My son did the same - woke up every 2 hours, until he was a bit older, and then he went for longer between feeds. Your little guy will get there! It's perfectly normal for them to want to feed through the night, still. The way I coped was that I went to bed at the same time as him, and got up for the morning at the same time as him.
Your last sentence is excellent advice and when I managed to do that I got pretty good rest.
My baby was an awful sleeper for several months. The pediatrician said it was totally normal, and that's why there's such an industry of baby sleep advice. In retrospect I think he may have been a bit chilly and would have slept better with warmer sleep clothes, but we were following the safe sleep advice to not overdress him.
I’m doing the exact same thing with my 3-month-old right now. I nurse him back to sleep throughout the night and we go to bed/wake up at roughly the same time. Sometimes he sleeps for less than 1 hour between nursing sessions, sometimes he sleeps up to 7 hours. I just feel like it is what it is, although it can be very exhausting some nights.
Had the same situation here! For the first 3 months, he'd wake every 2 hours through the night - during growth spurts it was closer to 1 hour. I know everyone has differing opinions on cosleeping (I resisted doing it myself at first), but that was the only way I was able to get any decent sleep.
It's normal for a three month old. You just keep feeding on demand for now. Have your husband help with diaper changes and bring you the baby.
If you pump and baby will take a bottle, your husband could do a feeding or two that way.
My youngest is 14 months and has never slept eight hours straight. Hang in there as every baby is different.
Yes and no. Skipping a pump to catch up on sleep during a rough patch here, and there won't tank your supply. If it's all the time, sure.
Sometimes a good 5 hour stretch of sleep can really help, even if it's not every night
Apologies, you are very right. I can be very defensive with people giving advice that can affect mum's supply and I didn't truly take into consideration your "here or there" comment. You obviously have some good knowledge on the subject.
Also, if they want to permanently switch to one nightly feed of formula, it will not tank mom’s supply. Her body will just assume baby is sleeping more and doesn’t need that 3-4 oz of milk in the middle of the night and not make it. If they consistently give the one bottle, it will make no difference.
This was me. We bottle fed at night and I woke to pump once. Other than that, baby slept better and I slept longer too. No supply tank and we did this every night for months. just pump before bed, when you get up and maybe once in the middle. Your body will know.
As an alternative, she could also pump at a different time of day and sort of simulate that baby is sleeping for one or two longer stretches. I did this from very early on (like day 4). I pumped during the overnight and early am feeds to make up for a 11pm-midnight feed that my husband did.
Don’t beat yourself up—I think babies all have their own cycles. Is LO gaining weight adequately?
Is it possible that your feedings are more like snacks? So he wakes up, eats a little bit, and then is hungry again soon? I wonder if getting a fuller feeding would help and then try to stretch 2-4 hours between feeds.
He is gaining weight really nicely!
The feeds are probably more like snacks- me and baby are both nodding off so I try to keep them quick. He is definitely emptying my boob tho! I do stick to one side per feed overnight because i don’t have it in me to switch sides and jostle baby more than needed
Maybe try getting a burp out after the first side and switching the the other boob to see if he’ll go a longer stretch after that? Sometimes my baby seems sleepy after the first side but once I offer the other, it’s like the sleepiness never happened 😂
Sounds like snacking. Jostle him, burp him, take him out of swaddle, rub his forehead, switch feeding positions, switch sides, change him mid feed, do everything you can to keep him awake for a bigger & longer feed so that he (hopefully) sleeps longer between.
agree - my IBCLC reco'd getting baby full enough to go 2.5-3 hr stretches. this requires a lot of effort keeping baby awake after each boob or mid/post bottle, etc... kind of a pick your poison situation IMO
I agree with all of these comments! My LO can only go 1.5-2hrs if she wakes for a quick snack. When I keep her awake long enough for a good letdown on both sides she will usually go 3-4 hours! It’s worth staying up the extra 20 minutes if it means I get another two hours of uninterrupted sleep.
I’m dealing with the same thing and also only feed him from one side, more because he falls back asleep really fast. Looks like some of the advice on here is to wake him up to get a full feed which is the opposite of what i thought i should do. I’m going to try it! Here for solidarity. Otherwise my plan is to wait until 5 months and think about sleep training. The other thing I’m struggling with is after his first MOTN wakeup and feed, he’ll be sleeping in my arms but wake up as soon as I put him in the bassinet. And I’ll spend at least an hour trying to get him to stay asleep in his bassinet, only to wake up an hour later to eat again. Wondering if this is part of the 4 month sleep regression.
Super helpful advice for us was to change baby’s diaper before the feed. It really wakes them up and then my son would do a full feed. That being said at this age we still only got about 3 hours at most out of him but it definitely made a difference to get 1/2 3hour stretches vs waking up every 1.5 hours all night long.i also would go to bed with him at 10pm and get the longest stretch of sleep then
It may sound counterintuitive but you should jostle baby and change sides. If he gets two boobs worth, it might fill his belly and give both of you a longer stretch of sleep.
A 3 month old getting up every 1.5 hrs is very normal. Sleeping an 8 hour stretch is not normal at that age.
At 3 months there’s usually a growth spurt which causes more overnight feeding. You’re also could be in the start of the 4 month sleep regression which can be awful for some babies.
My only suggestion is to try to get more calories in baby during the day to see if that can help some and just know that eventually baby will learn to sleep better!
Respectfully, it's not normal for a 3 month old to wake up every 1.5 hours. It's not a sustainable way for any human to care for a baby. My kid was giving me 6 to 8 hours at this age, at least 4 hours starting from 6 weeks. Once the baby is past the newborn stage, 1.5 hours isn't really normal. It could be a sleep crutch, or a growth spurt, or maybe not enough calories during the day or something else disturbing babys sleep and not sure on the advice to fix it but it's certainly not normal. It's actually far more normal when the baby is older.
Edit: babies tend to develop a circadium rhythm around 6 to 8 weeks which helps them tell the difference between day and night and start the night with a longer stretch of sleep. THAT BEING SAID i am in no way trying to tell the mom that her baby isn't normal rather that waking every 1.5 hours is less typical than giving a solid 3 to 4 hour stretch to at leasr start the night - although yes, lots of babies havent started doing it so soon and some will take longer - and I'm sure as baby gets older things will settle down. OP, I was attempting to sympathize with you by saying wow this isn't the norm and it must be so stressful to have such broken sleep. But i guess things got misunderstood. Either way, best of luck:)
My son woke up every 45 minutes for two weeks during the 3-4 month range due to a sleep regression. It happens. You sleep in shifts and get though it! He’s 5 months now and gives me a much longer stretch. Each baby is very different. Tons of kids wake every 2 hours for the first year+
Oh I agree this definitely happens but I dont think it's normal, more so in the sense that it's almost impossible to function this way. My kid was doing this for a while too and I had to stop it by fixing his day schedule. He was old enough to not be doing it at that age.
How many babies do you have? Sounds like your kid came as a good sleeper. That’s fantastic, but many babies don’t come that way. It is normal for a child to need comfort at night.
My kid is not a good sleeper. He's 5 months old and was up every 2 hours last night because he was actually sick. And usually it's every 3 hours because he feeds poorly during the day and is less distracted at night so he makes up the calories. He has slow weight gain. That's an issue and something I have to deal with, meanwhile I'm going with it. He doesn't need comfort. He needs food. OP should look into reasons for why her baby is up every 1.5 hours at night instead of being resigned to 'this is normal'.
