Sleeping FAQ: 4-6 months – Night Waking

My 4 and a half month old baby needs to sleep through the night but wakes at 3am

Hello! My daughter is 4 and a half months. She weighs 16lb, naps well throughout the day and settles well at 7pm. She is eating three solid meals a day (rice, cereal) and is formula fed. She sleeps and naps in her own room with a sleeping bag.

My concern is that when I wake her at 10pm, she is not interested in having very much of a bottle (2oz at the most), but wakes at 3am every night. We have let her cry but she will cry for an hour or longer and we eventually either give her a soother or a bottle. Sometimes she will take 1-2oz of the bottle, and sometimes up to 6oz, so I can’t tell if she is truly hungry. If I do give her a bottle at 3am she won’t take another bottle until about 8am, putting her off her daytime feeding.

My question is: How do I know when the time has come to let her cry it out. She is a very “determined crier”, but loves her soother and bottles. We are prepared to do whatever it takes to get her to sleep though the night since we feel she is ready, but do not want to be up listening to her cry, just to end up giving her a bottle.

Many thanks for your help,
Victoria

Getting your daughter to take more formula at 10pm will go a long way to eliminating the 3am feed. Some babies can be very tired at this time and seem uninterested in feeding, but they do still need a sufficient milk intake despite already taking solids. This means giving her 5 full milk feeds between 7am and 11pm.

It is important that your daughter is awake for at least an hour at the 10pm feed. I would start to wake your daughter at 10pm by putting on the lights and removing any covers. Let her come round in her own time which can take up to 20 minutes. Get yourself ready for bed in this time. When she is fully awake, feed her at least 3ozs before changing her. Even if she is sleepy by now, a nappy change should stir her enough to take some more milk. If she seems quite awake, let her kick for 10-15 minutes, without too much stimulation so she will settle after finishing her milk. It can be hard work to get her to take enough but it will mean if she does continue to wake at 3am hunger is not the cause.

Once she has shown she is capable of sleeping through to 7am for a week begin to cut back this waking time by 10 minutes every three or four nights. She should then continue to sleep onto 7am rather than waking earlier.

Your daughter is being fed rice three times a day but you don’t seem to have introduced any fruit or vegetables yet. When beginning to wean it is important to introduce the right amounts of solids at the right times so that your baby does not cut back on her milk intake too quickly. Look at Gina’s Complete Weaning Guide to see how to introduce solids in the right order.