was sleeping through - now 12 weeks and waking at 3am

[charlibabes]

I hope someone has advice, most of the posts on sudde3nnight waking I have seen apply to 6-8 month olds.

My DD has been sleeping through 7-9 hours since 6 weeks.  She had a cols at 8 weeks and we had a couple of bad nights. but got back on track.  Then she had another cold and went on a nursing strike, which meant that normal routine went a bit by the wayside.

She has just learnt to shriek, and for the past few nights has been waking at 3am and starts fussing and squealing, I leave her for 5 mins as sdhe is not actually crying, but it gets louder.  When I go in she looks like she wants food and then feeds fdor 10-20 minutes so I assume she really is hungry (breast fed)

She naps badly in the day but has always slept well at night.  She has never slept more than an average 12 hours in a 24 hr period so I have not yet got her down at 7, the dreamfeed nerver worked so I CLuster feed and out put her down at 9-10 and she sleeps to 6-7 am.

Any comments or advice appreciated.

[FrasersMum]

Hi charlibabes

Well done for getting your LO sleeping so well so young!! 

What you are probably experiencing is a growth spurt - hence taking a big feed at the night wakings.  Growth spurts are common at 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months (give or take a little depending on the bub).  But your DD sounds right on track (is she textbook by any chance??  )

Ideally you should feed her during these wakes, and then work to increase her day time calories so that she doesn't need to wake for that extra food during the night.  With breastfeeding, you can either offer the second side (if you are single sided feeding) or offer additional feeds during the day until she is taking enough to get her back to her solid periods of sleep.

HTH and good luck!

[charlibabes]

Thanks for the reply.  I did wonder whether that was the case... but with previous growth spurts she fed more frequently during the day too... seeing as I am still battling a nursing strike (she fights latching on, but once she does she will feed normally) she is a spirited textbook by the way!! 

I'll just ride it out and hope it ends soon