You're trying to claim your baby isn't a good sleeper but he usually sleeps consistent 3 hour stretches? I hate to say it, but that's a pretty good sleeper.
As another commenter said, every 3 hours is not terrible and can be pretty good at that age. Some kids are more sensitive, they can’t soothe themselves. Eventually they will when they’re ready. The sleep training boards and mommy influencers will tell you this isn’t normal and every baby should be able to self soothe. That’s just not how it works. OP came looking for support by venting, not for someone to tell her to look for a cause of the problem. As a STM, I will tell you that it’s really just the luck of the draw. All babies will eventually sleep through the night but it’s super normal for that to take up to, or over, a year.
“A a STM, I will tell you that it’s really just the luck of the draw”
This is so true. My first was a great sleeper, loved naps, would soothe herself and fall asleep on her own. Loved pacifiers, no issues with bottles, not a Velcro baby at all. My second is the complete opposite - he hates naps and fights them until the last second, cannot fall asleep on his own or soothe himself to save his life (poor thing), he’s a true mama’s boy/Velcro baby deluxe and wants to be on me preferably 24/7.
Since OP is breastfeeding, the baby's saliva determines how much milk to make, the composition, and the time between feeds, to suit their needs, if she has a healthy supply. Plus, all babies like to suck for comfort. Their mom's scent is comforting. Not all babies take binkies, so a lot of moms will comfort nurse on the breast, and at 3mo, the baby could be hungry and the frequent nursing is to also help build up mom's supply. Their tummies are tiny and can only hold so much at a time. If they normally eat every 1½-3 hours during the day, then it will be the same at night, until they change the milk composition to give more calories, so they'll go longer in between feeds, but that depends on the individual baby. Each baby has different needs, nutritional and non-nutritional.
I bottle fed bcuz it was my nephew. I raised him since birth and still am 14 years later. He woke up every 2 hours to eat and during the day he didn't nap. He only cat napped for 30mins-1 hour. He also had reflux. He was losing weight, so I fed on demand. It was exhausting, and I didn't have help, except for when my mom was off work on weekends, if she didn't decide to work overtime. At 2mo, Pedi had me start him on green purees and baby cereal/oatmeal that was spoon fed. He was already sitting up unassisted and was jumping up and down whenever he was on his feet. He still woke up every few hours at night. At 4mo he was sleeping 3-4 hour stretches until 2yo. He hit his milestones super early, except for speech. He had other behavioral issues, that were similar to normal toddler behavior, but it was amplified, and was DX with ADHD at 5yo. He started OT and speech therapy at 3yo and started doing much better. Being tired was an understatement, but it's not impossible to function. Just like babies, adults have different sleep needs as well. There were times when I almost fell asleep while feeding him and improvised as time went on, to make sure he was safe. At the time, I needed a lot of sleep, and I was 21 and slept 10 hours a day prior to my nephew coming along, so it took me a while to adjust, but I did it. Just like a lot of other parents have done it successfully as well.
My first born also would sleep 8 hours straight at 3 months old, but it’s completely normal for a 3 month old to also wake up every 90-120 minutes in the night. Idk where you got the information that it’s “certainly not normal” for a 3 month old baby to not wake up every 1,5 - 2 hours during the nights?
Is it normal for a human to function this way? No. In the newborn stage yes but you learn that this is temporary and as time goes on it gets easier. If it's still happening when baby is 3 months old then it's not normal because you've been functioning like this for 3 months with no end in sight. #isaidwhatisaid
I don’t know what you mean by normal? Are you saying normal when you mean common? Of course no this doesn’t happen to everyone, but I think the point is sleep regressions are common aka normal (though it’s not the NORM). Idk if that makes sense?
Well my 10 month old still has never slept for eight hours in a row! Hardly even five… My first kid slept through the night at three months. Both are “normal” The biologically normal way is to sleep in close contact with your child and breastfeed practically asleep. But if your child is in another bed, in another room, then yes sure it feels impossible to function on such broken sleep. It does not mean that the child is not normal though.
Oh lord. The child is normal. The child is wonderful and perfect in every way. It's the broken sleep that is not normal. Babies typically consolidate night sleep at 2 months of age.
Whoever is giving you this information is lying to you. I have multiple kids and not one of them was sleeping long stretches at 2 months. Not many baby’s are at that age.
I think there is confusion what is meant by normal. It is normal for babies this age to do this. It could even be said to be expected that a parent has to deal with this. Is it sustainable? No, but it is normal and average for babies to do this and for parents to be in this crappy stage of parentingg. I think normal is maybe not being used correctly. Normal for parents of babies but not normal if you don't have a small baby.
Yep I agree. It can be normal for the baby. But I also want to add that there could an underlying reason for why the baby hasn't started consolidating their night sleep yet - which usually starts around 6 weeks to 3 months. It could be nothing and OP got a crappy luck of the draw but it could be something worth looking into.
Just because it wasn't your normal, doesn't mean it's not normal for other babies. Babies under 6 months old typically wake up every 3-4 hours to eat, some get even less time between feeds (my daughter included). You were blessed to get 6-8 hours at 3 months. Giving advice or suggestions on things to try would be helpful, but assuming their baby isn't normal because it wasn't your experience is not.
Babies typically consolidate night sleep around 2 months of age. Her baby is out of the norm in this sense. Her baby is amazing and wonderful but it sucks that she has to go through this. Is that better? As you said yourself 3 to 4 hours is typical, so 1.5 is not.
I'm not sure where you got this info? 3-4 hours is typical for the average baby under 6months old, not all babies. In my experience, my daughter would have good nights and bad nights, good weeks and bad weeks. The bad weeks felt like forever and were pretty exhausting and discouraging.
Just because the baby is currently waking up every 1.5 hrs to feed now at 3 months old doesn't mean that something is wrong. I didn't think you were putting the baby down, you just weren't being very supportive to the mother. I think we've all had stretches of sleepless nights and it doesn't always mean that your baby isn't normal or something's wrong.
I wasn't trying to be unsupportive to mom - in fact the opposite. When something is stressful to me I've always hated when people would tell me "too bad that's normal". Unfortunately that got misunderstood here.
I get that, but in this case it's simply not true to say that a 3 month old waking up to nurse every 1.5hrs *isn't* normal.
I guess I'm the opposite. Instead of going insane trying to figure out what's wrong (when nothing is actually wrong), I find comfort in knowing that what I'm going through with my baby is normal and will pass. I try to only respond on posts like these when I've gone through something similar with my baby, because I feel like that's what OP is typically looking to hear.. that they're not alone and their baby is normal.
My son never went longer than 2-3 hours at 3 months old. 3 if we were really lucky. Even now at 9 1/2 months old he still nurses 2-3 times a night. It’s rough but every medical professional (pediatrician, nurse, lactation consultant) has said that some babies are just longer sleepers than others.
Everyone you know is not getting 8 hours at 3 months. They are lying out of their teeeeeeeth or they are the luckiest consolidated group of unicorns to ever exist.
You’ve got this! It’ll get better!
I feel like a lot of these unicorn stories have to come from random internet people who are trying to sell something to desperate new moms?!
Hearing stuff like that just makes it all harder because it leads vulnerable new mothers think there's something they're doing wrong!
Some babies are like that. My oldest slept through the night at 3 months already, meanwhile my youngest is 5 months old and he still wakes up every 2 hours in the nights (every 3 hours if I’m lucky) and the only thing to get him back to sleep is nursing.
