Have a 4 month old daughter who wakes up every 2 hours after midnight!?

Question

We have a bedtime routine and she usually goes to sleep around 730pm and wakes up around 12, but after that (when we're finally in bed) she wakes up every 2 hours until 7am! Any suggestions? I am breastfeeding- so we think she may just want to nurse for comfort to help her get back to sleep, so my husband has been walking her around to put her back down- but how can we prevent her from waking up throughout the night so my husband can get some sleep too?! She eats every 2 1/2-3 hours during the day and I feed her at the 12am mark when she first wakes up.. so I don't think she can really be hungry every 2 hours at night.. ??

Answer 1

She absolutely CAN be hungry 2 hours later. Breastmilk digests in about 90 minutes. And just because she can go back to sleep without feeding doesn't mean that she isn't hungry. Also the need for comfort and human contact are NEEDS for small children, not desires.

"Your baby will begin to comfort herself and to sleep for longer stretches at her own developmental pace. If your baby wants to nurse at night, it is because she DOES need this, whether it's because she is hungry or because she wants to be close to mom. Sleeping through the night is a developmental milestone (like walking or toilet training) that your baby will reach when she is ready to. Trying to force or coax baby to reach this before her time may result in other problems later on.

If you can try to take a more relaxed approach and trust that it will come in time, you'll see your baby eventually become a good sleeper. You'll be able to rest peacefully in your heart and mind knowing that she reached this in her own time when she felt secure enough to do so, not because he had no other choice but to quiet herself because no one would come.

Probably one of the main reasons that night-waking babies are such a big issue is that parents don't have realistic expectations of the sleep patterns of babies. We are bombarded with magazine articles and books that perpetuate the myth that babies should not have nighttime needs. Babies were designed to wake up often at night to feed and cuddle, and keep in mind that many adults wake during the night, too. If our expectations for babies were not so different from our babies' expectations for themselves, much of this "problem" might disappear. "
http://www.kellymom.com/parenting/sleep/sleep.html

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However, even in the 12-month-old group, 50% of infants typically required parental intervention to get back to sleep after waking. Results emphasize the individual and contextual factors that effect the development of self-soothing behavior during the first year of life.

Goodlin-Jones BL, et al. Night waking, sleep-wake organization, and self-soothing in the first year of life.
J Dev Behav Pediatr 2001 Aug;22(4):226-33


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"In this study, part of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood (ALSPAC), researchers surveyed the parents of 640 babies. Some of the results:

Only 16% slept through the night at six months old -- 84% were not sleeping through the night at 6 months
17% woke more than once per night, ranging from twice to eight times
5% woke once every night
9% woke most nights
50% woke occasionally
16% of six-month-olds had no regular sleeping pattern "
Sadler S. Sleep: what is normal at six months?
Prof Care Mother Child 1994 Aug-Sep;4(6):166-7.

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Armstrong KL, Quinn RA & Dadds MR. The sleep patterns of normal children.
Medical Journal of Australia 1994 Aug 1;161(3):202-6.

The above study is the definitive work on sleeping habits of (Australian) children to 38 months. The researchers surveyed 3269 parents, with a 96.5% response rate, over a one week period. The parents had to report on their child's sleeping habits over the past 24 hours, plus answer a few questions related to their perceptions of their child's sleep behavior.

What did they find?

There is a wide range of normal childhood sleep behavior.
Circadian rhythm is not well established until four months of age.
Daytime sleep becomes less regular with increasing age, the most marked reduction in length occurs around 3 months of age. However, a surprising 11% under 3 months of age don't have a daytime sleep every day.
Frequent night waking that disturbs parents is common from 4-12 months (12.7% disturb their parents 3 or more times every night).
Night time settling requires more parental input from 18 months.
Nearly a third of parents have a significant problem with their child's sleep behavior.
Sleeping through the night: 71.4% did this on at least one occasion by 3 months of age, but many of these relapse into more frequent waking in the 4 to 12 month period. It is not until after 24 months that regular night waking (requiring attention) becomes much less common.
Although this study did not address breastfeeding, it is relevant because a lack of understanding of "normal" sleep patterns can lead to supplementing, early solids, belief there is not enough milk, etc. The authors claim it also leads to misdiagnosis of gastro-esophageal reflux (GER) and overuse of sedative medication. A worrying 31% of 25-38 month-old children were disciplined (mostly smacking) to get them to settle. 27% of parents let their children cry, 11% at less than one month.

