Wakes every 3 hours all night

[owensmommy]

Hi there,

We started transitioned from a 2.5 to a 3 hour EASY about two weeks ago.  For the past week, my ds is waking as follows

7:30pm Bed
10:30pm (dreamfeed but he wakes on his own)
1:15am Feeding
4:15am Feeding
6:15 am wakes again - I don't feed him but usually he has gas or poops.
7am Wake up for the day and breastfeed

We have a good bedtime routine and I try to cluster feed but it usually leads to him refusing the 7pm feeding and then waking at 8:15 (after 45 minutes) clearly hungry.  This has happened the last two nights.

DS is 15 weeks old and I thought it could be a growth spurt but these wakings have continued for some time.  We transitioned to his crib about two weeks ago, when we switched to a 3 hour easy, and he was originally only waking for the dreamfeed and again at 3:30am - then fussing from 5-7am.

I'm not sure what to do.  This is also creating problems for morning feedings as he's not as hungry and doesn't eat very much.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[jacq1101]

My son is also 15 weeks and has also been waking up earlier for a feed despite having gone to 3am in the past. I was also assuming it was a growth spurt but it has also gone on pretty long.... now into its 6th day.  Do growth spurts last that long??  He is clearly hungry when he wakes because he takes a full feed both times (2 and around 5.30am).  ALso, I had moved him to a 4 hour EASY but he got really hungry and unsettled so now I am back to a 3.5/3 hour EASY.  The only things I can suggest for you are:

* when you cluster feed.... what time is the feed before 7pm?  Maybe if you have that feed earlier it might help with the 7pmfeed?  Or maybe give the feed at 7.30pm instead?  The other thing might be that maybe the cluster feed is not working for you so you could just merge those two feeds and feed at 6.30 or something like that.

* When he wakes, are you able to resettle him at all?  Does he take a full feed each time?

*Maybe if you shortened the time of the 4.15 am feed, he might be more inclined to feed well at 7am.

what I am doing is trying to resettle if he wakes, if that doesn't work within 10 minutes, then i am feeding him.  Its frustrating because it has gone on so long and I don't know whether it is a growth spurt or not.  He is also feeding well during the day so I can't see how I can up his intake there.  Lets hope for both of us that it is just a growth spurt and that they will settle down again soon.

Good luck
Jacqui

[owensmommy]

Thanks so much for your suggestions.

Today I eliminated the cluster feeds and stuck with feeding on a 3 hour schedule, with his last feed being at 6:30pm.  He fed very well today so much so that I am thinking it may be a growth spurt.  He usually feeds for 5 minutes and today was 10 minutes each time, with him taking both breasts - completely out of sorts but great.

Last night I shortened the 4:15am feed and he ate well this morning at 7:30am.  I'll have to keep that up.

When he wakes he eats well at 10:30 and 1:30 and then the next feed is usually shorter.  I'll try to pay more attention tonight and make some notes so I don't forget by morning.

Good luck - the nights are long with all these wakings but I'm hopeful things will improve soon.