My daughter has been sleeping through the night (8hrs) since she was a month old. I thought...blessed us....but then came the growth spurt at a little before 3 months and she started waking up around 3am. The spurt was over in a few days and she started nursing normally during the daytime, but then she continued to wake up at around 3am. I tried to follow the 3 night rule (do it for 3 nights in a row and that becomes the new habit), by giving her the paci to get her back to sleep, but that hasnt worked either. She would continue to suck on the paci until I nursed her at 6am. This morning I gave in after a week of trying and nursed her at 3 and she nursed a whole 10 mins like she normally does.
Could it be that she is growing and feeling hungrier?
Few more things I wanted to add after reading the first 4 replies.....
1. My daughter sleeps with me in the bed and has been doing it ever since we came back from the hospital. (this co-sleeping is totally normal practice from where I come from) and this helps in not having a lot of movement for her not to wake up from sleep once she is done feeding and its time to put her back down.
2. When I said she wake up at 3am.... its not actually waking up.....she starts twisting and turning for a few minutes and then she starts crying (like coughing cry- that's what I call it) like when she is hungry...all the time not opening her eyes.... If I do nurse her, she dream feeds and continues to sleep once she is done.
3. I had always done the 9.30 - 10ish time feeding before she starts sleeping in the night. That doesnt seem to help my current problem either. Irrespective of when she had her last feeding, she continues to wake up at around 3am.
Or could it be that because she sleeps a lot during the day (she is awake only abt 6-7hrs), that she wakes up in the night. Cause I was reading somewhere that a 3 month old needs abt 15 hrs of sleep and she gets a lot more than that.
How do I get her to sleep through the night again? Or should I just follow her schedule?
I decided to follow her cues and nurse her in the middle of the night.
Thanks to all the wonderful moms out there who reminded me that I have to listen to her and not force my schedule on her.
They just seem to have their reason as to why they do something.....too bad that we just dont understand them.
1 reason I came up with is: because i started working, she misses me and wants to feel close to me anytime she gets.
I have a 4 month old who does not sleep through the night. She actually added a feeding this week at 9:30 pm. Normally she's asleep between 7:30 and 8:00 pm waking up between 2:30 and 3:30 am to eat. I don't believe her establishing somewhat a routine is habit forming. Her patterns will change as she grows and as solids are introduced, so I go with what she needs.
My kids slept through the nite at 3 months also. what i always did was when they got up at nite i would not turn on the lights, i would quietly get the bottle or nurse depending on which child(my youngest refused to nurse) and if the diaper wasnt overly wet or solied (soiled got changed) i would not change diaper. after feeding i lay baby back down. i figured that way baby knew it wasnt time to get up and play. i would always feed about 10pm weather they were sleeping or not and then it was bed time and they would sleep through the nite.
It is usually best to follow her schedule. It is also interesting to note that more milk is made during the night time hours than the day time hours. Also, did you return to work recently? She could also just need that extra closeness to you at night time. If you have returned to work, she is just plain missing you during the day. If you are pumping, then she really needs the extra breastmilk at night time. Pumping is less effective than the baby removing milk from the breast.
She is still very young and when it comes to breastfeeding, the baby is the one that regulates how much milk you produce. If you are co-sleeping it is so convenient to just put her to the breast and let her have that extra feeding.
K. Voigtsberger, CD(DONA), AAHCC
Breastfeeding Educator
Certified Birth Doula(DONA)
Certified Bradley Method® Educator
WWW.WholeHeartBirth.com
Who is to say what is normal? Healthy babies sleep thru the night and healthy babies don't sleep thru the night. Let's get that straight first of all. My 1st born slept through the night earlier than my 2nd, who at 9 months is still waking around 3am. (Although I believe just this week we have made some progress and he might be getting close to dropping the night feeding.) All babies are different and there are certainly many parenting styles. 15 hrs of sleep is an average. A happy, healthy 3 month old can get more or less that 15 hours of sleep and be just fine. I would suggest taking one day at a time. Follow the cues of your newborn and as she matures and grows you can reevaluate what works best for all of you. If nursing her now while cosleeping is what it takes to get her to sleep, go for it. Before you know it, another phase will set in and things will change all over again. Oh, and by the way, I also tried to nurse my infant around 10-11 like I had heard some friends had success with, but it didn't help, he still woke once in the night to nurse.
It's actually not healthy for a baby to sleep through the night, so I would be perfectly fine with her waking to eat at 3am. It sounds like she is still sleeping well.
When my youngest was that age, what I did was (and we co-slept too!) nurse her right when she would start to squirm, not waiting a moment for her to wake further. Then, right after nursing, I would change her diaper, because they sleep better dry. She slept through the diaper change.
They do need calories, etc through the night at this age. It isn't good for a baby to go several hours without eating, and it's really a modern American thing to expect an infant to sleep all night. It's not normal at all, and increases their chances of dying from sids! It is completely normal for all humans to partially wake all night long. While an infant's brain is developing, they don't go into the deep sleep stages like we do. So, when people insist on your baby learning to sleep all night, I would ignore them. They'll sleep through the night when they are ready.
I would follow her lead and enjoy it while you can.
My children did not sleep through the night until a year old.....I think you were blessed to have that time but I don't think it is normal or healthy to expect her to sleep all night at such a young age. If she is only waking you at 3 for a feeding, she is still do amazingly!!!! What a good baby!
Thank God every day that she is only getting up once a night and enjoy every second of sleep that you get. I would LOVE to be in your shoes.
My first did this too...slept thru the night until about 3.5 months, then was waking up hungry. At her 4 month check up I mentioned it and our pedi said she was needing solids. I started her on cereal that night and she slept thru from that point on. Check with your doctor first but I bet when you start her on cereal that will solve the problem. I believe he said around 13 lbs. is when they start needing solids...??
Best of luck!
we did a "dream feed" where about 10ish, we picked the baby up, still sleeping, fed her, and put her back in bed, never waking her up. This would get her through the night.
My little guy slept 6-8 hours from week 2-13, then only did a 5 hour block. At 6 months, he started sleeping 8-10 hours.
There are major developmental shifts at 3-6 months. Many babies need the extra food and the contact with mommy. It also takes them some time to learn how to self-sooth if you don't believe in CIO.
You will establish the 3 am feed if you continue to do it.
Also, te sleep really changes at 3 months, so now you need to start teaching her how to put herself to sleep without being nursed. She will come to expect being nursed to sleep unless you break that habit.
