Sleep Problems - please help

For the 2nd time this week, DS has woken up at around 2-3AM.

He'll be 3 mos. this Sat and has been sleeping at least 8-10 hrs for the past 2 weeks and at least 6 hrs since he was 8 weeks old.

I tried giving him his pacifier but that didn't work and he screamed for 15 minutes.

He was fine when I gave him a bottle.

He's also been fighting me every bottle for the past week.

What can this be?

How can he go 10 hrs one night and then 4 hrs the next?

DH says he must be hungry if he finishes his bottle but the nights he woke up at 2 were not in a row.

I'm hesitant to give him a bottle bc I'm afraid of getting him back into the habit of needing one when he's been doing so great sleeping through the night.

Any ideas on why he's waking up now and why he's fussing at the bottle during the day?

Re: Sleep Problems - please help

Consider yourself lucky...I'm lucky if my 3 month old sleeps 6 hours at night.

Your DC may be going through a growth spurt and is hungry in the middle of the night. It could also just be a phase. I would try giving some more oz at feedings and see what happens.

Re: Sleep Problems - please help

Wow, at three months my dd was getting up a whole lot more. I would feed your little one, he might be hungry. If he is taking the bottle, I would definately give it. They go through stages. My dd slept 10 hrs some nights and was up 3 or more times on others.

Message edited 7/15/2008 6:48:30 AM.

Re: Sleep Problems - please help

Oh wow Holly. I could have written this post a few weeks ago. Athan did the same thing at about 3 months - he would sleep 8-10 hours straight no problem till that point and then all of a sudden he would get up -on the dot - at 3:00 am and want to be fed. I called the doctors office and told them this and they said to give him more for his last bottle feeding and mix in 2 tablespoons of cereal so he will sleep longer. It has been helping so far! I would call the dr and ask if you can incorporate a little bit of cereal in the last bottle.

Re: Sleep Problems - please help

OMG how weird! I literally could have written this post! DS is 3 1/2 months and for the past 6 wks. or so he has slept 8-10 hrs. a night. From about 9-12 (I wake him for a bottle) then right back don til about 5 or 6. Now all of a sudden for the past 3 nights he has woken up between 2 & 3 am screaming. He will go back down after a small bottle but like you said, I don't want him to get used to it. I use the miracle blanket which is how I got him to sleep in the first place & I haven't done anything different. He is going to start cereal after his month appt. I hope that helps. Sorry, wish I had advice, just wanted to let you know we are in the same boat!

Re: Sleep Problems - please help

I think around 4 months they have a growth spurt, but DS may be having one earlier. Sounds like thid to me.

DS did this for a week or two at 4 mos., and it drove me crazy--I was worried he wouldn't sleep normally again. But he did. I just kept giving him bottles.

This pops up from time to time--just when you get used to a routine it will change!

Don't worry--I'm sure sleep will return.

Re: Sleep Problems - please help

DS used to do this a couple times, even though he got into the habit of going to bed around 9-10 pm and waking up between 6-7 am. Whenever we noticed that he was starting to form this habit, we would give him extra milk before bedtime. One time he took 7 ounces and conked himself out for the night! Once he stopped the pattern, he went back to his usual 3-5 oz. before bedtime. (We've been thickening all his feeds with rice cereal for the past month due to his reflux issues.) The rice cereal definitely gets him fuller, but it's a nuisance to mix it with BM in a bottle. Once DS got used to using nipples designed for thicker feeds...all became well.

Re: Sleep Problems - please help

DS will still do this from time to time and he is almost 7 months. He started sleeping through the night by 7ish weeks. But occasionally he will wake up in the night screaming and nothing will calm him except a bottle.

It could be a growth spurt, he could have had a gas bubble that woke him etc. I usually try to calm him without a bottle but if he is going nuts I get a bottle and give it to him and put him back to sleep. It has not started a habit for us. It happens very irregularly.

ETA: I went back to work when DS was 12 weeks and he woke up every day for about 6 nights wanting a bottle. Then as quickly as it began it just stopped.

Message edited 7/15/2008 1:27:09 PM.