LO is now 12 weeks and seems no closer to sleeping through the night. He generally goes down about 9PM and then sleeps until 1 or 2AM. Eats for about an hour. Sleeps for another 2.5 hours. Eats for about an hour. Sleeps another 2.5 hours.
Not terrible, I realize. But is there anything I can do to encourage sleeping through the night? He's always hungry when he wakes, so I don't feel like I can try to cut feeds. Do I just have to wait until he gains more weight and can go longer without eating?
hostess / eggplant / 11068 posts
Your LO's pattern sounds just like my LO when she was that age. I'm not sure what to suggest because while it's not ideal, it's also not too bad either. Maybe someone else has more insight?
hostess / wonderful honeydew / 32460 posts
Are you nursing exclusively? You may want to try giving him a bottle of expressed milk.. It's faster feeding and he'll get full faster and possibly sleep longer..?
cantaloupe / 6687 posts
What worked for me was using http://www.momsoncall.com. I followed the daily schedule...the goal is to feed your baby throughout the day so they have a steady metabolism and then do a bedtime routine to signal that it's nighttime. It worked for my LO. She had been sleeping 4-6 hour stretches then started waking every 2-3 hours but with a routine in place she went 6-8 hours then 8-10 and now at 6 months she sleeps 12-13 hours.
pomegranate / 3388 posts
I make sure I feed my daughter at least every 3 hours during the day, and I feed more frequently near bedtime to tank her up for the night. I also do a dream feed before I go to bed around 10 or 11. She's been sleeping 4-6 hour stretches for a few weeks, and she's only 7 weeks old. Some of that might be temperament though, and some of it might also be that she's partially formula-fed, which fills up babies for longer than breast milk.
How much does your baby weigh? I've heard that somewhere between 12 and 15 lbs they are capable of sleeping through the night
GOLD / wonderful coffee bean / 18478 posts
Limit naps during the day, lots of alert time stimulation, keep the baby well fed throughout the day, cluster feed in the evening, bedtime routine. Those things worked for my LO.
honeydew / 7968 posts
For me, I feed them a lot more. If they now get around 4-5 oz for regular feedings, I'll give them 5-6 for the last feeding of the night. They get it around 8 and wake up around 1:30-2 or so
apricot / 290 posts
I second moms on call. My (soon to be) 4 week old is only waking up once a night (at 3 am) and last night I even got a 5 1/2 hour stretch out of her!
persimmon / 1135 posts
Thanks ladies! Linus is exclusively breast fed. I only have a manual pump, so it's not really practical to pump to give a bottle every night. I haven't had him weighed in about 3 weeks (I'm going tomorrow to have it done), but I'd guess he's right around 11 pounds, so perhaps he's on the verge of being able to sleep through the night.
We had a few rough nights earlier in the week, but then last night was back to a better routine with only 2 wakings- one at 1:30 and another at 5:30. I can totally handle that!
I feel like we're pretty blessed with a fairly easy baby, so I shouldn't complain! 
pomegranate / 3383 posts
@megwag, I feel the same way you do about your DS (who is also 12 weeks) and his sleep! Our little guy goes down between 6 and 7 and eats twice per night until around 6-6:30 am. His first stretch is anywhere between 6 and 9 hours. He has teased us with a couple of nights where he has only woken to eat oncebut his sleep patterns are nowhere near consistent.
I know this isn't bad by any means but I also know it could be so much better! We are also dealing with some nightwakings that are not due to hunger ( he'll repeatedly take the pacifier until 4 hours later when I figure it's time to eat!). I am just craving some consistency!
I am definitely going to look into momsoncall as well as consider sleep training in the next few weeks.
persimmon / 1099 posts
People say to stretch feedings out to "tank up" with 6 or 7 oz before bed. Then double swaddle/offer bink. DD is only 3 weeks old and can't eat that much! I am going to double swaddle though tonight and see how she does!
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