Baby Wakes up Same Time Every Night.

Hi A.,

One easy feeding a night seems like heaven! Likely she sleeps in a little later in the AM if she's full at 4. Her tummy is still not huge and so this sounds normal to me.

J.

I have found that it all depends on the baby when they decide to sleep through the night! My oldest daughter did not sleep through the night until she was almost one and my second daughter was about the same age but my last daughter slept through the night at 6 weeks.

I also heard that they should sleep through the night at a certain age or at a certain weight. My daughter did not sleep through the night until two weeks before her first birthday. Good luck!

Hey,

As a Lactation Consultant I deal with this question all the time - bottle or breast the answer is the same.

I'm going to avoid the rice cereal thing for the most part. Lots of differing opinions on that one - but my research says it isn't safe - so I advise not to do it.

Others seem to think that babies should sleep through the night, but the fact of the matter is they should sleep the way they do - which is different for all babies. I have 3 boys and they all slept quite differently from one another - this is normal.

Your daughter does not know (like you can rationalize for yourself when you wake up hungry) that she can wait until later to eat. And, honestly, maybe you should give your tummy a bit of a snack too! :) When she wakes at 4 am and tells you she is hungry and needs to eat you should feed her. You are meeting a NEED - not a want. This is something she needs and it may or may not be a lifetime thing for her (as it apparently is for you). She may later decided on her own she can wait, but she just isn't old enough to have that brain power just yet.

Sleeping through the night does mean a 5 hour stretch - not 8 and not 12. Folks who expect their babies to sleep 8-12 hours solid are expecting something that is not biologically normal generally speaking. There will be those kids who do that (withOUT sleep training) but most kids do not. Again - this is all normal. :)

My professional advice is to meet your daughters needs. This will continue to set her up for a wonderful healthy emotional life, trusting that her needs will be met and leaving her emotionally healthy and strong, secure in herself and your relationship with her. Sadly, this is something too many generations don't have.

Trust your gut - if this is no problem for you, don't make it one. Your baby is normal...100%.

Warmly,
J. Simpson, IBCLC, CIIM

I think all the experts are nuts to say that a 4 month old well sleep through the night. THe text book defintion of sleeping throught the night by the way is sleeping for 5-6 hours ina row. So it sounds like you are there. As far as waking up to eat if she is hungry feed her. She has a really little stomach and it emptys really fast. It should get better when she is eating more solid foods. Like 3 meals a day plus two snacks. My son is 13 months and still waking up for the early morning bottle. But just like your goes right back to sleep.

My daughter is almost 5 months and has been waking up every 2-3 hours to eat. It got worse when I went back to work so at 3.5 months I started giving her rice cereal in her bottle and it gave me an extra hour of sleep (and kept her full). 3 of my friends with babies all had luck sleeping through the night at 3-4 months. Another friend and I, not so lucky, our babies wake us up every 3 hours. Just go with it. She may stop on her own, or she may continue, go with it. You are so lucky she'll sleep until 4am. I wish mine would!

Hi A.,

Not all babies sleep through the night. I have 4 adult children. While 3 slept through the night form day one (I was fortunate). I had one that, like yours, woke up hungry at 2am every morning. So, I put one and a half tablespoons of rice cereal in an 8 oz bottle of warmed breast milk and fed it to him just before bedtime. While I fed him I warmed his sheets with a heating pad so they'd be nice an toasty when I put him down.......that did the trick!!!! That lil' booger finally slept through the night; it was a beautiful thing.

Good Luck!!!
CM

Hi A.:

When my daughter was 6 months, my doctor told me that she was capable of consuming all her calories during the day and should not need night feedings. At the time, my daughter was still waking at 2 and 5 and I fed her---but I think it was just habit. Perhaps for a few nights you try not feeding her, just rocking her or whatever to see what would happen---maybe you would break the habit. If you still find she is really hungry then one feeding a night isn't that bad and she will probably grow out of it. Good Luck.

When you and your baby were in the hospital did she go to the nursery at night so you could sleep? I had a c-section and they would take my son to the nursery. Everynight they fed him at 3am. And, at home, every night he would wake up at 3am to eat. I don't remember though when he first slept through the night on a regular basis.