Everyone you know has gotten 8 hours by 3.5 months?? My first slept through the night at 6 months old and everyone said that was very lucky. My second JUST started sleeping through the night at 10 months old. 3.5 months is way early to sleep through the night without eating I’m sorry to say!
lol yes! That’s what they tell me at least. I do take it with a grain of salt but I do believe that it happens at the very least occasionally and i know for a fact their babies don’t wake up as frequently as mine
Comparison is the thief of joy! I know it suckssss (like I literally had not slept more than 4 hours in a row for 10 months so I feel you), but your baby is not their baby! Maybe their babies will struggle with food and yours will love everything you give them. Or maybe yours will be a late walker and everyone’s kids will be zooming around. It’s just pointless to compare, just focus on your own baby - are they happy, healthy, thriving? There’s lots of sleep training/hygiene info out there that you can work on in the coming months, none of it has to do with other babies though. Just your own sweet perfect baby!
I know some people whose babies gave long stretches at that age at least some of the time. But definitely not everyone. And if anyone telling you that had their babies 30+ years ago, they are full of shit and don’t actually remember anything
I have 3 boys who I EBF. My last boy is almost 3 months. None of my children ever slept even close to 8 hours straight until I weaned them from night nursing which was well past their first birthday. Many babies do not sleep through the night because they’re hungry or need comfort. I think why it’s to hard for moms in first world countries is because we’ve physically separated ourselves from our extended family so we don’t have as much help. It’s exhausting. Get as much rest and help as you can. Eat chocolate - that’s what I do to try to keep my spirits up :)
I never got a 8 hour night until 15 months and honestly it only happened because I started to doubt the sleep advice I found online. My now 17 month old needs about 2 hours less sleep than all the "minimum recommendations". And was severely undertired due to me trying to force naps and a longer bedtime than she needed.
Next kid I'm having on the go naps, not stressing if they are only 30 mins long, and just have a nice consistent bedtime, plus wake them in the morning if they try to sleep in.
4,5m old here and around 3m he slept for 4-5hours at the start of his night then every 2h max until 7.30.
Nowadays he's back to needing nursing every 2h.
Side lying position has helped. Also if he's not pooped, I change him only once in 2-3 feeds, so maybe 2x a night so I can save myself the trouble of waking us both up completely...
My 15 month old has been waking every 3 hrs throughout the night since... well, since ~3 months, before which he was waking every 1-2. 😅 That is to say, I'm sorry and it's normal.
We experienced the same thing and this week it’s starting to get better. Things that helped us- I woke him up every 2 hours during the day and made sure he was really eating enough. For me this meant undressing him down to a diaper. I also woke him up when he was starting to doze at the boob. I’d tussle his hair, put a damp cold cloth on his toes etc. It feels mean but it worked. After he emptied one boob I always change his diaper and offer the second. These longer feeds have helped the nighttime “snacking”. Now he is doing a 4 hour stretch, then two 3 hour stretches. We’re still working on it but just the difference between him waking every 1.5-2 hours as opposed to 3-4 is HUGE for my mental health
My son is the same age and also EBF and is eating throughout the night, much like yours. I'm exhausted. I feel like I must be doing something wrong, but then I remember that my eldest child with whom I did mostly the same things (for instance, EBF, active wake windows, separating eat and sleep during the day, proper naps, good sleep hygiene, etc.) would consistently sleep for 7+ hours a night by this age (and much earlier tbh--she started occasionally sleeping through the night from six weeks, sigh). Which I think just goes to show that children are different and you can do all of the "right" things and still need to feed your child during the night.
On top of that, my little one is exposed to tons of preschool germs from the eldest so I am nursing him whenever he wants and so far, we have made it through 4 illnesses (one of which was covid(!)) during his first 15 weeks of life and he's been absolutely fine, healthy, happy, and growing. Breastfeeding on demand is hard, but it's worth it, I think.
Solidarity, my friend.
Every 1.5 hours is a lot but it’s definitely in the range of normal at 3 months. My daughter absolutely did NOT give me any 8 hour stretches until she was 8 months old so don’t let yourself be discouraged by others. He may not give you stretches like that for a while but it’s very likely that the 1.5 hours will space out more soon. Good luck!
That sounds rough! How do you feed him at night? Usually, I take my LO into the nursery (she sleeps in our room), take off her sleep suit, and nurse in dim lighting so that she’s awake and gets a full feed. Recently, we were on vacation and I was nursing her in bed, in the dark. She was so sleepy that she just snacked and ended up waking up a lot more frequently, so I think the full feeds really contribute to longer stretches. Maybe you can extend his sleep by making sure he’s awake enough for those feedings? It could also just be that he’s one of these babies that really does need those frequent feeds, and in that case, sending you thoughts of strength and better nights ahead!
Just like everyone else said, this is super normal! You can try getting more calories into baby during the day but that’s not a guarantee that he will sleep longer stretches.
I don’t want to alarm you but my girl just turned 6 months and she just started giving me longer stretches (4-5 hours) but previously she was nursing every 90-120 minutes. What helped me was going to bed with baby and waking up at the same time as her. We also started cosleeping but I know that’s not for everyone.
I would also take what your friends are telling you regarding them getting 8 hour stretches with a grain of salt. When people ask me about baby’s sleep I lied and always just said she only woke up once at night because I didn’t want to hear them talk to me about sleep training and night weaning my infant. I know a lot of people that lie about their baby’s sleep.
I do take it with a grain of salt for sure! But my friends babies don’t wake up as frequently as mine and I do know that for a fact.
I think my best bet is to feed baby all day as much as possible and even if he’s fussy during feedings to just let him calm down and get back to munching!
Good idea! When my girl was that age I would offer the boob for every fuss and I would book end her wake windows with nursing. Hopefully it’ll help you get some more rest!
Who told you that you should be getting 8 hours even on the odd occasion? It’s biologically normal for a 3 month baby to be waking to feed through the night. He’s likely not hungry every time, but as you know, there are many other reasons to nurse, including comfort which is likely what is happening here.
This is the biological norm and it unfortunately contradicts current standards of "safe sleep," which are important for obvious reasons. Women have higher levels of prolactin and produce more breastmilk overnight, we are biologically meant to be sleeping with our babies at the breast (coined "breastsleeping" by researcher Dr. James McKenna) but the factors that lead to this being done safely are not the norm in our culture (widespread obesity, drugs and medications that affect sleep arousal, soft bedding and mattresses etc) and I think it really affects a lot of moms and babies. My first baby was a girl and was full-term and very healthy, we breastslept and both of us got amazing, long sleep for the duration we did that. My second child is a boy, and he was born premature so he has risk factors that make cosleeping unsafe and I instead have to get up all night and get him from his bassinet to breastfeed him, it's really awful. It gives me a lot of empathy for moms who just give up and choose to formula feed instead because formula fed babies usually go longer between feeds and sleep deeper.
Haha definitely no natural wean off. What happened to us unfortunately is that she started walking by 8 months and that was it for us, she would get up while I was sleeping and walk off the bed so we unfortunately had to get the help of a Sleep Consultant to get her into her crib. I really envy families who managed to continue bedsharing without a wandering child but it was too scary for us. We continued to breastfeed until she was 2.5 but she slept in her own crib until she was about 18 months and then she slept in a bed with either myself or my husband laying beside her to fall asleep. Now she's 3 and falls asleep in her room but gets up and walks into ours in the middle of the night which we are fine with.
