Advice please on how to stop the 2am night wakings for a 12 week old

[ruthy]

Can anyone help regarding 1.30 - 2am wakings for my 12 week old?  I am following
the 3hr easy routine with the last feed at 7pm and giving a dream feed of 120ml of formula (I breast feed the rest of the time) at 10pm and he continues to wake at anywhere between 1.30 and 2am.  He slept through until 4am a week ago so I know he can do it!

[Ruggie]

Ruthy

I was told by my child health nurse that they have a growth spurts at 6 and 12 weeks, where they want more foods. Could this be it?

DS#1 did this at 5 and 11 weeks, and so far DS#1 did it at 6 week and I am expecting him to do it again in about 1-2 weeks time. If its a growth spurt it should only last for up to 48hours tho. HTH

[ruthy]

Dear Ruggie, thanks for that.  Sounds like a plausable explanation but he has been doing it since day one.  Last night he was awake even earlier though, 11.45pm which could be due to a growth spurt I suppose.  I tried something different last night - 60ml of formula on top of his normal breastfeed at 7pm and then a further 60ml at the dream feed at 10pm instead of the full 120ml at the dreamfeed.  After breastfeeding and putting him back down at 12.30am he was then awake at 3.45am for another feed.  I put him down at 4.30am and he slept until 6.30am.  I'm happy to try different things but he's changing all the time too, so what my work one day doesn't work the next - does it ever plateau out?

Ruth

[Ruggie]

I know what you mean, DS#2 is going to be 12 weeks soon and I am still figuring out what to do with him (he wakes up to 3 times a night for feed).

Yes, they are constantly changing, but the rate of change does eventually slow down and we can actually 'catch up' and stay ahed in the game....eventually

With growth sprut you also need to up his milk intakes during the day as well, that way he wont catch up at night. If you are topping up with formula after a feed, you need to express then to tell your breasts to make more, which apparently is the purpose of a growth spurt.

Hope that helps.

Now I got to go and figure out what to do with my lil muchikin who wakes every 2hours for feed at night for the pass week (so its not a growth sprut

[Colin Macs Mom]

Ruthy, you've already gotten fab advice from Ruggie but I also wanted to point out that it's not at all unusual for a lo still have at least one night waking at 12 weeks. The fact that your lo has already slept through until 4am is AMAZING. You both are obviously already on the right track.