3 Month Old Sleeping - Minneapolis,MN

I thought sleep deprivation was the norm when you have newborns. I was blessed with two who sleep through the night at eight weeks, and the third didn't sleep through the night till he was 9 months. He also took 20 minute naps a couple of times a day and was walking at 7 months. He weaned himself from the breast at 7 months, too, and went right to using a straw in a cup, not a sippy cup. He never took a bottle. Go figure. They are all different.

this is normal and healthy for her age. even through a year old or longer this is normal and healthy. babies need to wake often for survival. this keeps them from getting into too deep a sleep, and it also keeps them filling their tummies; think of it this way:
your baby's tummy is about the size of her fist. thats really small!! in the first year, she will triple her weight and double her height. this means she has to eat often!!

no one says being a parent should be easy, and parenting doesnt stop from 8pm - 8 am. you have to parent around the clock. crying is her only form of communication and i urge you to follow your instincts when she cries. if that means you go to her, then go to her. if that means you let her lie next to you to sleep, then do that. it isnt a "habit" it is a beautiful survival skill. babies who lie next to their parents regulate their breathing and heart rate to their parents. this is very good and very healthy for babies. she also knows then, that you are there, that you will respond to her, and that she doesnt have to be alone. this actually promotes GOOD sleep habits. but you have to know your child. to do that, you have to keep responding to her cries in the way your instincts tell you to. dont listen to other people, dont listen to doctors, dont listen to books. listen to yourself. you are the only one who knows your daughter as completely as you do, and you are the only one who has to deal with the effects of any parenting choice you make. this is important; you have to listen to your baby and listen to yourself. when shes ready to be left alone for a time, you will know, but you have to listen now to get to that point.

anyway, i hope this helps. i want you to know that there are studies out there that show that moms who sleep near or with their babies get much more sleep than moms who dont... so you are doing the right thing! especially if you feel its what you have to do. just keep following your heart!

babies this age might still have trouble holding the nuk in their mouths or retreiving it for themselves when they lost it. so feel free to keep trying to use it if you like.

anyway, the end result is this is normal, this is healthy, and what you are doing is not wrong. what you are doing is following your instincts and doing whats right for your family. dont EVER let anyone tell you that you are doing anything wrong, that you are causing bad habits (theres no such thing with babies!!) and that you are spoiling (again - no such thing with babies under 1 year!!)

so keep up the good work. :) trust yourself!

Every child is different and their sleep habits can be quite different. It sounds as though she isn't ready to sleep more than a few hours before she is ready to eat again. Are you breast feeding, if so that is quite common for breast feed babies. I am old fashioned and got my son to take a bit of rice cereal in his last bottle before bed and since his stomache was fuller then he slept longer without any issues. Also you might try getting her to stay up a bit longer during the day so that she is tired enough to go to sleep and sleep longer during the night. You didn't say what her daytime sleep habits are but if she is sleeping better during the day she might have her days/nights turned around which also is very common. Then of course you need to turn it around by keeping her awake more during the day. I remember my youngest not having a good sleep pattern til he was almost 6 months old and yes I was very tired most of the time but it will get better, hang in there.

Mine will be 3 months old next week also and she sleeps from 9ish till I wake her at 6:30 a.m. to eat, then I put her right back down until 9:30. I read Babywise and although it's controversial and people will bash it, it really does work. The main point of it is the wake, eat, play, sleep routine all day long and at night it's wake, eat, sleep with no play time. Also try putting her down still awake but sleepy so that she learns to put herself to sleep. I did this with my now 2.5 year old and my 3 month old and they were both sleeping thru the night by 6-8 weeks. We never had to CIO either which is nice. Sleep deprivation is awful, best of luck getting it all worked out. =)

She may need to nap more in the day. Read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. This is the best book and opened my eyes to how a child sleeps. His basic theory is the more sleep they get, the better they will sleep. I have an 8 month old and up until a couple months ago he was waking up constantly. Once we got him on a consistent nap schedule during the day, then he started sleeping so much better at night. Good luck.

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Unfortunately I don't have any ideas for you as my last one did the same thing and I found I just had to wait until he grew out of that stage. I will say she is too young to CIO out though. I've never done that with any of my children but I could have sworn the pediatrician didn't suggest that until at least 5 months or so. Other than that, I wouldn't go to her unless she starts crying. Maybe she won't hit the rails next time and just fall back asleep. You could also get one of those mobiles or crib rail music boxes that has a remote...then you can turn it on from the door without her seeing you and maybe she will just go back to sleep.