Who else is up twice a night with baby...

Tinybride08

Still!

Ok I think she's playing me now. She was EBF up until a week ago. I had decided to stop breastfeeding for various reasons and started cutting down on pumping sessions but I'm sort of still at it, just not as much. So basically she's getting breastmilk and formula now. Her last bottle is formula and since the night before last we have started adding cereal to it.

She goes down between 8:00-8:30 pm. She wakes up either around 11:30 or 12:30, eats, and then goes back to sleep and wakes up again between 3:30 and 4:30. She then goes back to sleep and is up for the day around 6:45.

Is this sleeping pattern normal for her age. It's not the 4month wakeful because she's been like this since 3 months. It's just so hard because I have to be up for work around 5:15 am. I'm so so exhausted and it takes every ounce of strength I have left to walk into work each day.

Lisa Frank

How much does she weigh? Doubled her birth weight?

I'm going to suggest some light sleep training.  She might need 1 feeding at night, but not 2.  Since you are bottle feeding now, try giving her a bottle at the 3:30 feed, but slowly decrease the oz you feed her at that time over a week.  See what happens.

So, if it's a 5 oz bottle, start at 5, then do 4, 3, 2, 1 and NONE.  

disneyfan0511

Do you feed her each time she wakes up? Dee usually wakes once a night and I try to offer her a pacifer rather than bottle (and I do a diaper check). If she is obviously hungry I'll feed her, but we've started getting her used to no bottle in the middle of the night. The past few nights she has slept from 9 - 6am.

 

Tinybride08

She weighs 14 lbs 5 ounces. 

When she wakes up at night, I dont bottle feed. I just offer her one breast. At the second night feeding, she gets the other one. I usually let her nurse for about 10-15 minutes or basically till she falls back to sleep. Should I just start cutting that time down?

One time she was able to go without one feeding. She only recently started taking a pacifier and it doesn't always work. I feed her because I know I can get back to sleep relatively quickly then. If she doesnt get fed she starts crying even louder and then she's waking everybody up.

Tinybride08

MISnJER80:

Do you feed her each time she wakes up? Dee usually wakes once a night and I try to offer her a pacifer rather than bottle (and I do a diaper check). If she is obviously hungry I'll feed her, but we've started getting her used to no bottle in the middle of the night. The past few nights she has slept from 9 - 6am.

 

9-6? Wow. That would be heaven for me.

croberts22

Me.  DD schedule is actually very close to the one your's is on and like you I have to be up at 5:15a for work.  Its rough.   

How much does your LO eat during the day.  Mine usually takes 3-4oz bottles at daycare and nurses in the evening.  While she seems content with that amount, she is draining the bottles, so I'm going to add an ounce to each one and hope that ups the calories she's getting during the day so she doesn't need as much at night.  I'll probably end up wasting the milk, but I figure its worth a try to get extra sleep. 

I was never a coffee drinker, but I start most mornings with an instant capp now.  Its the only way I make it sometimes. 

croberts22

Tinybride08:

She weighs 14 lbs 5 ounces. 

When she wakes up at night, I dont bottle feed. I just offer her one breast. At the second night feeding, she gets the other one. I usually let her nurse for about 10-15 minutes or basically till she falls back to sleep. Should I just start cutting that time down?

One time she was able to go without one feeding. She only recently started taking a pacifier and it doesn't always work. I feed her because I know I can get back to sleep relatively quickly then. If she doesnt get fed she starts crying even louder and then she's waking everybody up.

Same here.  C's been taking the paci since a week old, but its hit or miss if she wants it.  I know feeding her is not what I need to do, but its the quickest way to get her back to sleep so I can too.

everam01

Yes. One of my boys is up several times a night.

He goes to sleep around 7:30, up at 12:30, up at 3:00. I get up at 5:00 to get ready for work. He will accept nothing except a full bottle each time. He's actually hungry. I think part of our problem is that he won't eat as much at daycare. His overall oz for the day has not changed. 

I'm hoping this is the 4mw. He actually has not doubled his birth weight yet. He's 15 1/2 lbs now and was 8 1/2 at birth. His brother, who was 7 lbs and is now 16 lbs, still mostly STTN. 

kristennd

Tinybride08:

She goes down between 8:00-8:30 pm. She wakes up either around 11:30 or 12:30, eats, and then goes back to sleep and wakes up again between 3:30 and 4:30. She then goes back to sleep and is up for the day around 6:45.

