Night Time Feedings

cdepperschmidt · December 2015

How frequently does your little one wake up to eat at night? My almost 8 week old gives me one 3 hour stretch from about 9-12 and then he is up every 1.5-2 hours. I'm going a little crazy because his sleep has not really improved since we brought him home and I go back to work Monday.

I know all babies are different, but how old is your LO and how frequently do they wake up at night to feed?

doodleoodle · December 2015

My LO is 8.5 weeks and she has one longer stretch of sleep too. It's usually 4 hours, but has been as long as 5 or 6 and last night she didn't wake up at all and slept for 7 hours. It kind of freaked me out to be honest. Typically she sleeps for 4 hours and after that wakes up every 2-3 hours and I know when she's ready to get up for the day because she only sleeps an hour at that point, if that makes sense.

During the night I dim the lights, the only sound is her noise machine and we don't talk. After I started doing that she started sleeping a lot better.

Candy_bandit · December 2015

10 weeks tomorrow- we will get one 3 (twice 4!) hour stretch from about 10-1am, then 2 hours a time after that.
She goes straight back to sleep after we feed- takes about ten minutes (I pump, husband feeds-burps-changes).
It feels like everyone on this board is getting 6-8 hour stretches from their little ones- our little one is not there yet though!

dramaphile · December 2015

Cecily is 5 weeks and usually goes down at 10:30-11 and sleeps for a 5-7 hour stretch and then eats and goes back down for another 2-3 hours. Sometimes she's up more like every 3 hours, usually if she was in the car a lot during the day, seems to mess up her sleep schedule. I am well aware that she is not normal! She eats like a little piggie and is now 2 lbs over her birth weight so I'm not worried about her sleeping long.

grapesoda1111 · December 2015

I've been getting a longer 3 hour stretch in the beginning, usually from 930-1230, then it's every 2 hours. LO will be 7 weeks on Friday. Hope she is sleeping longer periods soon! I'm starting to resent my husband who gets at least 8 hours and is still somehow still tired all the time. Bitch, please.

SJFTCA · December 2015

LO goes down at 9 and wakes btwn 2 and 3 to eat. He goes back down right after (after a diaper change and reswaddle) and sleeps until btwn 6 and 7. He will be 7 weeks on Friday. We are working toward sleeping through the night in the next few weeks, but he's a big baby (just over 12 lbs already)...smaller babies may still need a middle of the night feed for a little while. I know my pedi has made others wake their LOs in the middle of the night to feed until they reach a certain weight.

cdepperschmidt · December 2015

I'm so grateful for all of your comments, but I'll admit I'm feeling frustrated because many of your suggestions are things I do nightly. We have a bed time routine that starts around the same time every evening. I do it the whole darkness, no talking thing, he is swaddled and we use a white noise machine. DS is also a big baby (13 lbs). I fear we may have ruined our chances for good sleep in the beginning because he initially lost a lot of weight and the doctor had us waking him at night to feed every two hours until he was 2 weeks.

bellie1223 · December 2015

cdepperschmidt said:
I'm so grateful for all of your comments, but I'll admit I'm feeling frustrated because many of your suggestions are things I do nightly. We have a bed time routine that starts around the same time every evening. I do it the whole darkness, no talking thing, he is swaddled and we use a white noise machine. DS is also a big baby (13 lbs). I fear we may have ruined our chances for good sleep in the beginning because he initially lost a lot of weight and the doctor had us waking him at night to feed every two hours until he was 2 weeks.

You're not alone! Mine is 8 weeks also, we try to keep our bedtime routine the same: bath, pj's, reading or singing while feeding, then swaddled and down in the pnp with white noise, we keep the room dark and quiet. She sleeps one longish stretch (only 3-4 hours), then decreasing in one hour increments like @doodleoodle said I know she's done when she wakes up after an hour. I'm looking forward to the day when I can sleep even five hours uninterrupted.

ETA: ours is little and I'm still holding out hope that she will sleep longer when she's a little fatter and has a bigger belly

gumby22c · December 2015

We usually have 2-4 wake ups here. With the longest stretches at 3 hours. Z is 9 weeks and it's been this way from the start.

