Night wakings

Hi everyone! Just a quick question. How can you tell if your little one is waking at night to eat because they are hungry or if they are doing more of a comfort-eating thing?

One of our DD's wakes every 3 hours on the nose at night and I always feed her because I'm assuming she's hungry. A couple times my DH tried to go in and soothe her and she cried even harder until I ended up feeding her.

Our girls are exclusively BF'g and they eat every 2-3 hours during the day. We usually give them a big bottle of EBM in the late afternoon to pump up their caloric intake too since it's so hard to see how much they are drinking directly from the breast the rest of the time.

We want to ensure they're eating getting enough calories during the day and that's not causing their current sleep issues. From a weight perspective, they are doing very well and are in the upper percentiles.

 

I would say if you try soothing and it doesn't work, at that age they are probably truly hungry. I would definitely keep up the 2-3 hour feedings during the day as eventually that should help them fill up during the day.

 

I knew mine were only comfort feeding when they only ate 1-2 oz. I fed them for a few consistent nights (just to make sure) and then I gave them 10-15 min and they fell back to sleep. After that they didnt wake for it any more. That happened one feeding at a time until all night feedings were pretty much gone. My LO's at 4 months were formula fed too. Im not sure if that makes a difference. I stopped BF at 3 months.

GL!! Mine are now back to waking at 4-5am!!

 

For me I knew when they werent draining their bottles. Or they were waking and staying awake instead of eating and going back to sleep.

 

At that age if soothing isn't working then they probably are hungry.

 

Our girls are 11 weeks and getting close to STTN - they dropped their first night feeding on their own... they both just slept through it one night and have never looked back! Then, a week or so later, I noticed that they both weren't finishing their first AM bottle (they are formula fed) and so I thought maybe they were eating too much during the night. Ever since, I've been working with them to stretch out that time between bedtime and their one nighttime feeding. We are at 7:30-8PM last bottle and then 3:40-4AM next bottle now. If they stir in between, I give the their paci and pat their back for a couple minutes. If that doesn't calm them, I know they are hungry. But most of the time, they are just waking out of habit or due to gas or burps or something like that.

 

Generally like pps have said, if you can soothe back to sleep then you know it's not hunger. Plus, if feeding is very short (or getting shorter) then it's likely not hunger. However, at 4 months old and bfing, your little ones may still be waking to eat. My 4 month old still wakes at least one to two times at night to feed (the last few weeks it's generally been bedtime feed at 6:30p, dreamfeed at 10p, she wakes to feed about 2a, then up for the day at 5:30-6a).

 

QUOTE(DATJMom @ Mar 17 2009, 09:54 AM) [snapback]1232283[/snapback]
For me I knew when they werent draining their bottles. Or they were waking and staying awake instead of eating and going back to sleep.


Same here.

 

QUOTE(stacya @ Mar 17 2009, 10:17 AM) [snapback]1232321[/snapback]
Our girls are 11 weeks and getting close to STTN - they dropped their first night feeding on their own... they both just slept through it one night and have never looked back! Then, a week or so later, I noticed that they both weren't finishing their first AM bottle (they are formula fed) and so I thought maybe they were eating too much during the night. Ever since, I've been working with them to stretch out that time between bedtime and their one nighttime feeding. We are at 7:30-8PM last bottle and then 3:40-4AM next bottle now. If they stir in between, I give the their paci and pat their back for a couple minutes. If that doesn't calm them, I know they are hungry. But most of the time, they are just waking out of habit or due to gas or burps or something like that.


At 2-3 months old, we had the girls sleeping anywhere from 5-7 hours between feedings at night, and it wasn't until the 4 month mark when all these issues have started occurring.

 

QUOTE(Lisa&Lonnie @ Mar 17 2009, 11:51 AM) [snapback]1232461[/snapback]
At 2-3 months old, we had the girls sleeping anywhere from 5-7 hours between feedings at night, and it wasn't until the 4 month mark when all these issues have started occurring.

I think what you'll find is that there is a developmental stage from about 4-5 months, where many babies regress in their sleep. People around here call it 4 month sleep regression. I think they go through a lot of neurological developmental, where they start to move around more and become more aware. It causes them to wake, and then they can't get back to sleep. My guys also started waking each other at that point--it wasn't all the time, but it happened sometimes.

Of course, this also could be a growth spurt.

I hate to jinx you, but I bet it will stay like this for a month or two. However, I keep trying to comfort them first before feeding. If they settle back down, don't feed them.

Of course, this is coming from someone whose twins woke every 3-4 hours until they were 8 months old, and I did CIO with them.

 

I could tell when mine would not finish the bottle that they were eating just for comfort. It could be that they are going through a growth spurt as well.
Hang in there!