Sleeping FAQ: 3-4 Months – Night Waking

My 15 week son still seems to need a feed in the night in order to settle, or is this just habit?

I know I shouldn’t compare children but I have 4 yr and 21 month old boys who were perfect Gina babies and dropped the night feed by 6 weeks and were 7am-7pm every night by 14 weeks. They seemed to fall into the routines no problem and were exclusively breastfed. My 15 week old son naps alright in the morning but has never slept well at lunchtime. He is always very sleepy when feeding at 11am, so I feed one side change his nappy do the other side and now give him a top up bottle. He goes down after about 20mins crying then wakes after 30mins and I have left him to cry or taken him in his buggy but he just won’t sleep.

Although until he was 10 weeks I was fairly happy as he would wake once in the night have a quick feed and settle immediately and wake at 7am. Since 10 weeks he has slept through from 11.30pm sometimes 4 nights in a row. At other times he was waking up once maybe twice, then in the last week he is waking several times from about 2am. I leave him to cry 20mins before going in; sometimes I feed him or just cuddle him. I have tried giving him water but he just spits it out. Sometimes he settles again, other times he will carry on crying. I have left him to cry for longer but am conscious of waking everyone else up. Some nights when I have given him a feed he still wakes up an hour later, so am not sure if he is hungry or has developed a bad association and cannot settle himself. In the last week or so he has started sucking his thumb and seems to get really cross if he cannot get his thumb in whist getting to sleep.

I am desperate for him to sleep through particularly at night but also at lunch time – it is unfair on the other two as I am feeling really tired and ratty. Do you think he is hungry and I should stop breastfeeding and give him more formula or is it a bad sleep association he has developed?

He is fully breast fed at each feed for 20mins. At 10.45am he takes a 3oz formula top up after his feed. At 6pm he takes a 4oz top up and at 10.30pm he takes a 3oz top up. At 4am he takes about 10mins on one side or will sometimes take both sides. He weighs 6.32kls.
He naps at 9-9.45am, 12.30-1pm 4-4.30pm and is settled at 7pm.

Although you managed to fully breast feed your other two boys the demands upon you now you have three children to care for may mean your supply is not so good, especially towards the end of the day.

Gina always advises to keep the split 5pm/6pm feed in place until your baby has slept through the night from 11pm/11.30pm to 7am for at least a week. This will help your baby have a really good feed at 10pm/11pm, having received the previous feed in two parts. A low milk supply in the early part of the evening is a common problem with busy Mums. Offer your son a breast feed at 5pm, giving him both sides, and then give him a formula feed after his bath. At his present weight this will need to be about 3-4ozs.

To help him settle better in the night use the split 10pm feed where you wake him at 10pm and offer him most of his feed, then keep him awake until 11.15pm before offering the top up feed and settling him back to sleep. Look at page 138 of the Contented Little Baby Book, also the Question and Answer on page 86 for an explanation.

Again, a low supply at 10pm could be the problem with your son’s restless nights. Consider turning this feed into a full formula one. Express around 9.30pm and try to get an early night if your partner would be willing to do this feed, including keeping the baby awake until 11.15pm.

It will not take your son very long to learn how to keep his thumb in his mouth if he uses this to settle himself. When he wakes in the night go into him after 20 minutes and see if you can help him soothe himself by holding his thumb in place. This is a temporary measure as once he has learnt to do this himself he will no longer need you. Begin to implement the “core night” method described on page 148 of The Contented Little Baby Book or page 42 of The Complete Sleep Guide. This will help you eliminate the night feed, which he should not really need now providing his feed at 10pm/11pm is adequate.