Sleeping FAQ: 4-6 months – Night Waking

After a recent cough my 5.5-month-old baby has begun to wake in the night again

My daughter has recently had a cough and since having this has been waking through the night. She started sleeping straight through when she was 7 weeks old [this is her corrected age, as she was born 11 weeks premature] but now wakes and I don’t know what is best to settle her. I tried giving her water and whilst this settled her initially, she then woke again about an hour later and utterly refused to take more water and had to be settled with formula. However if I give her formula then she’s less keen on her morning feed. I don’t know if she’s just unsettled because of her cough and will settle back into her routine when she feels better, though she doesn’t seem terribly perturbed by the cough just a bit off her food.
At present she weighs 12lbs and feeds at 7am 6ozs, 10.30am 4ozs, 2pm 5ozs, 5pm 3ozs, 6pm 3ozs, 10pm 4ozs.
She naps at 9.30-10am, 12-2pm and 4.30-4pm. She settles at 7pm.

As your daughter has been unwell and possibly dropped her daily intake a little, now she is recovering, hunger could well be waking her. To see if it is hunger rather than being unsettled with her cough, offer her formula when she first wakes. If she takes this, settles back to 7am and then takes a full feed you will know she needs to increase her intake in the day.
You may need to split the 10.30am a feed a little so she increases this. Offer her 2-3 ozs at 10am and another 2-3 ozs at 11.30am before she settles for her lunchtime nap. Once you are aware that her daytime intake has increased, you can begin to decrease the formula she is offered at night and begin to offer water again. It may take a while to learn how to sleep through again as illness can disrupt the routines.