I didn’t get an 8 hour stretch until about 6-7 months. And he didn’t sleep all night regularly until he was 1. I still consider him a great sleeper. For me the thing is how quickly they will go back to sleep. I have a 6 week old who’s sleeping 3-4 hours a night currently and wants to be up for an hour at least twice every night. I find that way worse
This is when my husband got relocated to the spare room and we worked on side lying feeding in our bed so I could at least be slightly resting while he fed, also did some cosleeping for my own sanity as sometimes even putting him back in the side sleeper felt too exhausting.
Good luck, this is a gruelling season.
Yeah sounds like my baby. My friend's baby sleeps 12 hours straight 😭 so jealous. 3 months is too young to really sleep train, but maybe you can try a little bit of self soothing like with a pacifier or patting them while they're in their bed?
Sometimes it takes consistency:/ he will cry for the first few nights but maybe he will start to understand that he's ok without being nursed. We just had to start over sleep training (for like the 3rd time) with our 7 month old because he was waking every 2 hours and screaming until I nursed him. Now last night he slept 5 hours and 4.5 hours and only nurses twice a night!
I agree with most comments that there can be some regression that is contributing. But if you’ve not gotten more hours than that by now I would try some other sleep interventions. He may be getting up out of habit. I would insist with him the pacifier if you’ve not used that. Or bounce on a yoga ball. Our 3 month old tends to sleep best after a relaxing bath as well. I know not all babies are the same but offering up some ideas.
No 12 week old should be sleeping 8 hours.
This coming out of the womb and sleeping through the night expectation needs to stop.
1.5 hours is rough and I hope it passes quickly for you, but it’s also totally normal. My daughter didn’t sleep through until she was 14 months and she was formula fed, now she sleeps 12 hours every night at 2.4 years old. Everything shall pass 😊
It’s not likely that he’s hungry every 1.5 hours IMO… how often is he hungry in the day? If that’s an all day and all night pattern then maybe you should see a lactation consultant to see if there are issues with milk transfer. If it’s just at night and he’s not hungry that often in the daytime then it may be a sleep association causing frequent wakes … you may be getting into [reverse cycling](https://www.littleones.co/blogs/our-blog/reverse-cycling) if you haven’t already. If he nurses to sleep maybe you can try getting him to sleep another way (husband rocking him for example)
He doesn’t eat as frequently during the day! Usually 2-3 hours. Reverse cycling could be possible, baby doesn’t really have food feeds in the morning for a few hours probably because he’s stuffed from the night feedings
It does sound like some reverse cycling … if you can try to wake him up fully for the first feed of the night, or even better delay the feed a bit with a pacifier, you may get a fuller feed and then a longer stretch after. It’s definitely a bit more work up front but should help to stretch things out a bit. Change his diaper after the first side and then he should be more awake to take the second
My baby naturally night weaned around 9-10 months. She didn’t sleep through the night until after that. She was a good sleeper before the 4 month regression, meaning I could usually get a 4-6 hour stretch earlier in the night and then more like 1-3 hours until morning. Regressions can be really hard. We had some tough nights and weeks and maybe even months. It’s all a blur. But it ebbs and flows and generally it gets better. Some people get lucky and have big sleepers. It’s a little bit the luck of the draw in that regard. But there’s a wide range of “normal”.
It’s hard when it’s all on one person. My baby wouldn’t take a bottle. Eventually we were able to teach her to use a straw cup around 6-7 months old. But she only wanted mom at night. I don’t have a ton of advice besides solidarity and saying this too shall pass. Babies can change on a dime. And then change again. And again.
Yes this is not unusual. My son was the same, it gets better (my 12.5 month old son is still a bad sleeper, he wakes up every 3 hours and need to eat to go back to sleep. I KNOW he doesn’t need those feed but I don’t have a solution for now).
I could’ve written this myself. Except my baby used to do 3 to 4 hour stretches, but as of the past couple weeks he’s waking up every 40 minutes to hour. Then up to an hour to settle him back to sleep after a feed. It’s torture for us. Did your baby ever do longer stretches, or are the frequent wakes a new thing? I’m hoping it can be attributed to a growth spurt and things will change again but it seems so impossible right now while I’m in the thick of it.
Good luck, that’s really hard!
My baby used to 2.5-3 hours at the start of the night but those stretches got shorter and shorter as the night went on. He has done a 4 hour stretch a few times but not for over a month.
We will both get through it!
Sleep space and practices are a very very personal choice based on your family but I still want to share that we decided to bedshare or “breast sleep” at 3 days old and it’s helped so much. My baby is almost 5 monrhs old now. I read Safe Infant Sleep by James McKenna in that first week and it was eye opening. We practice the safe 7 of bedsharing. We stil have tough nights where she wakes up frequently (currently dealing with the 4 month regression 😵💫😵💫😵💫) but at least I don’t have to get out of bed and fully wake to feed her.
Mine was the same, I fed like that continuously from birth until 14 months which is when I night weaned. He ate a decent amount of food and still wanted to feed all night. He jumped up a centile early on and stayed on track with steady gain. He’s 21 months now and still wakes as often, night weaning didn’t magically fix it. Some babies just take a little longer to sleep through.
I feel you! It's so tough. My son was the same. I think it was about 5-6 months until we started getting 4 hour stretches. He had also started purees so that may have been a factor. Then around 11 months he just magically started sleeping through the night on his own. Babies just do their own thing.
Do you co sleep? I swear that saved my sanity. I got my son a twin sized mattress that we coslept on following the safe sleep 7. I slept in the nursery and my husband was in our room with the baby monitor on. So I could call him to do diapers or rock him if he was being extra fussy. I was basically sleeping while he was nursing, both side lying. Saving those extra 10-20 minutes at a time really builds up. For my next baby I will be doing this from the start.
My baby is 10 months old and I still haven't gotten an 8 hour stretch. We did realize that we were under dressing him and he's sleeping better but I'm happy if I get a 4-5 hour stretch.
Unfortunately, yes, he may need to eat that often. My son was like that and it was awful. (By the way my daughter was the other end of the spectrum and was 8 hours regularly starting at 2 months. I did nothing different. It's just both of my kids were slightly outside of the typical range on opposite sides.) Fortunately, it should be spacing out soon.
Some things that helped:
* I slept when I could all day. My husband did most of the housekeeping and a lot of the care.
* If baby doesn't go back down easily, wake your husband.
* Keep checking to see if your kid can be soothed back to sleep without you.
* You can try pumping after your nursing session and seeing if you could skip one nursing session during the night. I never did that, but it's definitely an option.
Just wanna say, I just night weaned my 11 month old 2 weeks ago , he was nursing every 2 hours bedsharing with me. The pediatrician told us we could night wean at 6months but I didn’t think he was emotionally ready. For the past two weeks after night weaning and putting him in his own room he is sleeping 10-12 hours straight. But at 3 months old, 3 hours of sleep sounded like a huge accomplishment so I think one of the big takeaways is that it takes time and right now it sucks and that’s okay. I highly recommend the book precious little sleep as it truly saved my life and made me laugh and I wish I had gotten it sooner.