What time does your daughter get her last bottle and what time does she go to bed? Sometimes putting them to bed earlier will actually make them sleep longer. I think by 7 months it is possible for her to sleep around 11-12 hours straight. My daughter was sleeping 11 hours by about 3 months old, so it is possible. She was going to bed by 7:30 and wake up around 6:30 and lay in bed with me for another hour.

If she is like my son was, she will outgrow it by about 9 1/2 months.

Hi A.!

One of my boys slept through the night at 3 months, and the other didn't sleep through the night until he was 1 year (maybe older).

All babies are so different. If your daughter goes to be super early (say 6ish) then I wouldn't worry too much, just make sure she has an earlier nap. It is probably only a phase, and she'll probably change it really soon.

Anyway, at 4 am just offer love and silence. She'll figure out that she's supposed to be sleeping :o)

Good Luck!

:o) N.

What time does she go to bed? I am not sure about formula fed babies but I know that my doc told me that sleeping thru the night is at 5 hours of sleep...any more is a bonus.

LOL...I usually don't respond to these, but I just have to say that every child is SO different and I had to stop reading books and whatnot becuase I kept thinking that my kid was pretty strange and different from what they say he should be doing.

He is almost 3 years old, still doesn't sleep through the night MOST of the time. Sometimes he starts in his bed and makes his way to ours...sometimes he won't go to sleep unless he's in with us...sometimes he makes it most of the night and sleeps the last hour with me after daddy has gone to work.

I wouldn't worry about it at all. Sounds pretty normal to me! For those who have kids who can sleep all night in their own beds by 4 months without having to do the "let them cry it out" method...great! For those who had to use that method, I couldn't personally do it, so great! I just listened to what my boy needed and tried to go along with that.

Ultimately it was Happy Child = Happy Mom and more sleep for me!

If it's not allowing you to sleep well because you have to wake up and then fall back asleep, maybe you can bring her in with you to your bed and let her nurse while in bed with you...that helped alot with me when I was nursing. Getting in and out of bed was really disrupting my sleep patterns and found that co-sleeping was the best option for us as a family.

It'll change and change again usally...so good luck!

Hi A.,
I also have a fast metabolism and my daughter (22 months) has inherited this from me. She woke at 4 am from about 6-7 months until 10 1/2 months. She was hungry and ate a full meal from both sides before falling back asleep. The feeding time gradually stretched out until she was waking at 5:30 and then I noticed she wasn't ravenous anymore, just waking out of habit.
If your daughter is hungry, feed her. Don't believe that BS about 4 month olds sleeping through the night. They are a severely small percentage. Not to mention, the medical definition of sleeping "through the night" is 6 straight hours of sleep.
Sounds like you're doing a terrific job. Keep it up!
A.

Hi A.,
I HIGHLY recommend you read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Marc Weissbluth. He breaks down sleep needs into age appropriate sections and explains biological sleep rhythms. He says that some babies will need to eat once or twice at night until about 9 months old and as long as they go right back to sleep it shouldn't be a problem. I have been using his book as a sleep guide since my daughter was born and at 3 yrs old, she is a great sleeper. Dr. Weissbluth's credentials are amazing and give me confidence in his info. Email me if you want more info on him.
Sincerely,
L.

i want your metabolism. :) just kidding, sounds like you're doing all the right things. same thing happened with our daughter. she eventually grew out of it once she started to eat mostly solids. good luck

We had the same issue. Our doc said at 6 mos she didn't need to eat in the middle of the night anymore, because she could get enough food during the day for her needs. She said we could comfort her without a bottle when she woke up, and in a week or so she wouldn't expect it anymore, or for a more gradual approach give her water in the bottle at night, and eventually she'd stop waking for it. We went for the water-in-the-bottle option, and it took a few weeks but she did stop waking for a bottle. She slept through the night sometimes, but would start waking up again when teething, having a growth spurt, etc. They go back and forth, and that's normal. She's 11.5 mos now and sleeping through the night pretty consistently!

If it does not bother you much i recomend that you continue feeding your child through the night. It is a proven fact that children are a lot healthier if you continue with your routine...it is tough but you can do it...

she may just be going thru a growth spurt & it may just be a temporary feeding.

Hey there,
My son was on a similar pattern (although more like a 5am wake up). He also fed then fell straight back to sleep. I kept trying to wean him off it, and sometimes got him to wait until 7, but he kept going back to the 5am feed. In the end he has dropped it himself at about 9 months and is now sleeping through (yay!). So my short answer is that if you give it a few months it'll probably resolve itself. Otherwise you could try cutting down the amount you give at the feed and eventually switching to a pacifier.

