Feeding FAQ: 8-12 weeks – Formula Feeding

My baby of 8 weeks wakes every night at 2 and 4am. What should I do?

My baby of 8 weeks wakes every night at 2 and 4am. What should I do?
I have recently joined the site and am awaiting my book from Amazon.com as I live in the States.

I have been following a 3 hour schedule starting at 6am (6, 9, 12, 3, 6, 9, and 11) and cluster feeding from 9pm until 11pm. Each feeding is 30-45 minutes long and he eats about 4-5 ounces. He also plays for anywhere between 30 and 45 minutes after he eats with an hour and a half nap.

My baby wakes every night at 2 and at 4 and cries. Can you help? What should I do until I get the book in the mail?

Here is a basic routine for a baby who is near in age to your son.

You may need to make some adjustments to his sleeping patterns so he is more likely to sleep for one long stretch in the night.

Routine for a baby aged six to eight weeks

Feed times: 7am, 10.45am, 2pm/2.30pm, 5pm/6pm, 10.30pm

Nap times between 7am and 7pm: 9am-9.45am, 11.45am/12noon-2pm/2.30pm and 4.30pm-5pm.

Maximum daily sleep 4 hours.

The routines run between 7am and 7pm as this is the natural body rhythm of a baby or small child. If you are waking your son to feed him at 6am then see if he will sleep on until 7am. If he wakes at 6am and is hungry then offer him a feed. Settle him straight back to sleep until 7am/7.30am and then wake him. Offer him a top up feed of 2-3ozs if he took a full feed at 6am. This will then get him on track for the day ahead. A baby of your son’s age can stay awake for up to 2 hours from the time he woke although he may be ready to go down for a nap before the time stated on the routine. Let him settle for a nap when he shows signs of tiredness. This could be around 8.30am/8.45am and he will need 45mins-1 hour for this nap.

Wake him at 10am and let him have a kick and a play unless he seems very hungry. If you have to feed him before 10.45am then go ahead and do so. The routines are to be used as a guide to work towards, so don’t feel you have to make your son wait if he is obviously ready to have a feed.

It would be worth you reading the article by Gina, Structure without Stress, which you will find on the website. Gina explains how to fit the routines into your own baby’s needs.

The longest nap of the day comes over lunchtime as this coincides with a natural dip in alertness at this time of day. This nap should be 2-2.5 hours in length and then, when he wakes at 2pm/2.30pm, offer him another feed.

In the afternoon he needs a short catnap of ½ an hour before 5pm.

When beginning the routines, many mothers find it easiest to set the days beginning at 7am and also to put the bath and bedtime routine in place, then move on to work on the rest of the day.

Until your son is sleeping through the night use the “split feed” method for the next two feeds. This means you give a feed split in half over the period of an hour and a half. It helps your baby to take a slightly larger feed overall, thus helping him to sleep for longer in the night. Feed your son 2-3ozs at 5pm. Then encourage him to have some kicking time before you take him for a bath at 5.45pm. He needs to be dried, massaged and dressed by 6.15pm. You should then offer him the second part of his feed, another 2-3ozs. This should be taken in his room with the blinds and curtains drawn and in dimmed light. If your son has been awake since 5pm he should be ready to settle to sleep by 6.45pm/7pm.

You may have to wake him for the next feed. Begin by putting on the lights and taking off his covers at 9.45pm. Let him come round naturally, which may take 15-20 minutes. Offer him the first part of this next split feed – 2-3ozs – in a light room with plenty of background noise. Your son needs to be awake for at least 1.15hrs at this time of night as this will help him settle to a longer stretch of sleep in the middle of the night. Let him have a quiet kick on his play gym, but don’t over stimulate him. At 11.15pm change his nappy and offer the second part of the feed – 2-3ozs – in his darkened room. He then should settle down for a sleep.

At his age your son will probably still need at least one feed in the night. Providing he has not slept more than 4 hours between 7am-7pm the day before, and has fed well at all his feeds, he should manage a 4-5hour stretch of unbroken sleep during the night. Remember that the timings are always taken from the beginning of a feed so if the feed started at 10pm you can expect him to wake around 2.30am/3am and he will need a full feed to settle him again.

Always make the night feeds very quiet. Keep the lights as low as possible and only change him if he needs it. Try not to have too much eye contact so he gets to learn that feeding in the night is different from daytime feeds. Settle him back to sleep as soon as he is winded. Your son should then manage to sleep until 6.30am/7am. If he does wake before that time you can offer him a drink of cool, boiled water to see if he will settle again. If he doesn’t then offer him a small feed and settle him back to sleep until 7am/7.30am.

Make sure your son is well tucked in. If he is still swaddled, then use a cotton sheet lengthways over his swaddle and tucked in on both sides. Secure these sides with rolled towels pushed down well between the cot spars. At his age he may still be startled by the Moro reflex and could wake from this when in a light sleep. The sheet across him will help him feel more secure and stay more settled.