

[Katet]

I'll be honest here, I think you need to trust your instincts & not think of the BW as the bible. I have always bf & at 3mo was at 5-6 feeds total for 24hours & at 4mo 5 feeds.
The amount of bottles a baby takes in the day time isn't a sure fire way to make a baby sleep better, there are many more factors.
If your baby happily takes feeds every 3.5 hours then offer that many, because that is what your lo needs.
Tracy Hogg wrote her books as a guide to cover as many senarios as possible & I think her 6 + df refers to when in a growth spurt... although I have to admit I have never closely read that part as I have always been guided by my babies as to feeding needs & also (maybe it is me) but think it is reasonable (based on my research) for them to need to feed once between 10pm & 7am until they are at least 4mo.
So I guess what I'm trying to say here is there is no magic number of bottles (or amounts) that will help your lo sleep better, more a case of making sure that the feeds they do take are appropriate for them as an individual

[Pendle Girl]

I agree and that's why I've only just referred back to the book - and then thought "My God, I've been doing this all wrong"!!

I'm still confused by the books suggestions as it certainly is a standard feed chart not for a growth spurt - so I'll just ignore it!!

Overall my dd is doing so well, so I'll just try adding 1oz to her daytime feeds and see how we get on.

Thanks again for your advice.