Breastfeeding and sleep

We have similar waking times to you at around 3 months old now. My baby goes to sleep a bit later though around 8. Sometimes it is a bit later around 9 which means he wakes up around midnight or 1 am. I noticed that if he has a good feed then then he could possibly sleep through to 5/6 am which has happened a couple of times. But a lot depends on daytime naps as well so i am playing it by whatever works really.

I’m the same! I tried giving formula for a week and it made it worse, sleeps better with just breast! Only did one bottle of formula before bed.

Mine usually goes down around 8pm, feed at 2am and then another feed around 6am. But some days she will also have an extra feed at 4am, I don’t like those nights 🤣

So we actually proactively wake our girl up at 10 with the hope that she feeds and then sleeps from then till 7am. The one time we tested not waking her we ended up with a 1am feed and then a 5am feed. But reading your comments it sounds like this is pretty normal for a breastfed baby?

I think so! Personally what i am battling with is to get him back to sleep after that so after 5/6 which does not always go as quick as i'd like it but if it does we get another 2 hours of sleep which is nice.

Not breastfeeding but only formula. She sometimes goes down at night 8/9 and still wakes up at 4am to feed and the sleeps till 7am. Just thought I'd comment that it may not solve the issue! We have gotten an odd occasional night's that she's slept through completely but it has happened like twice only x

Based on my first baby thats amazing sleep youve got there! He was held thru thr night a lot and woke every 1-4 hours for a feed until 8 months old. From what i see and read, sleeping thru the night is pretty rare unless u sleep train after 6 months. The natural development of sleep varies a lot from child to child based on temperament and on their age and goes back and forth. U might find your baby naturally wakes n feeds more before midnight when thry having a growth spurt as thats how they increase breast milk supply… are you struggling to sleep enough? Or do you just have a belief that they shud sleep thru the night at 4 months? I have a 3 yo that doesn’t sleep thru the night still and thats normal for him

We’re EBF and still waking every 3 hours for feeds throughout the night! If we’re lucky she’ll stretch to 4 hours, but sometimes she’ll only be up every 2 hours. I honestly think it’s luck and down to the baby, I don’t think it really matters with if their formula or breast fed 😅

https://www.instagram.com/lyndsey_hookway?igsh=c3owY2k4bmN4OGNo Helped me get thru the sleepless nights of my first x

@Rebeka we used to really struggle with putting her down after the morning feed too and apparently that’s to do with sleep pressure. We cut her daytime naps by like 10 mins and it helped! Though may be a coincidence 😅

Are you waking for the 10pm feed? Could you push this to 10:30-11pm? This might get the next feed to be 5/6 then you could gradually reduce the amount of time on the breast. My boy was waking at similar times but gradually just got later with the early morning feed and now usually goes until 6:30/7ish but we do use a big bottle of expressed milk for the 11pm feed

@Duvaraka I think it’s a combination of both that I’m struggling with. I used to really love my sleep and really struggle with less sleep these days and on top of that, all I seem to see is all the babies having much longer stretches/sleeping though. But I guess it’s just what my eyes are attracted to 😅

The fact is that babies are meant to wake up a few times a night, as they don't sleep like adults do, though it would be nice 😁. They have small stomachs, and frequent awakening protects them from SIDS. Feeding several times a night is absolutely normal, my lo used to sleep 4-5 hrs without feeding, then we hit the 4 month regression and he was awake every hour, and the only way he would go back asleep was if he was being fed (he's also EBF). He's now waking up every 2-3 hours, so I'm hoping this regression will soon be in the past.

@Liza oh maybe! Just type in sleep and you will find all the exhausted mums out there 😅 dare i say it, but are you able to hand ghe baby over to someone during the day so they contact nap for 3 hours while u get some extra sleep?? Thats what i do 4 times a week!! Sorry its the old ‘sleep when baby sleeps’ idea

Jealous of the sleep you are getting over here....to reasssure you that not everyone is sleeping through, we wake every 2 hours then every hour later in the night, and need to be held to sleep at all after around 4am 👍

@Jenny oh I’m sorry, that sounds tough! Is this the sleep regression or just the general state..?

Why are you expecting a baby to sleep through? (Adults don't!) Try to rejoice in just having a 4am wake up! My baby sleeps at 10ish (he is awake in the evening until then) and has 2 wake ups - recently I've been able to shush him sometimes at 1am ish but always feed 330/4am. I'm so happy as my first son woke every 40 mins at this age, and never slept more than 3 hours!

Mine goes to sleep between 7-8. Often wakes at 1/2 but will sometimes wake up around 10/11. Very rarely will then sleep until 6.. but usually wakes around 4/5. She's only just turning 4 months this week so not sure if it's due to get worse soon or not! Every baby is different and some babies just won't sleep so long, unfortunately! My baby is such a terrible day napper and never sleeps more than 35 mins or so for naps.

Obviously not what you’ve asked but we’re formula fed and still have a consistent 3am wake up, so formula isn’t necessarily a secret ingredient to a full night! Also take when people say “sleeping through” lightly as often they’ll then say “…with feeds at Xam and Xam” or that they’re still up resettling throughout the night x

My babe was sleeping through the night. Now it's more bed at 9, 2am feed (this is new), 4am, 6am and up at 8. She will be turning 19 weeks tomorrow. There is such thing as a regression at 4 months but not all babies have it. Just a case of riding the nights out no matter how difficult it is x

My little one goes to sleep around 8 then is up every 1.5-2 hours, and then from around 3/4am she will only sleep on me and likes to use me as a human dummy until about 7 when she gets up😅

@Kayleigh snap!

@Jenny at least we aren’t alone lol, I’d happily take a 2-3 hours chunk of sleep never mind a full night😂

So based on this we are just all not sleeping..? 😂