Sleep Training Advice

He could be waking due to hunger.

@Jenna Turner Do you think at 3 am I should keep breastfeeding him? I'm thinking about doing it tonight. Honestly, I have two older children, and I never did sleep training with them. They just stopped waking up at night at 6 months.

I would say so, my youngest son is 4 months and 1 week and every time he wakes in the night it’s because of hunger so I nurse him back to sleep and there’s no crying involved. I’d think maybe if he was waking more often I would say sleep regression and to sleep train, but if he’s going a 4.5 hour stretch then waking up crying it’s most likely hunger mama ❤️

Babies change so often, they go through hungrier phases from growth spurts but also it’s just completely normal to wake up 1-3 times a night up until a child is a year old. It won’t create a bad habit if you feed on demand in the night in my opinion, your just caring for your little babe! I would forsure feed at 3am he’s likely hungry, as long as your mental health is ok with doing so

I think it might be a little soon. From what I’ve read, it’s really best to start more towards 5 or 6 months. If I want my girl to sleep from 7pm-7am, she eats at 1am and 4am. She goes right back to sleep so I don’t mind. I truly think she’s hungry.

Babies wake up in the middle of the night to protect mothers supply and it still helps protect them against SIDS. 4 months is also when a sleep regression happens and they start having more adult like sleep cycles like we do.

It's probably to early to start sleep training but also is your choice, just keep in mind that if your baby is waking up in a 3-4 hours cue after the last feed that is hunger, and that also means your baby is not ready to sleep training, cause he/she still doesn't have the capacity to consume enough milk to support a whole night of sleep. This usually happens with bf babies cause they tend to eat less and more often.

4 month sleep regression. 🥺 At 7 months is when you don’t have to breastfeed at night for nutrition. My partners sleep consultant cousin recommends sleep training at 6 months.

So during this time they're going through the 4 month sleep regression it may not be wise to try and sleep train just yet as their needs will be different every day. It also sounds like they're waking hungry crying and giving up because you aren't giving them milk try feeding tonight

Thank you all for your opinions. Yesterday, we had a wonderful night of waking up and breastfeeding 🥰. I decided to follow my baby's cues. So, no sleep training until I see that he really needs it.