E.

At the risk of sounding harsh, it sounds like someone was sadly misinformed when they said that by 4 months a baby shoud sleep through the night. Of course 'sleeping through the night' is often defined as a 5 hour stretch.

When my first was at her 6 month check up I asked the Dr. what was normal for a baby and what might I see in the coming months as far as sleeping and all those night nursings. He said that it was pretty universal for Drs. to agree that not until 9 or 10 months are they capable of going through the night without a feeding. So in a few more months, then yes, maybe you can take another look at her behavior. But unti then, she seems like she's honestly very hungry. One thing I did with mine that seemed to help her sleep a bit longer (when she was getting to the 9 or 10 month mark) was to encourage her to cluster feed at night. So starting about 4 or 5 hours before bedtime, encourage her to eat more and closer together. You are kind of loading her up for the night in a sense. The Dr. suggested it and it helped for us.

You'll get there...remember it wasn't that long ago that she was in the womb with constant food and perfect temp. and sleeping conditions, etc. Good luck!

Sleeping through the night always seems to mean different things for different kids. Remember that they're not on the same time clock as we are... count the hours and their moods more than the hours displayed on your clock.

My daughter always needed to be fed at 4am too. And now my son is the same way. A lot of moms in my group said the time was similar with their kids. I think there should be a special mamas-only television station that broadcasts only between 4 and 5 am.

You're doing great and it sounds like your daughter is too. If she still does this when she's older, you can work on a particular food (bananas seem a good option) being available to her at that time or placing a sippy cup with water by the bed. otherwise, I wouldn't sweat it.

Healthy Sleep Happy Baby said that if you want a child to sleep longer put them to bed earlier. Although I don't know how that will effect your daughter's metabolism.

Try giving her a little less each night until it's zero, then if she still wakes up, try just comforting her and getting her to go back to sleep without picking her up.

You should count yourself lucky. My daughter was still waking up 2-3 times a night around 7 months of age. Your information regarding a 4 month old being able to sleep through the night without eating is not true for all children and it is an unfair standard. Some children do sleep through the night by 4 months old but some take much longer. Many experts say that eating during the night is normal up to 18 months of age.

You have a great situation since she goes right back to sleep after her feeding.

Hi A., my son used to wake up every night around 3, till he was around 5mo. then we started noticing that he wasn't that hungry anymore; and wouldn't nurse for long. so my husband started getting up and just giving him his pacifier real quietly and soothing if he had to. but then he would go back to sleep. now he is 10mo, and sometimes he wakes up around 5 and we just put him in his swing for an hour or two, and he falls asleep till we are up. i would say enjoy those wee hours while you have them... they are your extreme bonding time. sometimes i really miss cuddling with my boy in the middle of the night, as now he isn't a cuddler anymore. good luck!

Hi,

Why not put a bottle in one corner of her crib and see if she finds it on her own. If she really wakes up every morning at 4am and is so hungry and you can relate to the waking up hungry, why fight it? I think it's better to find a solution that works, even if it's temporary, rather than fighting the impulse. This has worked for me, and now my daughter doesn't need it anymore. Maybe she's going through a growth spurt?

she is still so little, be glad she is sleeping until 4am, and does go back to sleep, Drs. say a full nights sleep for a baby under 10-12 months is 5-6 hours and they will need food, so keep feeding her and you can try to "train" her when she is closer to 1 year
good luck

When the 'experts' say babies are sleeping through the night at 4 months, they are talking about 6-7hrs. That 4am feeding is perfectly normal unless your last feed at night is midnight. She'll stretch out to more hours in time.

If you really just think she's 'stuck' at 4am, you can try cutting down on how much you feed her at that time. Keep making the bottle 1/2 oz smaller every couple of days and her body will start to adjust to not getting fed at that time. But really she's probably just not ready yet. :o)

My daughter did that when she was a baby, it was just that she was growing and a busy baby. She is 6 now, and honest! She doesn't need food in the middle of the night. Just let the little eating machine do her job ;-) Clearly you aren't training her to stay awake.