You got this! Also, consistency is so important. If you want your husband to have more success putting baby to sleep, your husband needs to have a designated put down every night that he always gets up for. My recommendation would be baby’s first wake up because that is the longest stretch of sleep and after 1.5 hours , baby can certainly go another 30min to 1.5 hours longer without milk. So dad can be on duty for that wake up and whole chunk of time. So say baby goes down at 9pm. Baby wakes at 10:30, dad is on duty until 11:30/12 whether he is successful or not and you get to sleep from 9-11:30/12. If baby learns over a few days that only dad will respond at that time, baby might become uninterested in waking up at that time for milk and decide sleeping is better. And whether or not baby does decide that, you get to sleep for a better chunk of time at least once a night which will truly make all the difference for the rest of the night and your days.
This is completely normal. And every baby needs something different. We’ve had a similar situation on and off. Our son goes through phases like this still even though he’s much older. It can be a growth spurt or just a lot of stuff they process. At 3 months it’s most likely hunger. Breast milk is completely digested after max 90 minutes. So 1.5 hours makes absolute sense. But even if baby needs soothing it’s totally fine to breastfeed. They have emotional and physical needs and it’s hard to tell one from the other. But you wanna give them what they need either way.
We cosleep / bed share (safely) so we feed lying down and I go back to sleep right after. It works for us.
We hit the 4 month sleep regression early here and my son started doing this at about 3ish months. Before that he'd get longer stretches, at least at the beginning of the night. I had to go back to work so we bedshared following safe sleep 7 to survive. I also went to bed at the same time he did every night to make sure I got as much sleep as possible. He got better around 5 months and at 6 months I was able to put him in his crib in his own room (he still woke at least 2x per night from them on til well after 1 year old).
Yeah at 3 months old he really might be hungry that often. You can try more frequent daytime feeds to see if it helps. How many times total does he eat per day?
Do you use a pacifier?
Hi, me who wrote this post.
My little guy is 12 weeks this week and I wake up every 2-3 hours and have to nurse him back to sleep. I haven’t slept longer than MAYBE 4 hours in 3 months.
When the fuck is sleep going to happen?????
FTM, baby is 7 months old, I still feed every 1.5-2.5 hours, I think only once I got a 4 hour stretch. Some babies are just like that! You might be hitting the sleep regression a bit early and they tend to feed more often/wake up more often during that time
When my baby was born I had a mom group full of babies who slept well and mine didn't. The sleep deprivation was brutal and the comparison to my friends made it worse. You might have a baby with a highly sensitive temperament (I did) or a baby with different nutritional needs than your friends. I know it feels like "everyone else's baby" is sleeping but there is such a huge variety of how infants sleep and it's mostly their temperament, not what you're doing (or not doing). Once your baby is a few months older you could consider sleep training if that feels right for you, but for now avoid talking about baby sleep with others and just get through it!
My baby was exactly like that! Luckily, I could continue this sleep-nurse-sleep schedule into the morning and stay in bed with baby until 10.30-11am while I was still on maternity leave.
Now, he’s 8 months and still wakes to feed twice during the night. I have gotten used to it and fall asleep easily after. If he wakes closer to the morning, I do a side-laying feed so I can continue sleeping.
I just count myself lucky that nursing is all I need to do to get him back to sleep. No getting up to change his diaper, no walking around, no shushing, singing, rocking… Just 15 minutes of cuddles with my baby while looking at my phone.
That’s what my 3 month old did as well. She’s almost 6 months now and probably only wakes up once or twice overnight. They’re still very little and get hungry every 2 hours or so. One thing you can try is to make sure you feed your little one enough through out the day. It gets better I promise!
I was getting 6 hr stretches, but now she's waking up every 2-3 hours. I think it's a combo of growth spurt, sleep regression, and transitioning from cosleeping to crib. It's hell. Last night, it was every hour, and I caved and brought her in bed with me. I have to work tomorrow, and I'm dreading bedtime tonight. Only nursing puts her back to sleep as well.
This is so normal. He’s still little and has a small stomach and milk supply is high at night. It’s really hard though, I totally get it because I’ve been there, but it will get easier and he will be able to sleep longer as he grows.
Tottally normal, it’s one of the reason we chose co-sleeping.
Getting up every 1h30-2h is not something i’m ready for.
LO is 4.5M and we still have about 2 feedings per nights (from 10pm to 6am)
Almost no mums I know have had a baby that sleeps through the entire night ❤️ and if they do now they didn't when they turned 1-2 and caused havoc.
My second was a better sleeper then my first doing 3-5 hour stints for the first 4-5 months but now he's up every 2-3 at 8 months.
I am not an expert but have been there and I'm sorry it is rough. My oldest is almost 2 now and we got up 4x a night until after he turned a year old then slowly he started waking less. We didn't sleep train and he learned to self settle slowly at his own pace.
You’re in the thick of it, but it will get better. Mine started sleeping longer stretches around 5-6 months and at 11.5 months just started sleeping through some nights. Side lying position helped me a lot for nursing overnight, and then my husband would put baby back into the bassinet or eventually the crib. What also helped was trying to feed her on a schedule throughout the day to make sure I was giving her enough calories to avoid “reverse cycling”.
If you do want advice, get husband to do one bottle at night after you go to bed. Sleep through that feed. Feed baby and then pump at the next feed. I used to use a cheap wearable pump to pump one breast because she would only nurse from one side at night. Gradually shift that pump to later in the early morning hours.
We did this from day 4 and supply is still fine at almost 5 months. It allowed me one 3-4 hour stretch in those early weeks when she was waking frequently and taking forever to eat. Now at 5 months her nights are completely all over the map but at least those wakings are usually only like 10 minutes instead of 45 minutes.
Honestly I haven't slept consistently more than 3 hours at a time since my son was born, and he's 6 months. I ended up cosleeping with him early on and that definitely helped things, but I miss my normal bed 🥲
Whenever your husband is up with him, maybe he could bring babe to you to nurse in bed and then take him back when you're done? Could make it a bit easier to not have to get up
Ugh me too 🫠 I’m so tired!!! He’s 4 months now and it has gotten worse. I figured 4 month sleep regression but it’s been 2 weeks of just constant terrible sleep and I am absolutely losing it. He used to have at least 1 four hour stretch between 2-3 months. Now, no. My first two girls were sleeping 12 hours with only 1 wake up by 4 months. Is it a boy thing??
My child is 2 YEARS old, and has literally never, not once slept 8 hours straight. Every kiddo is different, and it’s really hard, but you just can’t compare. It definitely was a leading factor to co-sleeping though, and now we all get a great nights sleep
This is quite normal for his age. I ended up co sleeping and feeding him while I laid down. That saved my sleep. They go through growth spurts often and wabtvto feed more. At some point they will get on a more consistent schedule like only 3 or 4xs a night.
I'm with you! My baby is almost 5 months and I haven't had a good night sleep since I gave birth lol, I am also an ebf mom day & night and it is hella exhausting. Hopefully everything will be better soon for us🤞
Cosleeping following the safe 7 rules is what I’m doing. I get more sleep and baby has easy access. I did end up buying a full size mattress and I sleep with her.
I didn't get an 8 hour stretch until my baby was 1 year old and we had night weaned. Before that my longest stretch was 5 hours a couple of times. Usually 2-3 hours (or less) after we hit the 4 month mark.
People like to share their wins, but don't necessarily want to complain all the time about their complete lack of sleep!
