Breast feeding to bottle feeding 3 mths - night waking

[Oggy]

Hi,

New to this!! My 13 week old daughter has been exculsively breastfed for the past 11 weeks and I have now started to introduce a couple of formula feeds during the day however she has now started to wake up about 3.30 / 4am with hunger even though I dream feed her about 10pm.

At 8 weeks she was sleeping through from 10/11pm to 6.30 /7am but she seems to have gone backwards in her sleeping patterns.   Any advice?

She can't stay awake much after 6.30pm most evenings even though she has two good naps during the day totalling 3.5 hours.

Has anyone had simular experiences??

Also she takes 6.5 ounces of formula each feed and she has started to gain a lot of weight which I'm concerned about.  She currently weighs 14lbs at 13 weeks old.

[Noelle]

Hello 
How many days has she been waking?  Sounds like it may be a growth spurt..??  I would offer as much as she'll take at each feeding.  For the bottles, if she is finishing them - go ahead and add an ounce or two. 

[Oggy]

she's been awaking for the past two weeks now.  Last night I fed her the dream feed at 10.30 and she woke up at 2.30am i breast fed her and she fell asleep until 7am.  I just don't understand why she was sleeping through the night until two weeks ago and yet I haven't changed any of the routine. 

I would understand a growth spurt but it's been going on too long to be that.  I offer her 8oz bottles throught the day but she only drinks 6.5oz.

thanks for your reply.
 

[Noelle]

Hmmm...
Does she wake at the same time everynight?  If so, it could be more of a habit than hunger.

Does she take a full feed when she wakes in the night?

When she wakes, do you go right in or give her a few minutes to resettle?

Have you tried using the pacifier vs feeding her?  YOu may try that.

Also, I didn't BF for very long, so this could be a long shot - maybe for the breast feeds during the day she isn't getting as much as she used to, thus waking in the night to make up the calories?  Otherwise 6.5oz sounds great for her age.....

Just some random thoughts of mine.....

[Oggy]

hi,

over the past week she's been waking between 2.30 and 5.30 for a feed, even though I've fed her at 10-10.30 each evening so no strict pattern.

last night we went out and her dream feed was given at 11pm instead of the slightly earlier time and guess what, I had to wake her at 7.30 this morning!!! I don't know if that was just a fluke but I think I'll try and push the dream feed to after 10.30 and see if that works again this evening!!

I did increase the bottles I gave her yesterday to 7 oz and she didn't leave much behind so I'm not sure if that helped!  I'll let you know how I get on tomorrow!!

Thanks for you're advice! x

[Oggy]

Just thought I'd let you know that my little one has now slept for three nights without waking.  I think increasing her feeds and not giving her the dream feed until 10.45 has worked.

[Noelle]

Yay!! That's great!!!! 

Just wanted to add too about my random thought of it being habit...probably not at 3 months, oops!!!    :oops: