7 weeks old and still waking twice at night?!

[Alicebabe]

Finlay is going to bed at about 9.30pm and goes to sleep on his own which is great but wakes at 01.00 for a full bottle and again at 05.00 for another full bottle (I try controlled crying to stretch this until 6am with mixed success) before getting up at 9.30am.

I dont mind because he goes straight back to sleep but surely he should be sleeping for longer periods at night by now? This night waking also means he is having up to 900mls of formula a day because he is having 6 bottles instead of the recommended 5 and he is getting fat!

I have tried controlled crying although I do feel he is a bit young for this. It worked to a certain extent because previously he was waking at 3am but I cant seem to crack the 5am feeding. p.s. He hates dummys!

Any suggestions?!

 

[mumtotwo]

No advice really other than to say I think it's completely normal at this age. Mine still wakes up twice (sometimes once if I'm lucky) and he's nearly 4 months! I'd say if he doesn't settle after a couple of minutes then I would feed him. Also, I'm BF so not really sure about the bottles, but the instructions on the packet are only meant to be a guideline so I'm not sure it really matters if he is having an extra bottle? What makes you say he's fat? Is he gaining weight normally?

 

[Suzie and Faith]

Afraid to say that that's what babies do! Fi is 8 months and she can wake 2 times a night or more! At 7 weeks she barely slept at night, xxxx

 

[Lynsey]

Nathaniel is still waking about 3 times a night at 4 months so I would love for him to be only waking twice!! At 7 weeks old their stomachs at not big enough for them to get through the night without feeding. Hang on in there

 

[Naterjack]

why do you say he's getting fat ?? Babies dont overeat like adults and get fat, they merely puke it up if they take too much !

Josh is 7 weeks old also, and he has 6 x 5.5oz (165ml) bottles each day between 6am - 9pm and that seems to suit him - his weight gain is steady. He does sleep through so not sure what to advise re: the sleeping, but all babies are different, some drink more, some drink less

What we did to start getting through the night is to tank him up in the evening so he has enough in his tummy to get him through.
i.e. feed him more often later in the day ..... 6am - 9am - 12pm - 4pm - 6pm - 8pm
We also found that putting him in his own room with a monitor worked better - we dont jump up when he grumbles now (as the monitor only comes on when he cries) and he usually just gets himself back to sleep ! This is working well for us at the moment but i'm sure that may change yet as ive probably jinxed it now !!

 

[xmcnickyx]

I always tried to keep Mollys feeds to 7, 11 and 3 that way she'd only be waking once during the night.

Maybe try and move the bottles slowly forward so that instead of feeding at 9.30 his evening feed is around 7, then hopefully he should go at 11pm then 3am then up for the day at 7am.

Not so easy to move bottles around sometimes but I used to feed Molly regardless of when she had her last bottle so that she'd get back into the groove of it if she ever slipped out of the 7, 11, 3 routine.

Now she can barely stay awake till 7pm and sleeps till 7am.

At Finlays age though, she'd still take a full feed every 4 hours. He'll sleep more eventually, just go with what he wants for now.

 

[maria1976]

Why are people so obsessed with getting there babies to sleep through the night at such a young age? Its what babies do! !Ruby still wakes up 3 or more times a night and shes 15 months old and its something you just/have to get used to Some sleep better than others

 

[chickadee1976]

k

 

[MissThing]

7 weeks old and waking twice in the night!? I would say pray to all the gods for your good luck!

Mine was waking up around 6 times at that age and started just about sleeping throught the night at the age of 1!!

 

[LisaJ1986]

Angel was 8 months old before she stopped waking me more than 3 times a night! She is 10 months now and varies between none and twice! I wouldn't bother with controlled crying coz she just wouldn't understand it! When they cry so young they generally want something, even if it's just a cuddle. It's a case of riding it out until she's a bit older, then you start to look at other ways to encourage them to sleep through.

At 7 weeks old i think i was up 5 times a night.

 

[BabyMagic]

Sorry to hear that your LO is waking up too often to your liking, but like others have said it is totally normal at such a young age.

