My daughter was sleeping 12 hours and for the past week she has been getting up between 2:30-3:30am. We give her a cereal bottle before we put her to bed around 7:30pm. I dont understand why she is waking up. Obviously she is hungry. Should I start giving her baby food now? Any suggestions?!
2007-11-13 01:59:14 · 6 answers · asked by Linweb 2 in Pregnancy & Parenting ➔ Newborn & Baby
If she's waking up hungry she may be going through a growth spurt. In that case you either need to try and get her to eat more or get used to getting up again at night for a few days. Does she eat a full bottle when she wakes?
If she isn't eating a full bottle then it's not hunger waking her up. You may just have to ignore her so that she falls back asleep. By all means go in and check on her for dirty diaper, feet caught between crib bars or anything else that might be disturbing her and then put her back down and let her fuss. If you don't need to pick her up then don't. Just reassure her you are there and go back to bed.
At 4 months some dr's will ok starting baby food. What's more important is what you feel ok with. If she's waking up hungry and she's eaten well all day, then she needs more calories so introducing baby food might be exactly what she needs. However like others have said, she may be teething, she may roll over and wake herself, or possibly there is a strange noise happening at night that is waking her. Such as a neighbour working a new shift so the car is pulling in or out at that time, or a train going by if you live close to tracks. You might need to spend a night in baby's room to figure it out, or just let her get used to it.
2007-11-13 04:13:59 · answer #1 · answered by babybugs1980 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Like another poster said, hunger is not the sole reason babies wake up at night. It could be teething or she could even be over sensitve to a wet diaper. The same thing happened to my daughter at that age but it had nothing to do with hunger. She started teething. We also noticed she was very sensitive as far as her diaper getting too full. We switched brands and that seemed to help as well. I've also read that giving cereal before bedtime in a young baby can sometimes cause them wake up because of abdominal discomfort. You may also try not giving her the cereal too close to bedtime just to see if that helps. Good luck to you and hang in there. It does get better eventually.
2007-11-13 02:37:35 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
mine did eXACTLY the same. I don't think it was out of hunger as once I got her up she stopped crying and played!! My baby has been on solids since around 4 months, but only a little. Does she cry once u actually get her up? First make sure it actually is hunger that is the problem, and not just habit. To break this habit I didn't take her out of the cot but reasurred her. Eventually she went back to sleep. She has now gone back to 7pm-7am. She still wakes in the night but I pop in and give her her dummy back, and she usually goes back off
amosunknown is right, it probably isn't hunger, but hbit or a need to practisesomething new that has been learnt. It will pass
2007-11-13 02:05:38 · answer #3 · answered by Serry's mum 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
as far as baby food goes, it depends on your philosophy on this- if she's waking up hungry she needs more formula/milk during the day. You don't want to add another feeding, you want to add more to each bottle. If she has "maxed out" on formula, that is, more than the recommended 32 oz daily, I would consider introducing some solids, if you think it's age appropriate (some disagre- I don't)It could also be a growth spurt.
2007-11-13 02:06:26 · answer #4 · answered by Sweet Tooth 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Babies dont wake up hungry, its not the only reason they wake up. And honestly, if you're feeding her before bed she probably doesnt need to eat in the middle of the night.
They wake up because they're more mobile, they roll themselves over and wake up, or they wake up naturally and get angry because you're not right there with them, or they cannot explore like they want to. Theyre older and more aware and its natural for them to wake up crying.
You can start her on solids, theres no reason not to, my son was eating baby food by 3 months. But just consider letting her go back to sleep at night instead of getting her into the routine of a midnight snack.
2007-11-13 02:03:06 · answer #5 · answered by amosunknown 7 · 3⤊ 1⤋
I agree with the first answer completely, i just want to add she might be teething also. My son did the same thing when he started teething at 4 months.
2007-11-13 02:06:06 · answer #6 · answered by jadeandcas 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