Is this sleeping pattern normal for her age. It's not the 4month wakeful because she's been like this since 3 months. It's just so hard because I have to be up for work around 5:15 am. I'm so so exhausted and it takes every ounce of strength I have left to walk into work each day.

I don't know how normal the pattern is but it's exactly what DS does. Those times. He eats a 7 oz bottle (mostly formula, some breastmilk, no cereal) at both the 11:30ish and 3:30ish times.

I get up for work at 6:00 but it's hardest on DH because he gets *home* from work at 3:30am and is then on his own with a wide awake baby just 3 hours later. I at least nap in between feedings.

We had a couple weeks right before 4 months where he'd skip one of those two times, and once he slept through them both and sort of freaked us out. But he's back to both sessions and I assume that's related to the wakeful. Hopefully. 

choogasian

Up until a week ago, baby woke up to eat 2 times a night. Now, for the past 5 nights, she's woken up 4 times to eat, and at least 1 additional time where I can give her the pacifier and she''ll go back down. Granted she is in the crib from 8pm until 7 or 8am, so, I can't really complain. 

mzsparklepdx

DD is down to only one bottle a night, but she starts waking up around midnight and wakes up every 15-60 minutes until I give her the bottle between 1 and 2.  Basically I keep giving her the paci and shushing her back to sleep until she won't go back to sleep and then give her the bottle.  Judging by how little sleep I'm getting, I don't think I would recommend what I'm doing 

MiamiMergers

My DD has been doing the same thing for the past week or so- up at 12:30 and 3:30 expecting a meal. (I will say this is an improvement from last month where she was getting up every 2 hours! We hit the 3 month growth spurt and moved straight to the 4 month wakeful.) Pedi said she probably only needs one MOTN feeding, but whenever I try to sooth her another way, she has a fit, and no one gets any sleep. I too give her one breast at each feeding and she falls back asleep easily. If you figure out a good way to wean her of this, let me know!

Angel0423

Gabby sleeps similarly, goes down at 8-8:30, eats at 2, eats at 5:30, up for the day at 7-7:30.  The second feeding is starting to phase out on her own as 3 of the last 5 nights she fusses, I put the paci in her mouth and she goes back to sleep.  Eventually she will completely sleep through it I'm sure.  I'm very much exhausted too!

disneyfan0511

Tinybride08:

MISnJER80:

Do you feed her each time she wakes up? Dee usually wakes once a night and I try to offer her a pacifer rather than bottle (and I do a diaper check). If she is obviously hungry I'll feed her, but we've started getting her used to no bottle in the middle of the night. The past few nights she has slept from 9 - 6am.

 

9-6? Wow. That would be heaven for me.

Of course last night she was up twice, but par for the course. We have been working on sleep training with LO - trying to phase out her middle of the night feeds and getting her to sleep without rocking (ie putting her to bed when she is drowsy)

We used to offer her a full 6oz bottle and now we only offer her 3oz and back to bed (when she wakes up and is not going back to bed w/o food). She has been sleeping much better since we have been limiting the night feedings (and eating better and more during the day). Good luck!

Tinybride08

Last night she went to bed at 8:30 pm, up at 12:20 and then almost 4:50am. Guess that wasn't too bad. I tried ignoring her and giving her the paci, but she wasnt having it. I gave her a few minutes on the breast and put her back to sleep.

disneyfan0511

Tinybride08:

Last night she went to bed at 8:30 pm, up at 12:20 and then almost 4:50am. Guess that wasn't too bad. I tried ignoring her and giving her the paci, but she wasnt having it. I gave her a few minutes on the breast and put her back to sleep.

It takes time to have your LO learn healthy sleep, she'll get there! Have you read any sleep books? I personally am a Dr. Weissbluth fan (Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Child) - I read it during my commute to and from work and really, really liked his recommendations.

sangarepa

Ugh!  Our sleep habits are going down hill, too.  I just read on the 3-6 board that someone is thinking of pulling out their swaddle.  I might try this first. 

I work f/t and I am hoping Maksim isn't reverse cycling.

EFIRDAL

This is LO's schedule EXACTLY! I have started with a bottle of formula before bed...  I have mixed a little cereal in it. There is nothing that keeps this child asleep through the night!