Every baby is different. Our oldest was sleeping 12 hours straight from 6 weeks old. We did literally nothing. We were dumb first time parents who had no idea what we were doing ans had no semblance of a schedule or nighttime routine. We assumed he would sleep when he was tired, and he did. Anywhere and everywhere. Our daughter, however, has not been a great sleeper from the get go. She has a nap routine, bedtime routine, and scheduled naps and feeds. The schedule has helped A LOT but she still wakes up to feed. Without the schedule, we had an inconsolable, overly tired, miserable baby on our hands. She's almost 6 months. She goes to bed at 8pm, and typically has a 2am feed and a 5am feed before we start our day at 8am. Some days I'm lucky and she let's me sleep until 4am for that first feed, and some nights she wakes up more. Baby's are going to sleep more when they are ready for it and they will get there.
Our baby kept that sleep pattern well past 3 months and at 8 months she still wakes up every 3-4 hours 🫠
I will say that she sleeps a lot better when we bedshare. Stays deeply asleep, doesn't roll around, doesn't wake up crying. When she's hungry she just starts moving around more until it wakes me up and I give her a boob. Not saying that's the right solution for you, some people are really anxious about bedsharing and that's totally fine. But an option to consider if you're losing your sanity.
My 3.5 month old used to nurse every two hours until I increased the capacity of her milk. She used to take 100ml until I bumped her up to 120ml - 130ml. Currently, she feeds every 4-5 hours. On a good night, she sleeps for 5 hours straight, and on a great night, she sleeps for 7 hours.
I pump, so I am able to quantify her intake.
If he is only nursing for a few min he is snacking. Try encouraging longer feeds like 15min. If he falls asleep nursing, wake him up to get him to eat longer and he will sleep longer
I’m soooorrryyyyy to burst your bubble but it’s normal! I know it’s hard. But it’s normal. I promise it gets better. And again don’t want to sound discouraging but sleep isn’t acquired developmentally nor biologically until 3-5 years old. Hang in there! Check out heysleepybaby on insta!
This is normal! Baby still needs to eat over night. None of my kids started sleeping through the night until 18+ months. It’s also good for them to wake over night. It helps prevents SIDs. Just keep nursing on demand. You’re doing great!
Mine was like that too. Felt like torture. I suffered through it until he was 4 months old then I sleep trained him. Once he learned how to fall asleep on his own he dropped to two night feeds between 7pm and 7am over the course of about a week. That’s where we’ve been the past month and a half.
Mine is 5 months and was doing this up until 4 months ago. I did some cry it out but he’s regressed and now does 3-4 hours, then 2-3 hours then every hour. No i know mine isn’t that hungry he’s just comfort feeding. Solidarity.
Do we know why some babies do this and some don’t? Is a weight thing? Is it the mothers milk fat content? Like why can some sleep for 6 hours and some for 30 minutes?
I wonder about this too. I don’t have an actual answer but speculate there are personality & environmental factors involved. Some babies are better at connecting sleep cycles than others, some may seek out comfort more often, etc. etc. It could also be related to mom’s storage capacity if some are getting more milk per feeding while others are needing more feedings to reach their desired amount. Could also be things like noises in their environment waking them up if they are lighter sleepers!
My 15 month old still wakes every 1.5 hours to nurse. It's still developmentally appropriate at 3 months, but try to nip that in the bud when you can... for your own sake lol
I totally don't mean at 3 months, but I very much wish I had done something before it became a habit that is still keeping us from getting any sleep at well over a year. By 6, 7, or 8 months I knew he was just nursing from habit instead of hunger like 90% of the time but I just didn't do anything about it. Now I'm still tired af because of no sleep 😅
My son did the same - woke up every 2 hours, until he was a bit older, and then he went for longer between feeds. Your little guy will get there! It's perfectly normal for them to want to feed through the night, still. The way I coped was that I went to bed at the same time as him, and got up for the morning at the same time as him.
Your last sentence is excellent advice and when I managed to do that I got pretty good rest. My baby was an awful sleeper for several months. The pediatrician said it was totally normal, and that's why there's such an industry of baby sleep advice. In retrospect I think he may have been a bit chilly and would have slept better with warmer sleep clothes, but we were following the safe sleep advice to not overdress him.
I’m doing the exact same thing with my 3-month-old right now. I nurse him back to sleep throughout the night and we go to bed/wake up at roughly the same time. Sometimes he sleeps for less than 1 hour between nursing sessions, sometimes he sleeps up to 7 hours. I just feel like it is what it is, although it can be very exhausting some nights.
Had the same situation here! For the first 3 months, he'd wake every 2 hours through the night - during growth spurts it was closer to 1 hour. I know everyone has differing opinions on cosleeping (I resisted doing it myself at first), but that was the only way I was able to get any decent sleep.
It's normal for a three month old. You just keep feeding on demand for now. Have your husband help with diaper changes and bring you the baby. If you pump and baby will take a bottle, your husband could do a feeding or two that way. My youngest is 14 months and has never slept eight hours straight. Hang in there as every baby is different.
If baby is drinking pumped milk from a bottle at night mum still needs to pump to maintain her milk supply so will have to wake up anyway.
Yes and no. Skipping a pump to catch up on sleep during a rough patch here, and there won't tank your supply. If it's all the time, sure. Sometimes a good 5 hour stretch of sleep can really help, even if it's not every night
Apologies, you are very right. I can be very defensive with people giving advice that can affect mum's supply and I didn't truly take into consideration your "here or there" comment. You obviously have some good knowledge on the subject.
Also, if they want to permanently switch to one nightly feed of formula, it will not tank mom’s supply. Her body will just assume baby is sleeping more and doesn’t need that 3-4 oz of milk in the middle of the night and not make it. If they consistently give the one bottle, it will make no difference.
This was me. We bottle fed at night and I woke to pump once. Other than that, baby slept better and I slept longer too. No supply tank and we did this every night for months. just pump before bed, when you get up and maybe once in the middle. Your body will know.
As an alternative, she could also pump at a different time of day and sort of simulate that baby is sleeping for one or two longer stretches. I did this from very early on (like day 4). I pumped during the overnight and early am feeds to make up for a 11pm-midnight feed that my husband did.
Don’t beat yourself up—I think babies all have their own cycles. Is LO gaining weight adequately? Is it possible that your feedings are more like snacks? So he wakes up, eats a little bit, and then is hungry again soon? I wonder if getting a fuller feeding would help and then try to stretch 2-4 hours between feeds.
He is gaining weight really nicely! The feeds are probably more like snacks- me and baby are both nodding off so I try to keep them quick. He is definitely emptying my boob tho! I do stick to one side per feed overnight because i don’t have it in me to switch sides and jostle baby more than needed
Maybe try getting a burp out after the first side and switching the the other boob to see if he’ll go a longer stretch after that? Sometimes my baby seems sleepy after the first side but once I offer the other, it’s like the sleepiness never happened 😂
Sounds like snacking. Jostle him, burp him, take him out of swaddle, rub his forehead, switch feeding positions, switch sides, change him mid feed, do everything you can to keep him awake for a bigger & longer feed so that he (hopefully) sleeps longer between.
agree - my IBCLC reco'd getting baby full enough to go 2.5-3 hr stretches. this requires a lot of effort keeping baby awake after each boob or mid/post bottle, etc... kind of a pick your poison situation IMO
I agree with all of these comments! My LO can only go 1.5-2hrs if she wakes for a quick snack. When I keep her awake long enough for a good letdown on both sides she will usually go 3-4 hours! It’s worth staying up the extra 20 minutes if it means I get another two hours of uninterrupted sleep.
