My 3.5mth daughter has started to wake at 4am. Should I re introduce the 10pm feed?
My 3.5 month old daughter has been following the CLB routines for 3 months with varying degrees of success. The present problem is that she is waking at 4 in the morning and not able to settle herself back to sleep. I dropped the 10 pm feed at about 2.5 months as she was sleeping well from 7 pm through until 6.30am, this was fine for a while but now I feel that I dropped it too soon. I have tried to reintroduce the 10 pm feed but it leaves her very unsettled and waking at 4 am anyway and not taking her 7 am feed. This leaves me with a very grizzily baby for the rest of the day as she has never napped well in the day.
When she wakes at 4am she does not cry, just babbles to herself and if I look at her she smiles- it seems that she wants to play! Should I try to reintroduce the 10pm feed again, or leave her and hope that she will start to settle herself back to sleep in time.
At present my daughter feeds at 7am, 11am and 2pm taking 6-7ozs, 4pm, 3-4ozs and 6.30pm, 7-8ozs She weighs 15lbs.
She naps at 9.30-10am, 11.45-12.30pm, 2.30-3.30pm and 4.30-5pm. She is settled at 7pm.
Until a baby is weaned it is better to keep the 10pm feed in place. Between the age of 3-4 months a growth spurt takes place and your daughter will need this late feed to help her take in sufficient milk to meet the nutritional requirements for her age.
It also helps a baby under the age of four months to sleep for a long stretch in the night if she is awake for one short period between 7pm and 7am. If you can give a feed at 10pm/11pm and keep your daughter awake for 20-30 minutes you may find she is less likely to wake at 4am.
Trying to get your daughter to have one longer lunchtime nap, rather than two separate naps of 1 hour and ½ hour, may help her sleep through the night. Having this amount of sleep in the afternoon may be another reason for her waking at 4am. If you have had trouble resettling her after 45 minutes during her 11.45am sleep, take a look at the Lunchtime Nap article by Gina on the website to see what you can do.
When your daughter wakes at 7am let her wake up properly for 15-20 minutes before offering her a feed. By this age a baby will not be hungry the moment they wake.
As your daughter does not cry when she wakes at 4am, leave her to settle herself alone. Only go in to her if she does begin to get fretful. Give her a cuddle and settle her back again. Check that she is not waking because she is too cold. On chilly nights she may need one more layer such as a thin cardigan or long sleeved body suit if she is wearing a sleeping bag. Make sure she is well tucked in as her Moro reflex could be waking her from the light sleep she is in at this time of the day.