Sleeping FAQ: 4-6 months – Night Waking

I need 18-week-old Jake to sleep longer at night without feeding

Please could you give me some advice on how to help my little one sleep longer at night and cut out middle of the night feeding.
My little boy (only child) was 9lb 13oz when born 16 days late. From 4 weeks he slept from 9pm to 7am in his own room (I breastfed on demand but expressed to give him a bottle at last feed at 8.30pm). This continued until he was 13 weeks and was full of cold and went off feeding a bit, and he so began waking in the night every 2 hours for a feed. He is now 18 weeks and weighs 17lb 5oz, gaining 6-8 oz a week. He now has a good routine during the day, feeding every 4 hours starting at 7am. He has a nap 8.30-9.15 am, at 11am has an 8oz bottle plus 2tsp baby rice. He sleeps 12-1.30pm. At 2.30pm he has a 5oz bottle and 2tbsp rice and vegetables. At about 4pm he has a half hour nap, depending how long he had at lunchtime. Then at 6.30pm he has (formula) 8oz bottle and 3 teaspoons of rice pudding, followed by bed at 7pm.
Jake settles by himself to go sleep at night, tucked up in his grobag (however sometimes during day has a dummy to help calm down and give in to sleep). He then wakes for his last bottle between 10 and 11pm (8oz of formula), then settles himself back to sleep. Now comes the crunch because I’m becoming sleep deprived (grumpy and short-tempered with a poor memory). He continues waking in the night starting between 2.30-3am, then every hour wingeing and fussing as if he can’t get himself back to sleep. When this first started, initially I managed to soothe him back to sleep by humming or giving the dummy (although trying not to use dummy as I don’t want him to become dependent on it to sleep). He now tends to start to cry properly and tries to latch on so I give him a brief feed (2 minutes) on the breast until he calms down. Then he goes back to sleep. However, come 7am he’s not interested in food but awakes a very happy boy. During the day he is a very happy bunny, always on the go and loves his food.
Lisa

As you realised, after his cold, your little boy still needs a bottle of milk at 10/11pm despite having slept longer stretches when younger. Your son is gaining weight well and seems to be well introduced to solids now. I presume this started when he was 16/17 weeks old.

In order to get him sleeping through the night and dropping the “comfort feeds” I suggest that you leave him at least 10 minutes before going in when he wakes in the night. As he sleeps for a stretch in the day at lunchtime and in the evening, he has shown he is able to settle after coming into a light sleep. I very much doubt he is waking from hunger, as he feeds for such a short time before settling. It is more likely habit. If he is still crying after 10 minutes and the crying is not decreasing then go in and reassure him whilst he is in his cot. Stroke his head for a couple of minutes then leave again and wait another 10 minutes before going in again. If he is still very distressed try to settle him with some cooled, boiled water rather than a breast feed.

This method may take a few disturbed nights but should work if you are consistent and don’t feed him back to sleep.

I also think it would be better if your son had his main solids at 11am rather than 2pm. If he has his rice and vegetables then, and begins to increase the amounts, he will begin to decrease the amount of milk he takes, and eventually the feed will move forwards towards 12 noon to become lunch. He will go down for his mid-morning nap having fed well and this could mean he begins to sleep longer than 1.5 hrs.

If he sleeps longer at lunchtime he will not need a nap in the afternoon, or will cut it back to a 15-minute catnap and this will help him to sleep better at night. If you continue to give him rice and vegetables at 2:30pm and begin to increase the amounts, your son will decrease that feed more and possibly begin to cut back on the 6pm feed as well which will mean he will continue to wake early in the morning.

I would begin to introduce fruit as well as vegetables at 11am to your son, and as soon as he shows no reaction to pear or apple begin to offer some with his 6pm rice. Look in Gina’s Weaning Guide for a full explanation and routine guidelines. Your son is growing steadily, and although only 4.5 months he will need his solids increased steadily in order to fulfill his needs. By structuring them properly, introducing a wide variety of fruit and vegetables as well as rice he should continue to be the happy boy he is.