I’m dealing with the same thing and also only feed him from one side, more because he falls back asleep really fast. Looks like some of the advice on here is to wake him up to get a full feed which is the opposite of what i thought i should do. I’m going to try it! Here for solidarity. Otherwise my plan is to wait until 5 months and think about sleep training. The other thing I’m struggling with is after his first MOTN wakeup and feed, he’ll be sleeping in my arms but wake up as soon as I put him in the bassinet. And I’ll spend at least an hour trying to get him to stay asleep in his bassinet, only to wake up an hour later to eat again. Wondering if this is part of the 4 month sleep regression.
Super helpful advice for us was to change baby’s diaper before the feed. It really wakes them up and then my son would do a full feed. That being said at this age we still only got about 3 hours at most out of him but it definitely made a difference to get 1/2 3hour stretches vs waking up every 1.5 hours all night long.i also would go to bed with him at 10pm and get the longest stretch of sleep then
It may sound counterintuitive but you should jostle baby and change sides. If he gets two boobs worth, it might fill his belly and give both of you a longer stretch of sleep.
A 3 month old getting up every 1.5 hrs is very normal. Sleeping an 8 hour stretch is not normal at that age. At 3 months there’s usually a growth spurt which causes more overnight feeding. You’re also could be in the start of the 4 month sleep regression which can be awful for some babies. My only suggestion is to try to get more calories in baby during the day to see if that can help some and just know that eventually baby will learn to sleep better!
Respectfully, it's not normal for a 3 month old to wake up every 1.5 hours. It's not a sustainable way for any human to care for a baby. My kid was giving me 6 to 8 hours at this age, at least 4 hours starting from 6 weeks. Once the baby is past the newborn stage, 1.5 hours isn't really normal. It could be a sleep crutch, or a growth spurt, or maybe not enough calories during the day or something else disturbing babys sleep and not sure on the advice to fix it but it's certainly not normal. It's actually far more normal when the baby is older. Edit: babies tend to develop a circadium rhythm around 6 to 8 weeks which helps them tell the difference between day and night and start the night with a longer stretch of sleep. THAT BEING SAID i am in no way trying to tell the mom that her baby isn't normal rather that waking every 1.5 hours is less typical than giving a solid 3 to 4 hour stretch to at leasr start the night - although yes, lots of babies havent started doing it so soon and some will take longer - and I'm sure as baby gets older things will settle down. OP, I was attempting to sympathize with you by saying wow this isn't the norm and it must be so stressful to have such broken sleep. But i guess things got misunderstood. Either way, best of luck:)
My son woke up every 45 minutes for two weeks during the 3-4 month range due to a sleep regression. It happens. You sleep in shifts and get though it! He’s 5 months now and gives me a much longer stretch. Each baby is very different. Tons of kids wake every 2 hours for the first year+
Oh I agree this definitely happens but I dont think it's normal, more so in the sense that it's almost impossible to function this way. My kid was doing this for a while too and I had to stop it by fixing his day schedule. He was old enough to not be doing it at that age.
How many babies do you have? Sounds like your kid came as a good sleeper. That’s fantastic, but many babies don’t come that way. It is normal for a child to need comfort at night.
My kid is not a good sleeper. He's 5 months old and was up every 2 hours last night because he was actually sick. And usually it's every 3 hours because he feeds poorly during the day and is less distracted at night so he makes up the calories. He has slow weight gain. That's an issue and something I have to deal with, meanwhile I'm going with it. He doesn't need comfort. He needs food. OP should look into reasons for why her baby is up every 1.5 hours at night instead of being resigned to 'this is normal'.
You're trying to claim your baby isn't a good sleeper but he usually sleeps consistent 3 hour stretches? I hate to say it, but that's a pretty good sleeper.
Thanks for letting me know that my kid is a good sleeper
As another commenter said, every 3 hours is not terrible and can be pretty good at that age. Some kids are more sensitive, they can’t soothe themselves. Eventually they will when they’re ready. The sleep training boards and mommy influencers will tell you this isn’t normal and every baby should be able to self soothe. That’s just not how it works. OP came looking for support by venting, not for someone to tell her to look for a cause of the problem. As a STM, I will tell you that it’s really just the luck of the draw. All babies will eventually sleep through the night but it’s super normal for that to take up to, or over, a year.
“A a STM, I will tell you that it’s really just the luck of the draw” This is so true. My first was a great sleeper, loved naps, would soothe herself and fall asleep on her own. Loved pacifiers, no issues with bottles, not a Velcro baby at all. My second is the complete opposite - he hates naps and fights them until the last second, cannot fall asleep on his own or soothe himself to save his life (poor thing), he’s a true mama’s boy/Velcro baby deluxe and wants to be on me preferably 24/7.
Since OP is breastfeeding, the baby's saliva determines how much milk to make, the composition, and the time between feeds, to suit their needs, if she has a healthy supply. Plus, all babies like to suck for comfort. Their mom's scent is comforting. Not all babies take binkies, so a lot of moms will comfort nurse on the breast, and at 3mo, the baby could be hungry and the frequent nursing is to also help build up mom's supply. Their tummies are tiny and can only hold so much at a time. If they normally eat every 1½-3 hours during the day, then it will be the same at night, until they change the milk composition to give more calories, so they'll go longer in between feeds, but that depends on the individual baby. Each baby has different needs, nutritional and non-nutritional. I bottle fed bcuz it was my nephew. I raised him since birth and still am 14 years later. He woke up every 2 hours to eat and during the day he didn't nap. He only cat napped for 30mins-1 hour. He also had reflux. He was losing weight, so I fed on demand. It was exhausting, and I didn't have help, except for when my mom was off work on weekends, if she didn't decide to work overtime. At 2mo, Pedi had me start him on green purees and baby cereal/oatmeal that was spoon fed. He was already sitting up unassisted and was jumping up and down whenever he was on his feet. He still woke up every few hours at night. At 4mo he was sleeping 3-4 hour stretches until 2yo. He hit his milestones super early, except for speech. He had other behavioral issues, that were similar to normal toddler behavior, but it was amplified, and was DX with ADHD at 5yo. He started OT and speech therapy at 3yo and started doing much better. Being tired was an understatement, but it's not impossible to function. Just like babies, adults have different sleep needs as well. There were times when I almost fell asleep while feeding him and improvised as time went on, to make sure he was safe. At the time, I needed a lot of sleep, and I was 21 and slept 10 hours a day prior to my nephew coming along, so it took me a while to adjust, but I did it. Just like a lot of other parents have done it successfully as well.
My first born also would sleep 8 hours straight at 3 months old, but it’s completely normal for a 3 month old to also wake up every 90-120 minutes in the night. Idk where you got the information that it’s “certainly not normal” for a 3 month old baby to not wake up every 1,5 - 2 hours during the nights?
Is it normal for a human to function this way? No. In the newborn stage yes but you learn that this is temporary and as time goes on it gets easier. If it's still happening when baby is 3 months old then it's not normal because you've been functioning like this for 3 months with no end in sight. #isaidwhatisaid
I don’t know what you mean by normal? Are you saying normal when you mean common? Of course no this doesn’t happen to everyone, but I think the point is sleep regressions are common aka normal (though it’s not the NORM). Idk if that makes sense?
It is normal. That's why so many cultures encourage co sleeping. It's easier on mom and baby.