I also admit we don't have a set routine yet. We do the same things every night (bath, pjs, feed, etc) but we don't do them at the same time every night. I feel with our schedule it's hard to do that now, especially since Z has to sleep on or next to me still. Otherwise he won't sleep for long. I don't want to go to bed at 7 or 8pm and never see my H.

angelinthepit23 · December 2015

LO is 5 weeks today and is all over the place. DH has been working open shifts recently so we usually put LO in PNP in our room between 7-8. 90% of the time I get. 3-4 hr stretch between feedings. On occasion he will want a bigger bottle before bedtime and when that happens I get a 5-6 hr stretch at first, then 3-4 after that.

AmoLovesAud · December 2015

Right now she only has 1 wake up, but that's because her nighttime sleep is crap right now. 10-2, then 3-5 (which I have to fight for), then we're up for the day. Sometimes I can get her down from 7-9 for one last sleep before the day starts, but haven't gotten that in a few days. She's 6.5 weeks. Last week she did a few nights that were 10-4, 5-7. Those were nice, wish I knew how to get them back!

ColoradoHiker · December 2015

Rhys is 6w. Generally he goes to bed around 10-10:30, and sleeps until around 2am (last night was almost 3:30, and it was awesome!), and then usually another 2-3hr or so.

Elyse1384 · December 2015

OP - Every baby is different and has different needs. Weight has little to do with it and your LO will STTN I promise you, but sadly I can't tell you when. You're not doing anything "wrong" and your baby is most likely waking because those feeds are needed still.

DS was a big boy (9lb), but didn't STTN until around 6 months. He fed on demand so we followed his lead knowing it would end. For the first 3 months he didn't give us more than a 3-4 hour stretch. Well one night around 6m he just slept right through and never woke up again to eat after that. He has been an amazing sleeper since. 7pm bedtime sharp and gets up between 6-7am. He is 21 months and asks for bed! We just let him do his thing and followed his lead until he (his body and mind) were ready. I know it's tough, but this night waking to eat is temporary!

DD on the other hand was smaller than him at birth, but she is already giving us stretches of sleep that he didn't give us until 4 months! She went from 10:30-4 last night at 6 weeks of age! Now granted most nights are a 4 hour stretch with one middle of the night feeding, but when I have her giving me 5-7 hour stretches randomly I will take it! Nothing about the environment we provide for her is different than what we have DS and we are following her lead as we did him. Each baby is just their own little person with their own unique needs. Good luck - The night feedings will pass!

aabbaby · December 2015

We start our bedtime routine at 7:30-8 (bath, feed, change/swaddled, book/rock) and she will only sleep 30min stretches (drives me crazy) until after the 10 feeding. Then she ahas a 10:30-4ish stretch most nights then 2-3 hour stretches after that.
My problem is I can't go more than 3 hours without pumping (over production, reoccurring plugged ducts, engorgement) Oh how I wish I could take advantage of her good sleeping strech!

helsbels222 · December 2015

LO is 5 weeks and gets up at 10 and then falls right to sleep after eating. She's up again at 2am for a couple hours and then gives us about a 6 -8 hr stretch. She was up every 1.5-2 hrs for the first couple of weeks. My first was up every 2 hours like clock-work for 4 months. It was rough. Every baby is different. Just remember it gets better. Now my first sleeps 12 hrs every night!

lanire · December 2015

I am also jealous of all the folks getting long stretches at night. My LO is 7 weeks and the longest stretch we have is usually 8:30-12:30. Then he eats about every 2.5-3 hours and he's slow so I get sleep in 1.5 hour chunks. After 9am feed he usually stays awake for a few hours. Afternoons are variable. Sometimes he naps well and sometimes he is awake and wants to eat every 2 hours. He's only 9lb now, so hoping longer stretches will come as he gains weight.

gkfk · January 2016

We are in the exact same boat, up for a feeding right now! Ha ha. My dr says expect at least 4 months of this. I go back to work 1/11 and am so sleep deprived that i can hardly function, but am hopeful that at least we are halfway done with this. I call it a success when we BF quickly (=30 min for my sleepy eeater) and he goes back to sleep. Last night he was wide awake and smiling at the lights at 2:30.

kim1228 · January 2016

Ever since we put DS in the nursery out of our room at 6w, he wakes only 1x a night.

