My 9 week daughter has always woken once in the night but this is now getting earlier and I am not convinced it is caused by hunger
Since birth my 9 week old daughter has always woken once a night for a feed anywhere between 2.30am and 6.15am (even going 3 consecutive nights until 6am at 6 weeks) but for the past 10 days she has been waking consistently at 2.30-2.45am and will not settle. I am sure she is not hungry and there is nothing obvious waking her (I have checked room temperature, nappy, noise etc). I have tried resettling her with water and a dummy and once succeeded after one and a half hours when she then slept through until 5.45am (surely proving it is not hunger?), other times I have given in after an hour or so of trying to settle her to find she does not take a full feed before resettling easily and then happily goes through until 7am. I am now only breastfeeding during the night so wondered if the smell of my milk was stopping her resettling but my husband has tried and found the same thing. She was a big baby at birth (10lb 10oz) so I am sure she has the physical capacity to go longer – I am wondering if she is waking at this time because she is in such a good feeding routine during the day she is now waking almost exactly 4 hours after the 10.30pm feed. She is a very, very windy baby (we now use Dr Brown bottles, infacol and gripe water) and is on Gaviscon infant for a very mild reflux problem. She settles well providing she has no wind but this is rare and we usually have to go back to the nursery several times to wind her before she eventually goes to sleep. She often wakes midway during her daytime naps (with classic wind symptoms) and won’t resettle. She feeds well during the day – I fill each bottle with 7fl oz and she normally leaves a little bit (taking about 6.5). Sometimes I have to wake her for a feed so she is not an overly hungry baby and does not seem to be having a growth spurt. I also have a 15 month old daughter (who slept through from 10.30pm until 7am from 8 weeks!) so I am really very tired coping with such a lack of sleep and don’t know what else to try except leaving her to cry.
It can be difficult coping with a baby who does not follow the pattern of an older sibling who slept through the night at an early age.
Most babies under the age of 4 months need a spell of time awake between 7pm and 7am. By waking your daughter at 9.45pm and giving her a split feed, so she is awake for over an hour at this time, should help her to sleep for a longer stretch in the night again. This split feed is described on page 138 of the Contented Little Baby Book and also there is a question and answer about it on page 86 [bottom].
It can take a while for a baby of this age to wake up fully at 10pm. Begin at 9.45pm by putting the lights on in your daughter’s room, removing any coverings and undoing her sleeping bag so she wakes up naturally by 10pm/10.10pm. Offer her a 4oz feed once she is fully awake. Although you do not want to over stimulate her at this time of night make sure she is in a room where it is light and there is some background noise. At 11.15pm take her to her room and, once her nappy has been changed offer her another 2-3oz feed. As there is longer than one hour between the two parts of this feed make up each part in a fresh bottle to avoid the risk of tainting the teat with stale milk.
As your daughter suffers with wind problems, dividing this late evening feed may help her digestive system.
Make sure your daughter is securely tucked in at night. If you are using a sleeping bag make sure it is the lightest tog rating [0.5] which will allow you to use a cotton sheet and, if cold, a cotton blanket over her. Place the coverings lengthwise across her and tuck them firmly down the sides of the cot, using rolled towels to secure.
As your daughter is a good weight and has shown she is capable of sleeping a longer stretch at night use the “ core night “ method described on page 148 of The Contented Little Baby Book and page 42 of The Complete Sleep Guide. By using this method you will help her to push her on in the night. Providing she has fed well at 10pm/11.15pm and had a time awake she should be able to go slightly longer before needing a feed.
It is important not to eliminate the night feed too quickly. Once your daughter begins to lose interest in her 7am feed, or you have to wake her every morning for it, you can begin to cut back on her night feed very gradually.