Night Feeds - 8 week old

[karmah1]

Hi All,

I'm letting my 8 week old establish his own eating routine which seem to be every 3-4 hours. In the evening he is usually fed around 6-7pm and after a bath he will sleep before waking at around 10-11pm, 2am and 5am for feeds. I both breast and bottle feed him formula due to a lack of supply. For the last week he has been sleeping through his 10pm feed and waking just before 2am. But ideally I would rather him feed around 10pm and skip the 2am feed sleeping through to around 5-6am.

So I can get some more sleep I was thinking of waking him for a 10-11pm feed in hope that he won't wake at 2am. But what if he isn't hungry at this time? Wouldn't he wake if he was? Has anyone else been in this situation?

Also after the 5am feed I will put him back to sleep only to have him wake up an hour later very restless and fighting to escape his swaddle. I've tried feeding and putting him back in his hammock (rocking and patting) but he won't settle. As a last resort he ends up in my bed having a breast feed and sleeping contently to at least 8am (unswaddled). I'm worried I'm going to create a bad habit of him being in my bed (my husband is still in the spare room!). Any tips on how I can break this? Is this normal behavour for babies being so restless in the early morning hours?

Thanks for your help!
julie

 

[carang]

every baby is different and as such a "normal" baby is not "normal".

the best thing i can suggest is let the baby wake when he is ready for a feed. if that means you go to bed early, so be it. with both of my kids i found that if i woke them from a contented sleep, i was asking for trouble.

the only exception to this is if you can manage a "dream" feed... that is where you don't actually wake up the baby, rather to try to get him to feed while he sleeps. it might be possible then for the baby to sleep through it but still get fed.

i never banished hubby to another room as i found it rather comforting having him there to lend a hand. maybe you could try the same thing.

you can find something in toys r us that is like a sleep capsule. it is meant to go in between the parents on the bed. it has a hard support around where the head is so that even if your little one gets covered with a blanket, he won't suffocate.

we LOVED ours and had our 2nd one in it for almost 3-4 months before we moved her to the crib. it was WONDERFUL!

 

[Eddy]

As a trained maternity nurse dealing with that kind of inquiry very often, I would suggest to wake your baby for a full feed around 11pm and then see how long he lasts.
It won't go what I call "through the night" ( 11pm/7am) until he reaches 5kgs.
I wouldn't let him sleep in the morning until 8 am. I would wake him up by 6.45/7am to feed him.
There is no miracle recipe but if you need some help, you can contact me and I can come to your house, talk about it and try to feed a good routine that suits the whole family.
Also, there is no reason to have your husband in the spare room. Your baby should be in his room! Bad sleeping habits starts young and there is nothing bad about having a baby sleeping in his own bed by day 1.

Edith

 

[LeahH]

I used to wake bub for a feed at 10-11pm which meant she she skipped her 2am around 9 weeks and would go through til 5am. In the early days it would be an 'awake' feed (she would need to be awake in order to take in enough EBM), however as she got to 12-14 weeks it became a sleepy, then after that a dream feed.

At 6 weeks we had bub in her own room (but our rooms were adjacent and the doors would be left open) - that way I could hear her wake, but not hear all the tiny noises that were just her stirring and my husband slept without waking.

Every baby is different and this might not work for your bub, but perhaps have a little trial of the 10pm feed to see if he skips the 2am?

 

[alibali]

Agree with Eddy. Try a dream feed at 10-11pm and see how long that lasts- give it a week or so before deciding if it works or not. Keep the room dark, don't change your son's diaper, don't talk to him, etc. Just prop baby up slightly and put bottle in mouth or breastfeed as usual- I didn't even burp my daughter when we did this. And do try to get your sleeping situation back to normal as soon as possible- it will help you all settle into a routine. Baby really should be in his own crib in his own room by 2 months old and you & your husband should be in your room together. My husband and I also split up for the first month of our daughter's life and things didn't seem "normal" until we were back in our own bed together. We also slept better b/c we weren't woken by every little baby noise- I never knew how restless babies could be! Good luck!

 

[karmah1]

Thanks all for your comments. I will try wake him tonight at 11pm for a feed as he didn't go down to sleep till 9pm tonight.

I would love him in his own room but for now my husband who works in Investment Banking has 12 hour + days and needs a full nights sleep. So bub is in the main bedroom sleeping in an Amby Baby Hammock and he is happy to stay in it till around 5am. We also have his change table and a chest of drawers with all his clothes in our room so its easy for me during the night to get up and feed and change him. Also we are leaving HK at the end of March and returning to Sydney so we hope to get back to "normal" then.

Fingers crossed the 11pm feed works and he skips the 2am feed!
Thanks for your advice!
Julie