We put him down between 8:45 and 9:30, depending on when his last meal was. He then wakes between 2 and 3 to eat. Sometimes I wake up and he is still sleeping, but I nurse him still and he wakes up for diaper change, I think it's called dream nursing? But boy is he hungry then still! Then he wakes up around 7:15-7:30

Honestly I think when he was in our room, I woke him more because he heard us- I would wake up freaking out about silly stuff like that my pillow was him and I rolled into of him, or that I needed to nurse the other side (when he was sound asleep across the room lol). Best decision EVER for my whole family's sleep was moving him out. But that's just us!

Eta- he is WIDE awake when I put him down after midnight feeding but he goes back to sleep after fussing a few minutes!

angelinthepit23 · January 2016

LO has only been waking up 1-2 times at night for the last 2 nights. So if the same thing happens tonight I'm going to try and get him to sleep in his crib at night. It will just make mornings easier going back to work so I don't have to tiptoe getting ready. Fingers crossed!

SJFTCA · January 2016

kim1228 said:
Ever since we put DS in the nursery out of our room at 6w, he wakes only 1x a night.

We put him down between 8:45 and 9:30, depending on when his last meal was. He then wakes between 2 and 3 to eat. Sometimes I wake up and he is still sleeping, but I nurse him still and he wakes up for diaper change, I think it's called dream nursing? But boy is he hungry then still! Then he wakes up around 7:15-7:30

Honestly I think when he was in our room, I woke him more because he heard us- I would wake up freaking out about silly stuff like that my pillow was him and I rolled into of him, or that I needed to nurse the other side (when he was sound asleep across the room lol). Best decision EVER for my whole family's sleep was moving him out. But that's just us!

Eta- he is WIDE awake when I put him down after midnight feeding but he goes back to sleep after fussing a few minutes!

We put LO in crib to sleep at night beginning at 3W2D. I had never planned on having him in the crib that early, but it has totally worked for us too. There was really no problem transitioning into the crib, prob bc it was so early, and he also only wakes once a night (7W3D now). I think we all get a better night's sleep, as well. It totally stressed me out to begin with, but he's on his back, swaddled w no loose covers, and we have a video monitor. I'm very pleased w our decision to have him in his own room.

skabanak · January 2016

I'm having a hard time getting my lo to sleep at night still

he's 10 weeks this Friday and still has a witching hour (s) until 130am most nights only sleeping when my husband is holding him (I go to bed around 10 and he brings him in when he needs to be fed)
He sleeps like a rock during the day but when it turns into evening he gets so fussy and wants to be held all night

this is my 3 Rd baby too so you'd think I'd have this baby thing down, but nope! Lol. I just want him to sleep on his own at night!! I also have him in bed with me at night because he hates his bassinet. (Yes I know the risks and did the same with my daughters so I know how to do the bed sharing thing lol )

urby87 · January 2016

We weren't trying to get her on a schedule at all because we knew she was still really little and sleep training is not something that was part of our parenting plan. We were fully anticipating lots of night feedings until she got older, but she started sleeping five or six hours (approximately 11-4) on her own at about six weeks. She does start her regular feeding cycle of every few hours then, but we have really appreciated those long stretches in the early a.m.!

Peanut1128 · January 2016

@urby87 that sounds wonderful! We got a few of those stretches early on, but now 4 hours is usually the best I get at night. He does a 4hr stretch, 3hr and then 2-2.5hr

maiatene · January 2016

Hugs to all of you because my girl has been sleeping thru the night since about 4 weeks.

With my son I would put him down around 7-8ish and he would wake-up several times during the night. I put his sister down around 9 and she sleeps until 4:30 or 5. Both are (were) ebf so I don't know if shifting the down time was the trick.

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