The only habit I would change, with hindsight, was my kid ate the most at bedtime. We pretty much HAVE to give her a bowl of cheerios at bedtime, or we suspect a stalling tactic: many requests for a glass of milk. When we get the middle of the night requests for milk, it's exhausting, and it makes me wonder if I should have bitten the bullet at one year, and started the overnight bottles of water. Thing is, after a week or two of those annoying requests, my daughter gets taller! And it's in the summer when I have been begging her to drink more all day, so I am happy I am getting fluids in her at all.
She has a BMI of 14, so this doesn't seem to be turning into a weight problem, it's just at the end of the day is when she slows down to eat.

Count yourself lucky that she only wakes up once a night. Since she is hungry, feed her.

i would move away as quickly as possible from sources that tell you babies should be sleeping by four months old. that is just nonsense. i think the person who wrote that probably never had babies!!!

Every baby and every mom is different. Not all babies are fed the same, not all eat the same during the day and so on....

Follow your baby's cues. If it's not a big deal and not stressing you too much, just go along with it.

I'd consider this routine pretty good at 4 months. My oldest didn't sleep through for a year. I stopped feeding her at some point but she still woke-up and wouldn't go back to sleep easily. My 2nd sounds like yours and I loved it. Sure, it'd be great to eliminate the 4am feeding but it's still young so not much you can do. I think lots of kids are still eating in the middle of the night then. And if she goes right back to sleep, not so bad. You could try waking her at 10pm or so and giving her a bottle then if you're not already doing that. I believe at 4 mos we were doing that AND she still got up once more to eat.

it's only one time all night, what's the big deal? be glad she's not waking every 2 hours still.
babies don't understand that they can wait till morning to eat, they just know they're hungry.
listen to your baby, not to the "experts". every baby is different, no matter what the "experts" say.

She's a baby...FEED HER!

Well, I was excited to read your request and more excited to read the responses, but was also disappointed becuase my 7 1/2 month old still wakes up at 4 Am to eat too. So, just sending a bit of sympathy.

Hi A.,

My son woke up every morning between 3 and 5 from 6 months to 13 months. Since he was drinking 6 - 8 oz. when feeding at this time, my pediatrician told me to let him get up and eat. He obviously needed the feeding. He would also go right back to sleep as soon as he was done and sleep until 7:00am. If your daughter is eating at least 4 or 5 oz. then she needs the feeding. If she is only taking a couple of oz. then it is a comfort feeding and you should work on stopping it.

Hope this helps,
K.

I know the "experts" say that you kids should be able to sleep through the night by 4 months, but my boys never did. Like your daughter, they'd wake up once, eat and immediately go back to sleep. I tried several different things, including the crying it out method. In the end, because it it was a good feeding and not just comfort nursing, I determined that they were really hungry and it was just easier on everyone if we just nursed. Both my boys worked themselves out of this habit by about 9 months.
HTH. Good luck.

my 2year old wakes up the same time every night too! i say you're fortunate she is such a great sleeper and goes back down after eating. my son was a frequent waker until just recently.

Hi,
I had the same thing with my daughter except she was waking to feed every 2-3 hrs and I decided finally it was time to stop now that she is 7 mths old. Read the book, The Baby Whisperer Solves All your Problems.... she certainly solved this for me. Here's what I did.

I give her a "dream" feed at 11pm, which is basically picking your daughter up out of her crib and feeding her without her even really waking up. She will settle right back to sleep afterwards. When she awakens in the night, don't go to her, let her make some noise/babble etc and see if she settles right back to sleep. If she is really screaming for food, then I would feed her, but first give her the chance to settle back on her own. It may be easier than you imagine. I was expecting a real challenge from my daughter, but believe it or not, she actually settled right back on her own ( I am breast feeding her). She now sleeps uptil 6 or 7am which is huge progress from waking every 2-3 hrs. Try it, you may be pleasantly surprised. Your daughter probably does not need to eat in the night, it's most likely habit and you'll keep feeding her, as long as you keep feeding her... so give it a try. Just make sure she gets that dream feed and see what happens. Good luck, you'll be so delighted you've done it once you get to taste a good nights sleep again.
Let us know how it goes.

Hello A.,
I don't know from experience, however lately I have been reading alot of books. My 6 month old has trouble self soothing. Anyway, what I have read in regards to your issue is to gradually dilute the formula with water. Apparently once it gets very watery she may decide it is not worth getting up for. Some people also suggest gradually cutting down on the amount in the bottle.
Good Luck!
N.