She won't settle before 2.30am!

[Samemka]

Emma is 4 1/2 weeks old, and she weighed 5 14oz when she was born so she's only a little one. However - she has a HUGE appetite!

She's getting down 4oz bottles - now if she finishes them, she'll go about 3 hours in between feeds, but if she doesn't, she'll say have 1/2 the bottle and then 2 hours later she'll want another half. If she gets a big burp up half way through she'll take the next half but if not...she'll leave about 2oz.

But our main problem is at night, generally she'll have a bottle around 8.30-9 and then another 11.30 - 12. But it then takes OH until 2.30am to get her to sleep - and he says she's always having 1 1/2 bottles (so about 6oz). She's also wide awake despite us dimming the lights, not talking to her etc - she'll fall asleep in our arms and then as soon as we put her in her moses basket, she cries. But she'll then have some more milk so I think she's crying for milk.

I'm not sure what to do about this - it's every night and poor OH isn't getting to sleep until 2.30 - then I'm up at 3.30-4 and 7-8 doing the next feeds.

Do you think switching to hungry baby milk would help or is she too young? Any other advice? We think changing her nappy at midnight is waking her up more as she can be fast asleep til we do that...but if we change her at 9pm, it seems too long to let her go all night (obviously if it's dirty we'd change it but if it's wet, how long do you girls leave it?). Was considering trying a dream bottle say 15 mins before she's due to wake up to see if this helps - she'll be zonked from 9 - 12 but when it hits 12, she's just wide awake until at least 2.30am!

Any help much appreciated

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

I don't think that's a huge apetite...I wouldn't switch to hungry milk. I would put extra in each bottle, as if she finishes a bottle, how do you know she's full?

I think try and get her to have her last bottle at about 7.30ish and a dream feed between 10 and 11pm.

Yes changing her nappy will def wake her up, if you use a nappy like Pampers Baby Dry you won't need to change her then unless dirty. We put Ruby in a baby dry at about 8pm and she sleeps through til 7am. We just put extra nappy cream on her too as a precaution. She's never had nappy rash or woken due to being wet. (we use normal pampers during the day)

 

[Samemka]

I don't think that's a huge apetite...I wouldn't switch to hungry milk. I would put extra in each bottle, as if she finishes a bottle, how do you know she's full?

I think try and get her to have her last bottle at about 7.30ish and a dream feed between 10 and 11pm.

Yes changing her nappy will def wake her up, if you use a nappy like Pampers Baby Dry you won't need to change her then unless dirty. We put Ruby in a baby dry at about 8pm and she sleeps through til 7am. We just put extra nappy cream on her too as a precaution. She's never had nappy rash or woken due to being wet. (we use normal pampers during the day)

Thanks for that - I'll try extra in each bottle and leave her nappy unless dirty - we use pampers so it's good to know I don't need to change them as often as I thought during the night!

 

[Fossey]

Yeah I wouldn't switch to hungry milk, thats like your last option IMO. I def think put a bit more milk in the bottle to see if she takes it, she won't if she is full and it won't harm throwing a bit away. Its just trial and error hun. And I wouldnt change nappy either unless a dirty one. Liss stays in hers all through the night now. They are fine for about 12 hours. Although I would suggest a fair amount of barrier cream though, just to protect the little bum.

 

[Samemka]

Thanks for the advice, will try doing what you suggested

 

[weebubbles]

Hi, I have exactly the same problem as you. My son was born 4 weeks ago weighing 5lbs 13ox and I have been told by the HV to make up 120ml bottles and if he takes it all then not to worry.
He gets a feed around 11pm and then we all go to bed but as soon as he goes back in his moses basket he screams, but as soon as we pick him up he goes to sleep! think he is a wee attention seeking baby!
We have tried numerous mobiles that play music to help but nothing works.

 

[nicky]

Hi, Evie was exactly the same at first. She was only 5lb 15oz at birth and had exactly the same sleeping patterns. It used to take DH until about 2am to get her to sleep and then she would be up for a feed at around 4.30am then again about 8am. Between about 6-8 weeks old she just gradually got better. By about 8 weeks, she slept from 10pm until 7am. We stopped changing her nappy during the night unless it was dirty and it seemed to be bothering her. I wouldnt wake a baby to change her. We also kept trying to put her down semi awake so she knew it was bed time and it wasnt a sudden shock and she was no longer in our arms. I read somewhere that babies have to learn to go to sleep by themselves and if they are continually rocked then this doesnt happen properly. Obviously she would cry at first but we just perservered. When it got to after 10pm, we turned everything off completely and just tried to get some sleep ourselves. At the start we did just turn the lights off and DH would watch tv but I think the tv was something for her to stay awake for if you know what I mean. As soon as it was off she slept better. She is now 6 1/2 months old and she sleeps right through every night from 8pm until around 8am. Obviously I dont know if you do any of these things but these are the things we found helped. They may not be for everyone but hopefully they show you there is light at the end of the tunnel and that she will sleep eventually.