Sleeping FAQ: 8-12 weeks – Night Waking

What else can I do to get my 11 week old to get through the night without needing water to settle?

My baby son is our second baby and we have implemented the routines since birth as we did with our first son. He is very content and we are really enjoying him. However he has not yet slept through from the 10.30pm feed to morning. He slept until 6am twice but apart from that it is anything from 3.55am to 5.15am usually. He was capable of this from a very young age.
I have ruled out hunger as he was cutting back a lot on his 7am feed. I gradually reduced the feed in the night and now (for the last 4 nights) settle him with water. I have to put a bit of sugar in it to get him to take it.
The pattern is very erratic – it could be 4am tonight and 5.10am tomorrow. He has no bad sleep associations and settles very well for all naps and at 7pm and 11.30pm. We have even got through the lunchtime light sleep issue within a couple of days of letting him fuss and I always have to wake him at 2.20pm.
Light or noise are not the issue as we live in the country so there are no street lights, car alarms, etc. and no one in the house is noisy at these times.
He is still fully swaddled as I wanted to try to figure out this problem before I added another variable. Some nights when he wakes he may have a hand out but often he doesn’t. I don’t think he is too hot as it is quite cold at night. Likewise I don’t think he’s cold. I’m baffled – any ideas?
How long will I continue to settle him with water? Will it become a habit itself? Is he starting to need it to settle back in the night? I dread having to get tough on this as he is such a good baby it seems unfair – also there’s the issue of waking my contented toddler!
I was considering sleeping in the nursery with him for a couple of nights to see if that reveals anything but not sure what I’ll figure out in the dark?

My son takes 6-7ozs at 7am, 11am, 2.30pm and 10.30pm. He takes 7-8ozs at 6.15pm. He is offered water in the afternoon.

He naps from 9-9.50am, 12.05-2.20pm and 4.35-4.55pm.

He weighed 13lbs at 9 weeks old.

Some babies do seem to take a long time to just do the final push through the night, and it can be frustrating when you can’t think of a reason why this isn’t happening. Take a look at the Feeding section of the website where you will see a few notes by Gina on the use of sugar water at night: Sugar water and Night time Feeds.

Although your son’s overall milk intake is good it may help if you keep him up longer at 10pm and split this feed. It can take time for a baby of this age to wake fully by 10pm so begin the process by 9.45pm. Give him half of his feed once he is fully awake and then let him have some quiet kicking time in a room which is well lit and has background noise such as the radio or TV. Babies under the age of four months do need some time awake between 7pm and 7am. As your son sleeps well in the day this extra time awake may help his later restlessness.

At 11.15pm take your son to his room and change him. Then offer him his second part of feed and settle him down. As this feed stretches over more than an hour it is wise to make up the feed into two separate bottles, so each one is offered fresh.

Sleeping in his room may reveal what wakes him and is worth a try, perhaps after a few days of trying this way of splitting the 10pm feed.