Sleeping FAQ: 8-12 weeks – Night Waking

At 11-weeks-old my daughter is waking in the night again

My 11-week-old daughter has been in a good sleeping pattern but for the last three days this has gone a bit wrong in the evening. She has started to wake at 3am wanting a small feed and then again at 5-6am. Although if she fed at 3am, she will put herself back to sleep at 5-6am and wake up around 7am. She used to sleep from 11/11.30 through to 6am before but recently has changed to this new pattern. What can we do to correct this habit? And when should we look to bring the 10.30pm feed forward? How can we increase daytime feeds as she always refuses more, and if we try and give her more she vomits?

At present she feeds at 7.30am 90 ml breast, 10.30am 90-110mls formula, 2.30pm 90 ml breast, 5.30pm 90-130mls formula, 6.45pm 50 ml breast/formula, 10.30pm 90-130mls formula and 3.30am breast 2 minutes, giving her a total of 540mls. She weighs 4.22kg.

Your daughter could well be going through a 12-week growth spurt which is why she has begun to wake up again in the night looking for a small feed. To help increase her day feeds, begin to offer her a small top-up before going down at 11.45am and bring her split feed forward to 5pm rather than 5.30pm. This will help her be hungrier after her bath at 6.45pm. Using a top-up and a longer split feed should help boost her daily intake. At her present weight this needs to be about 690 ml over 24 hours. It could also help her to split the 10.30pm feed and keep her up for over an hour at this time.

Do this by waking her at 10pm and offer her 120mls of milk. Keep her awake and let her have some quiet kicking time until 11.15pm. Change her and lower the lights. Offer a fresh top up of 60-90 ml before settling her down. Until she is sleeping well to nearer 7am then it is better to keep her up for at least an hour at this time. Once you are sure that her daily intake has increased then you can begin to use the “core night”-method to get her further through the night and drop the 3am feed (see p148 in The New Contented Little Baby Book). If you feel that she is waking through habit rather than hunger at this time then offer her cool boiled water first to see if she will settle again. If she does not, then offer her a small feed. By having some water first she will take a smaller feed which should help her be hungrier for her 7am feed.

Make sure that she is well tucked in with a cotton sheet over her sleeping bag, if she is in one. At this age the Moro reflex can still be strong. This combined with changing sleep cycles may mean that a baby is more likely to wake from a light sleep in the early morning.