Night routine interrupted - wet nappy or hunger?

[Crosby]

So, my DD is 3.5 months old and for the last few weeks she has been sleeping from 8 pm till 6am.

However in the last 3 days she started to wake uo earlier and ealier. 5am then 4 am and this morning 3am. She whimpers and not go back to sleep. This morning after battling for a hour (dummy in spit out, bed rocked, belly gently stroked) she still wouldnt settle so i had to get up. Changed her nappy and fed her and then she fell asleep (only for an hour and was up again to play as this is her routine but she was 2-3 hours early)

I am asking for opinions, did you all have a smooth transition to sleeping thru the night?
Is it a nappy problem - i dont change her in the night so in the morning the nappy is full, wether this bothers her or does she want to be fed?
This morning i changed the nappy hoping it would do the trick (it was in yhe dark and i was a quiet as poss trying to still make her think its the night time sleep time). But then after nappy change she started rooting for milk and eventually threw a tantrum until i fed her.

Is this all normal? Shall i start feeding her at early morning hours or do i somehow make her go to sleep again till 6am (how?)

So glad we have internet nowadays 😂😂 thanks all

 

[Willow01]

Sounds like it could be the 4 month sleep regression starting
https://www.babysleepsite.com/sleep-training/4-month-sleep-regression-2
It it pretty normal I am afraid but I found that giving a dream feed helped my baby sleep a bit longer and we now have a 8-6am sleep. I don't change her nappy during the night I find it wakes her up.

 

[Crosby]

Thank you willow. When do u offer dream feed?

Has anything changed for you during the day? (More or less sleep and more or less eating)

 

[Taurus8484]

4 month sleep regression or waking that early could also be a sign of coldness.

Dream feeds are normally done around 3 hours after going to bed.

 

[Willow01]

The only thing that had changed was I stopped swaddling so I originally assumed it was that. Nothing had changed in her eating habits so I think it was just down to the regression unfortunately. I give a dream feed just before I go to bed so around 10.30. Good luck I know how frustrating it can bex

 

[Crosby]

Cold? Never thought of that. She wears a short sleeve vest underneath a baby grow (long sleeve long legs) and i put 2 thin blankets on her, one folded in half. Do you think i need more layers?

The temp in our bedroom is around 20 degrees C. She sleeps in the chicco next to me and we never have any windows open at night. If anything maybe she isnt getting enough fresh air at night where with 3 people it can get stuffy.

One other thing i thought was maybe we are waking her up by snoring or moving/shuffling and then its hard for her to go back to sleep.

 

[jessmke]

My LO never slept through, but up until about 3.5 months she would wake twice to nurse quickly and then right back to sleep. Since 3.5 months she is up every 2-3 hours (sometimes every hour) all night long. Nothing has changed in her day routine, it's just that around 4 months their sleep patterns change so they cycle through light and deep sleep, and sometimes when they wake between sleep cycles they have a hard time going back to sleep. There's not much you can do about it aside from encouraging good sleep habits so your LO learns to fall back asleep by herself. We are still battling through, I am afraid in creating worse sleep habits because I keep bringing her into bed with me after about 4 am because I am so tired I can't keep getting up out of bed. Good luck and hopefully it doesn't last too long for you!

 

[Crosby]

With the dream feed, do i need to wind her? If i do she will wake up and if i dont she will get gassy tummy and will wake up coz of this anyway.

What do yous do?

 

[jessmke]

Most people don't wind after a dream feed, babies drink more slowly and are very relaxed so they usually are fine without being winded.

 

[SarahBear]

Wet diapers and hungry bellies are both uncomfortable and if not addressed immediately, can lead to more trouble falling back to sleep. A hungry baby will latch on and nurse without fully waking up and then sleep for however long they need to. If not given the opportunity to nurse, they'll wake up and have trouble sleeping. In terms of the diaper, some babies sleep through it without issue while others need a dry diaper to be comfortable. When I change Leo's diaper, he usually also wants to nurse back to sleep, so that's what I do. He doesn't pee a lot at night, so when he wakes up, I check the diaper, but more often than not can just nurse him back to sleep.

 

[SarahBear]

With the dream feed, do i need to wind her? If i do she will wake up and if i dont she will get gassy tummy and will wake up coz of this anyway.

What do yous do?

You just muddle through until it's no longer an issue. I used to have this issue with Leo. I'd go through a series of nurse, burp (unsettled as a result), nurse, burp (unsettled as a result), until he settled. Made the mistake of not doing this a few times and had a bunch of spit-up in the bed. Eventually they get better about it and can just be nursed.

 

[minties]

I would nurse baby for sure. Mine were both nursing 2-3 times a night at 3.5 months old .

 

[MindUtopia]

At that age, yes, I would always assume she's hungry and offer a feed at every wake up. There will come a time when they will easily settle back to sleep without a feed, but the fact that she isn't and then woke up shortly thereafter for the day would definitely be a sure sign she's hungry and trying to stretch her out and not feed her is probably causing disrupted sleep. If you can soothe her back to sleep quickly and easily without a feed and she sleeps well after, then that's when you might assume she wasn't hungry. My daughter was waking two to three times a night for a feed until she was 9 months and then she dropped her night feeds altogether (still woke but wasn't hungry and wouldn't eat). That's very normal for all babies up to a year, so I'd make it easier on yourself and also make sure her needs are always met by offering her a feed when she wakes. If she doesn't want it, she won't take it and will fall back asleep anyway. But no sense losing sleep trying everything but in the hopes she'll go back to STTN (It's very normal for babies to STTN a bit from around 2-4 months and then to start waking again, so you're very likely in this for the long haul and you'll feel a lot better if you're getting back to sleep quickly yourself).