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Baby's age % babies waking at night
3 months 46%
6 months 39%
9 months 58%
12 months 55%

Scher A. A longitudinal study of night waking in the first year.
Child Care Health Dev 1991 Sep-Oct;17(5):295-302.

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More:
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/7/T071000.asp
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/7/T070200.asp

Answer 2

She's just hungry. Give her a breast milk bottle if you don't want to wake up or let her sleep with you. My daughter did this too. Her tiny tummy was just hungry. Don't intentionally starve your daughter. She's 4 months old, her tummy is as big as her fist. There's a reason she's waking up. She'll eventually grow out of it. But if you didn't want to be woken up at all hours of the night, maybe you should have reconsidered parenthood. For the next 18 years you'll never get a full good night's sleep again.

Answer 3

Perhaps she is growing through a growth sprut.

Common times for growth spurts are during the first few days at home and around 7-10 days, 2-3 weeks, 4-6 weeks, 3 months, 4 months, 6 months and 9 months (more or less). Babies don't read calendars, however, so your baby may do things differently.

Growth spruts last up to a week. Is this something she just started doing?

Answer 4

At 4 months old, babies go through a massive growth spurt. It is emotional, physical and mental. This causes something called the four month sleep regression. Basically their brains are so busy they can't sleep properly. It happens again at nine months, when babies learn new skills. Most babies get over it in a few weeks. Just keep her well fed and try to get as much rest as you can. Her sleep might be different on the other side or she might go back to how she was. Good luck!

Answer 5

Mystic's advice is good. Like she said, breastmilk digests in about 90 minutes so nursing every 2 hours is very normal and she really might need to nurse that frequently, especially if she is sleeping from 7:30 to 12:00 beforehand. She just went a long period without nursing, so then she "tanks up" by nursing frequently for a few hours.

What Mystic said about adjusting expectations is good. This really is normal. Keep in mind that she is working hard to double her birthweight by 6 months of age. Imagine how frequently you would need to eat to do that! You'd be waking up at night to eat too! I tell parents not to expect their babies to sleep through the night prior to 6 months of age AND that it is totally normal for them to continue night waking for the entire first year.

You might try doing breast compressions when nursing. This could help her get more hindmilk and might help to space her feedings out a bit more.

You could also try waking her to nurse right before you go to bed. This might help you get a longer stretch of sleep before he wakes up again.

Bring her into bed with you when she starts waking up at night. Then you can just roll over and nurse her. You can drift off to sleep together and everyone will get more reset. Just be sure to follow safe cosleeping guidelines.

Answer 6

That's too early! I know you're not also going to bed at 7:30PM. You should try to keep her active until YOU go to bed at 9 or 10. Try this: give her a nice relaxing warm bath, feed her as much as she'll take, and then prop her on her side and let her sleep to some sort of constant noise, like a box fan on high (you don't have to have the fan pointed at anything particular). It's the constant noise that will keep her from getting distracted from her sleep.

Answer 7

Gosh, that might not be early to you, but 7:30 would be way too early for me to put my daughter to sleep if I wanted a night's rest. I would suggest keeping her up one night til about 9:30 that way she is extremely tired (she will be fussy but it may work) and she may just sleep throught the whole night. You may even have to do it for a few days. Sounds like she is on a schedule. I would also limit her nap hours during the day.

Answer 8

I have a lot of experience with children and this definitely sounds like your baby is hungry. Often times breast milk is not enough as they get older. I would recommend switching to formula, or mixing in some cereal for the evening feed to see if that helps. If your baby is larger than average, you may want to even try a little bit of pablum in the evening as well.

Good luck!

Answer 9

1

Answer 10

u ppl complain too much!!
u dont have babies,,, ur like OMG, i soooo want one....
u do have babies,,, ur like OMG, he/she is driving me nuts by not sleeping more than 2/3 hours!!
give her bottle milk (formula) if u care more abt ut husbands sleep than ur daughters health!

and yes im speaking from experience! my boys use to get hungry for milk every 20 mins then 30 mins, 1 hr, 2 hr and until they were a year and a half they STILL woke up every 3 hrs at night even if they have eaten! if u want whats best for them (breast-milk) u have to sacrifice!

Answer 11

As my great grandmother used to say, "Crying and making a mess is what babies do". Get used to it, though it is just temporary. Maybe a later bedtime is in order, but get used to the lack of sleep.