Just started 4hr EASY and waking every 1hr at night

[mom2liam]

I need HELP, I had a horrible night last night

I changed Liam to the 4 hour easy yesterday, he napped twice for 2 hours (on and off between pu/pd).....and then a 45min nap.....He ate 32oz throughout the day....

The 2 days before, he ate 31.5 and 30.5, so it wasn't like he had any less formula. We didn;t feed him when he woke as the cry was more a mantra than a real cry. He still kind of had 5 feeds as the previous days as I broke the last feed into 2, so he had some just before bed.....

He was awake almost every hour from 12am!!!! he has never done this before, it was only once at 5am before this.....Any ideas, I can't go through a night like that again. I finally brought him into bed with me at 6am to get 1 hours sleep. I have now woken him (7am) and will continue as I did yesterday, unless you think otherwise?

Thanks for your help
Wendy

[mom2liam]

Liams routine yesterday was.........

6.50am - woke
7.10am - feed  8oz
8.30am - 10.30am - sleep with some wakings
11am - feed - 8oz
12pm-2pm - sleep with some wakings
3pm - feed  8oz
3.50pm-4.20pm - sleep (he was falling asleep in my arms)
5.20-6pm sleep in swing
6.15pm-7.30pm - feed 8oz
7.45pm bed for the night

[LŠuren]

wendy

Was Liam hungry when he woke? Your routine looks great, the only thing I wondered was did he maybe get too much sleep in the evening    did he go to his bed awake at 745pm?

Has he possibly hit a growth spurt?

 

[mom2liam]

He was awake at 7.45pm which is unusual for him......

With regards to the growth spurt, do you think I should then feed him when he wakes?

 

Who knows, my instruction manual must have got lost on the way home from the hospital.... LOL

Wendy

[LŠuren]

Yeah mine too 

If he is hungry then I would feed him, however try and increase his daytime feeds today.

[brightside]

How long did it take for him to go to sleep at bedtime? Just wondering if he was awake too long and was overtired at bedtime. I know with my DS, we have more night wakings if he is overtired. The wakings at each nap time may have caused overtiredness to build up throughout the day. Don't get me wrong, you need to try to extend the naps-it might just be that until he manages to do this properly, he might get a bit overtired if his sleep is disrupted. Try putting him to bed a little earlier in the meantime. Even though my DS A time is usually 2 hours in the day, I've found that he falls asleep much better at bedtime if A time is 1.25-1.5 hours.

I would avoid feeding him in the night unless you are certain its actually hunger because this could soon become a habit and he will have less in the day. Hopefully your bad night was just a one-off. I have some terrible nights with DS too 

[mom2liam]

Thanks Cath

I will hold off on the feedings tonight if the same thing happens....hopefully it won't and then re-evaluate tomorrow.
Wendy

[Gage and Sophie's Mom]

Hi there! Now I dont know that this is the case with your lo, but Gage did this exact same thing around 4.5 mths. I kept thinking he was overtired, but he was getting too much sleep to be tired enough to sleep through the night. What is funny is that I was making it worse by thinking he was overtired and putting him down for his naps even earlier  I had no idea! Anyway, I would first try to put your lo to bed earlier and treat it as an overtired issue, but if that doesnt work I would try increasing A time gradually about 10-15 min every 3 to 4 days. It did the trick for Gage.
HTH

Ps. It may be that your lo is just getting to used to the new routine. Give it time, I know that it feels like eternity but this too shall pass. Gage and I are definatly proof of that.

[mom2liam]

OK, Another night more questions

The LO woke up at 4.10am this morning, so I fed him, as I was out until 1am this morning and couldn't face another night of being up and down. He took 6oz and went back to sleep. What does this tell us? Is he not getting enough in the day? Did he really need it? Should I continue doing this feed if he wakes?

Yesterday I found that he would only take 5-6oz per feed. What do you do if your trying to get more food into him, but he just doesn't want it? Shoud you just go by his cues and if he doesn't want more then he's obviously not hungry ...

I had to wake him at 7am (he was in a deep sleep). I brought him downstairs, but becuase he'd had the 6oz at 4am he wasn't interested in his bottle until 7.30am and then he only took 4oz......won't this mess up the rest of the day, becuase how will he now go 4 hours with just 4oz in him? Does the 6oz from 4am come into play?

Thanks for your help
Wendy

[Gage and Sophie's Mom]

Hi there. If he ate a full feed and went back to sleep then I assume he was really hungry. To try to get more food in him, I would increase nipple size and give him about 10 min of play and then try the remainder of the bottle. I think one night feed at this age is quite normal, but try to increase his oz anyway. I cant remember do you do a dream feed? You might want to try one to help pack in the extra calories. I think there is a post in the General sleep forum.

When Gage did this, I fed him watered down formula after 4am to make sure he was still hungry for breakfast, anything before then was a full bottle. With that said I think it is common for your bub to need to eat once or twice at night, so you'll need to make the call. But give thhe nipple and the intermission a try, it should help.