How Many Times Does Your Baby Wake in the Night?

[Shenzhennifer]

I thought this might be an interesting thread, at least for me, a very exhausted mom of a 6 month old who still wakes to feed like a newborn!

Age: 6 month boy

# of Wakes: 1-3 at random times

Why: To nurse

Breast or bottle or both? Only breast - refuses bottle

Why do you think your baby wakes/sleeps through? I think he wakes so often because I nursed him to bed from the beginning, and even sometimes during the day I do it for naps. I haven`t been very strict on routines, just loose ones and they seem to change too often Or just when I thought I had a good routine going, something would change. Andmaybe he doesn`t drink enough during the day. Anyway, I think I created this little night nursing monster myself.


Please, Moms, share your experiences with your current babies or when they were babies.

 

[Sazzy]

Hi - This worked for me.
I would time how long I nursed for, say it was 5 minutes. The next night, I would only nurse for 4 minutes say for 3 nights and then 3 minutes etc etc. This way, my baby was more hungry during the day.

Have you started solids yet?

 

[AutoCAD]

Age: 9 month girl

# of Wakes: 1-3, usually at midnight and 4.30, sometimes more, sometimes less

Why: Unsure - she is still sleeping in our room (in a crib) so it could be us waking her, or she may just want to nurse as she has gotten quite used to it

Breast or bottle or both? Only breast

Why do you think your baby wakes/sleeps through?
She wakes and nursing her gets her back to sleep straight away. In the middle of the night, I just go with it as I'm too tired to do much else. I think I could use other methods to put her back to sleep (rocking or other comforting) but its just been so easy to get her to sleep by nursing. I have always nursed her to sleep at bedtime.

 

[FutureHKmom]

Age: Almost 4 month boy

# of wakes: Sometimes once (at 4 or 5am), but most of the time sleeps through from 10pm until 6/6:30am.

Why: I started feeding him a bottle of formula or EBM at the 9:30pm feed at 7 weeks. In the beginning he took 4 oz, then increased to 5 oz and now increased to 6oz. More food in his tummy = more sleep I believe. I usually feed formula though because don't pump enough EBM out for him.

Breast or bottle: Breast for all meals of day except 9:30pm feed. However, next week I go back to work so will give him bottle twice during the day (including 9:30pm feed) and then breast the rest of the time.

Why do you think baby wakes/sleeps through: Probably because he has a lot to eat at his 9:30pm feed and perhaps he is more tired at night because he sleeps less during the day? But I am not sure about the latter reason....

 

[reei]

Age: 10 months + girl

# of Wakes: i am so sleepy, i don't remember

Why: To nurse

Breast or bottle or both? Only breast

Why do you think your baby wakes/sleeps through? hungry or needs comfort/ cuddling

 

[carang]

4.5 year old boy... usually sleeps through the night but recently discovered MONSTERS and being afraid of the dark... now wakes 1-5 times per night

2.5 year old girl.... usually sleeps through the night (only started about 3 months ago to sleep through)...sometimes wakes up 1-2 times for milk.


as far as i'm concerned... ANY waking is too much! LOL! but you get used to the perpetual state of exhaustion!LOL!

 

[pooch]

unless my boys are sick or some other rare event (the odd night terror or whatever) they have both slept through (11-12 hrs) from a very early age. the eldest by around 3.5- 4 mths, the youngest perhaps a little earlier.

why do i think this is so? they both learnt to self settle/sooth. i have never had to do any sort of controlled crying or major sleep training. although I always left them for 5 mins or so to try and settle themselves before i would intervene. and never left them for a minute if they sounded truly distressed.

the youngest is a thumb sucker and has a little lamb comforter that he sleeps with so he very rarely needs me in the night for comfort. this is just the way i like it.

I don't know how you mums do it for so long. i'm just not a very nice mum after dark. i would give my child a drink of water in the night if they woke and needed it but wouldn't dream of giving them milk in the night after 1 yr of age - or to be honest much earlier than that even.

 

[carang]

i call it milk, but really it is just coloured water... since we stopped making full on formula,she wakes much less often. she sleeps through most nights now

 

[LeahH]

Age: 4.5 month boy

# of Wakes:
Slept through at 4 months and thought we were home free, but has now started waking 1-3 random times for the last week

Why: I'm sure it's because he can't get back to sleep on his own / self settle - my fault as I have been feeding him right to sleep (naps and bedtime). It's not hunger as I can tell how hungry he is from the amount he takes at 10.30pm and his early morning feed. Another indicator is that he also wakes at exactly the 45min mark during his 2 hour lunch time nap and can't settle back without assistance.

Breast or bottle or both?
Breast for all except one bottle of formula or EBM at 10.30pm (we wake him).

Why do you think your baby wakes/sleeps through?

He was doing brilliantly and on a great routine (my own amended version of Gina Ford) and even began to sleep through UNTIL I started to consistently feed him right to sleep (previously I would feed him until he was drowsy then put him in bed with the dummy.

I fell into the habit of feeding him right to sleep more and more often and didn't realise it would have such a negative effect on his sleeping patterns.

As a result, I started CIO today (a gentle form)....

My 2 year old is a champion sleeper and slept through from 5.5 months BUT only after a session of CIO also. She was a multiple night waker before that and it was ALL about not knowing how to self settle and associating milk with getting to sleep (she was fed all EBM from a bottle).

Some babies are just quick to make sleep associations. Despite swearing to do it right with no. 2, the exhaustion meant all my good intentions went out the window! I was also so pleased the BF worked (no. 1 didn't latch) so prob. didn't see the danger of feeding to sleep...

One factor could also be that from 6 weeks onward I fed him a bottle of EBM in the night when he woke. This was to ensure he took a good amount of milk to get through to morning and also to make it about 'food' and not comfort. Once he started sleeping through to 6am, I ditched the bottle and fed directly. So the 'comfort' of this, combined with the feeding to sleep, may have caused the night wakings to increase.

 

[Suv]

Age: 8.5 month boy

# of Wakes: Every odd once in a while. Has been sleeping through since 6 months.

Why: May be 1 or 2 times max if he is jetlagged or his sleep cycle gets broken for some reason.

Breast or bottle or both? n/a, breast when he used to wake up around 4.5 months/ before 13 lb mark.

Why do you think your baby wakes/sleeps through? We taught him to self soothe. Also we don't show up in his room as soon as he wakes up- we give him around 10 min (depending how loud or what kind of his noises they are) to go back to sleep. Also got rid of the monitor since our rooms are so close- he would go back to sleep but I would end up wide awake. We have key words, a lion he reads his goodnight book with and both get kisses before going to sleep together. I stopped nursing at night once he reached 13lbs (I had read after this weight, babies don't need food, its mostly habit)- I made sure he was full during the day.