Tips for sleeping through!

[lea554]

Hello, I know this has probably been done a million times over, but I keep reading in this section of the forum about other babies sleeping through the night from 2 weeks, 4 weeks, etc.

My LO is only 3 weeks, but 3 weeks is a long time when you are feeding through the night, every 2-3 hrs!
Im trying to extend the time between her feeds to at least 3 hrs, but she drinks a lot (a LOT more than recommended on the sma tins and by the hv!), and I know she is hungry as she chews her fingers, and tries to suck on anything, before crying the place down!

Has anyone got any tips/guidance on how I can start getting her into a routine that will eventually mean she sleeps through?
Im not expecting miracles straight away, but would love to hear what everyone else has done....
x

 

[Amy_J]

my lo is 7months and has only slept through about 3 or 4 times since he was born. we have a strict bedtime routine, bath bottle and in his cot by half 7. sometimes he is already asleep by the time we put him in his cot, other times he is awake but goes to sleep by himself.

if he wakes in the night i put his dummy in and he will settle for a little while but if he continues to stir and cry then i know he is deffo hungry, but more often than not if he is crying he is definately hungry and i will feed him. i dont mind the fact that he isnt sleeping through and i deffo dont think he is waking out of habit as he is starving bless him. ive accepted that he will wake for a feed i know that he will sleep through when he is ready. upuntil a while ago he was feeding every 4 hours at night but now he goes alot longer, lastnight he slept from 7.30pm and woke at 3.30am which is a good 8hours, and we got up at half 7 and he had another 7oz bottle. before that he had a feed at midnight and then say 3am and 6am!!! it was exhausting but that phase lasted only a few weeks.

im sure your lo will sleep through when she is good and ready!! i used to get annoyed when i saw that other ppls babies were sleeping through lol but now i dont mind, each baby is different and has different feeding needs id say just establish a good bath bottle bed routine and take it from there!! good luck. im sure the other ladies will have better advice . xxx

 

[Lacey's Mummy]

Have you tried hungry baby? Charley's only slept through a handful of times. He started going longer at night about 8 weeks but that was only 5-6 hours then started going 10-12 hours at 5 months.
I've done a strict routine since day 1 of top and tailing him same time every night, into vest and sleepsuit, fed in a dim room in cot awake.
I know it doesn't seem it now but night feeds do get better x.

 

[Amy_J]

ps forgot to mention, marley is on cow and gate hungry baby formula!! it did help a little bit, i notice the effect more now though than i have done in previous months! but i think weaning is helping!!

 

[don-don]

Hey,
Im not gonna be much help, but my lo still wakes every 3-4 hours for a feed during the night (he wakes cos hes hungry, so we feed him in his bedroom keeping lights low, no talking or eye contact, when hes finished he goes straight back into his cot, he settles himself and goes back to sleep). He has recently gone 6 hours that's the longest!! But we always follow the same routine every night, from about half six we get him ready for bed, we close the curtains, give him his bottle, keeping voices low, then put him in his cot at around seven, he settles himself and goes to sleep. I'm hoping if we stick to this every nite he may eventually sleep longer xxxx

 

[lea554]

Thanks girls - may speak to the hv about hungry baby milk, as a few people have recommended it. Saying that, even though she woke at the same times last night, she hardly drank and went straight back to sleep - im hoping her need for sleep is overtaking her need for food!
x

 

[frankie707]

She'll probably just do it in her own time. G is breastfed and at first I tried doing 3hrs between feeds cos that's what the mw said was normal. As soon as I stopped and just full on demand fed G started going for longer at night, he wanted to cluster feed in the evenings to fill up I guess. I would say that he started only waking once for a feed at about 9 weeks old and even now only sleeps through about 70% of the time.

 

[Baby Bean]

I bf ella and used to let her feed almost non-stop in the evenings and then when I introduced a dummy she started sleeping through from 5ish weeks. As others have said, a good bedtime routine helps and also regular naps in the day x