 

[keli]

Why are people so obsessed with getting there babies to sleep through the night at such a young age? Its what babies do! !Ruby still wakes up 3 or more times a night and shes 15 months old and its something you just/have to get used to Some sleep better than others

Ditto to above except Coopers 8mths old! And fwiw babies that young don't take to CC if babies crying its because baby needs something! like.. feeding!

 

[beanie]

Why are people so obsessed with getting there babies to sleep through the night at such a young age? Its what babies do! !Ruby still wakes up 3 or more times a night and shes 15 months old and its something you just/have to get used to Some sleep better than others

I agree with Maria - your baby is only 7 weeks. Babies are designed to wake regularly through the night, they have very small tummies and different sleep cycles. 7 weeks old is also way too young to even consider controlled crying.

 

[keli]

Lol Beanie, we replied at excatly same time!

 

[Alicebabe]

I guess that is one of the evils of mum&baby clubs - just seemed that everyone else's babys were sleeping all night apart from mine which is why I posted this question! It doesnt bother me in the least that he wakes up because he just has a quick feed and back to sleep - I was just under the wronge impression that he should be able to go for longer by now.

I'm going to give up on the CC for now - its stopped him waking at 3am for no apparent reason - at least when he wakes at 5am, I know he has a reason - because he is hungry!

Thanks for all the replies - appreciate all the advice given - and its been a real eye-opener too! xx

 

[BabyMagic]

Great to hear that you are ditching the controlled crying at this stage

As I often say here it's to hang around with babies of different ages - then there's no 'competition'. You are doing a great job x

 

[nori]

Hiya hun,

Firstly, ignore everyone that keeps banging on about their babies sleeping through the night. I did a post on this a while ago and for some reason you feel like you are doing something wrong as your baby isnt sleeping through.. it does my head in and its my biggest bug bearer at the moment!

Anyway.. I have found that Ollie has a better chance of going through the night if we start the day at 6am-7am with his first feed. We have 3 hourly feeds having the last at 10pm or 11pm. If this means waking him up then i will. This is very rare though as Ollie seems to have a body clock wich makes him cry for a feed every 3 hours. I dont have a strict routine for the rest of the day and he sleeps and plays whenever. Ollie still sometimes wakes for 1 feed during the night but that maybe due to yet another growth spurt.

Im not a real fan of controlled crying myself as i think Ollie is too young. If hes hungry then he needs feeding. He doesnt tend to cry for no reason.

Oh and please dont worry about your baby putting weight on. As the others have said they will throw up anything they dont need.

Claire x

 

[debecca]

Connie only started sleeping through at 4 months.

I'm a little confused by your post to be honest, surely 1 month old is waaaay too early to try controlled crying? At that age they're crying for a reason!

At 3.5 months Connie did bottles at 8pm, 1am and 5am and it was a pain in the ar5e, but it does get better. She does 13 hours sleep now

 

[LisaJ1986]

I agree with Nori. People seem to think it's their business when it comes to your childs sleeping habits. And if it's not brilliant they have to boast about how well their child did/does!
I have this now. I had an awful sleeper. At 6 months i was getting up every half an hour though the night. I was a wreck as you can imagine. Yet people thought it was brilliant telling me how their baby slept through at 1 month or something. I went to my HV is tears as i was at the end of my tether. And people kept telling me i shouldn't be breastfeeding now and if she was on bottles she'd be sleeping through etc. I had all my parenting skills questioned constantly and i was getting the impression i was a terrible mother, just coz she doesn't sleep through!

I was reassured by my HV that all babies are different. No matter what she's eating if she wants to wake she will. We tried a few things, including controlled crying, sometimes things worked sometimes they didn't.

Ignore people! It's none of their business! Give her time. She'll sleep through eventually.

 

[ninjawomble]

I agree! At 7 weeks we were waking 1-2 hourly!

We are only now at twice waking up for feeds..I can sooo cope with this!

I make sure shes in bed after a feed by 7pm....drops off around 7.30..then wakes around 11/12 for a feed, then again 5/6am.
Eventually shouts at me to get her outta bed around 7/7.30! This has been happening for a week, hope it sticks!

Just having bigger blocks of sleep is better! Granted I have to get into bed when she does to ensure a good sleep for me, but Im missing nowt on telly, and Im coping better in the day!

Dont worry, dont listen to those who having "through the nighters" its bloody rare trust me!