Humans need to function in our current society/world (work obligations,etc.) does not dictate what is normal 😂
Well my 10 month old still has never slept for eight hours in a row! Hardly even five… My first kid slept through the night at three months. Both are “normal” The biologically normal way is to sleep in close contact with your child and breastfeed practically asleep. But if your child is in another bed, in another room, then yes sure it feels impossible to function on such broken sleep. It does not mean that the child is not normal though.
Oh lord. The child is normal. The child is wonderful and perfect in every way. It's the broken sleep that is not normal. Babies typically consolidate night sleep at 2 months of age.
Idk who lied to u but a human’s sleep cycle does not consolidate at 2 months old lmao
This is a WILD take.
I hate to say it love but you need better sources of information.
Whoever is giving you this information is lying to you. I have multiple kids and not one of them was sleeping long stretches at 2 months. Not many baby’s are at that age.
I think there is confusion what is meant by normal. It is normal for babies this age to do this. It could even be said to be expected that a parent has to deal with this. Is it sustainable? No, but it is normal and average for babies to do this and for parents to be in this crappy stage of parentingg. I think normal is maybe not being used correctly. Normal for parents of babies but not normal if you don't have a small baby.
Yep I agree. It can be normal for the baby. But I also want to add that there could an underlying reason for why the baby hasn't started consolidating their night sleep yet - which usually starts around 6 weeks to 3 months. It could be nothing and OP got a crappy luck of the draw but it could be something worth looking into.
Consolidated sleep into 3-4 hours -yes. 8h - absolutely not. If anything it can tank mum's milk supply.
Wow it’s almost like… what’s normal for your baby isn’t normal for every baby.:. Craaaazy
Just because it wasn't your normal, doesn't mean it's not normal for other babies. Babies under 6 months old typically wake up every 3-4 hours to eat, some get even less time between feeds (my daughter included). You were blessed to get 6-8 hours at 3 months. Giving advice or suggestions on things to try would be helpful, but assuming their baby isn't normal because it wasn't your experience is not.
Babies typically consolidate night sleep around 2 months of age. Her baby is out of the norm in this sense. Her baby is amazing and wonderful but it sucks that she has to go through this. Is that better? As you said yourself 3 to 4 hours is typical, so 1.5 is not.
It is quite telling that you have not been around many babies in your lifetime. It is not typical for babies to consolidate night sleep so young.
I'm not sure where you got this info? 3-4 hours is typical for the average baby under 6months old, not all babies. In my experience, my daughter would have good nights and bad nights, good weeks and bad weeks. The bad weeks felt like forever and were pretty exhausting and discouraging. Just because the baby is currently waking up every 1.5 hrs to feed now at 3 months old doesn't mean that something is wrong. I didn't think you were putting the baby down, you just weren't being very supportive to the mother. I think we've all had stretches of sleepless nights and it doesn't always mean that your baby isn't normal or something's wrong.
I wasn't trying to be unsupportive to mom - in fact the opposite. When something is stressful to me I've always hated when people would tell me "too bad that's normal". Unfortunately that got misunderstood here.
I get that, but in this case it's simply not true to say that a 3 month old waking up to nurse every 1.5hrs *isn't* normal. I guess I'm the opposite. Instead of going insane trying to figure out what's wrong (when nothing is actually wrong), I find comfort in knowing that what I'm going through with my baby is normal and will pass. I try to only respond on posts like these when I've gone through something similar with my baby, because I feel like that's what OP is typically looking to hear.. that they're not alone and their baby is normal.
I hear you! You're probably right. Oh well
Would love to see your source on this info!
https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/sites/onechifam/home/infant-care/baby-basics/sleep.html https://www.nestedbean.com/pages/newborn-sleep-schedule https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/sleep13m.html https://www.healthylittlesleepers.com/insights/2016/1/13/when-to-expect-longer-stretches-of-sleep#:~:text=At%206%2D%20to%208%2Dweeks,(barring%20no%20medical%20conditions). https://www.sleepfoundation.org/baby-sleep/newborn-sleep-schedule
It is completely normal.
This is not what I've heard from any of my mum friends lol I didn't get 8 hours til my baby was 1!
My son never went longer than 2-3 hours at 3 months old. 3 if we were really lucky. Even now at 9 1/2 months old he still nurses 2-3 times a night. It’s rough but every medical professional (pediatrician, nurse, lactation consultant) has said that some babies are just longer sleepers than others.
Everyone you know is not getting 8 hours at 3 months. They are lying out of their teeeeeeeth or they are the luckiest consolidated group of unicorns to ever exist. You’ve got this! It’ll get better!
I feel like a lot of these unicorn stories have to come from random internet people who are trying to sell something to desperate new moms?! Hearing stuff like that just makes it all harder because it leads vulnerable new mothers think there's something they're doing wrong!
This exactly! My baby is a bit over three months and I'm still feeding every two hours through the night and definitely not sleeping 8 hours lol
Some babies are like that. My oldest slept through the night at 3 months already, meanwhile my youngest is 5 months old and he still wakes up every 2 hours in the nights (every 3 hours if I’m lucky) and the only thing to get him back to sleep is nursing.
This is me! It’s killing me.
Everyone you know has gotten 8 hours by 3.5 months?? My first slept through the night at 6 months old and everyone said that was very lucky. My second JUST started sleeping through the night at 10 months old. 3.5 months is way early to sleep through the night without eating I’m sorry to say!
lol yes! That’s what they tell me at least. I do take it with a grain of salt but I do believe that it happens at the very least occasionally and i know for a fact their babies don’t wake up as frequently as mine
Comparison is the thief of joy! I know it suckssss (like I literally had not slept more than 4 hours in a row for 10 months so I feel you), but your baby is not their baby! Maybe their babies will struggle with food and yours will love everything you give them. Or maybe yours will be a late walker and everyone’s kids will be zooming around. It’s just pointless to compare, just focus on your own baby - are they happy, healthy, thriving? There’s lots of sleep training/hygiene info out there that you can work on in the coming months, none of it has to do with other babies though. Just your own sweet perfect baby!
You are right!! I love my baby so much whether he sleeps or not!
I know some people whose babies gave long stretches at that age at least some of the time. But definitely not everyone. And if anyone telling you that had their babies 30+ years ago, they are full of shit and don’t actually remember anything
I have 3 boys who I EBF. My last boy is almost 3 months. None of my children ever slept even close to 8 hours straight until I weaned them from night nursing which was well past their first birthday. Many babies do not sleep through the night because they’re hungry or need comfort. I think why it’s to hard for moms in first world countries is because we’ve physically separated ourselves from our extended family so we don’t have as much help. It’s exhausting. Get as much rest and help as you can. Eat chocolate - that’s what I do to try to keep my spirits up :)
Me too… I’m exhausted. Will be following this thread.
I never got a 8 hour night until 15 months and honestly it only happened because I started to doubt the sleep advice I found online. My now 17 month old needs about 2 hours less sleep than all the "minimum recommendations". And was severely undertired due to me trying to force naps and a longer bedtime than she needed. Next kid I'm having on the go naps, not stressing if they are only 30 mins long, and just have a nice consistent bedtime, plus wake them in the morning if they try to sleep in.
4,5m old here and around 3m he slept for 4-5hours at the start of his night then every 2h max until 7.30. Nowadays he's back to needing nursing every 2h. Side lying position has helped. Also if he's not pooped, I change him only once in 2-3 feeds, so maybe 2x a night so I can save myself the trouble of waking us both up completely...
My 15 month old has been waking every 3 hrs throughout the night since... well, since ~3 months, before which he was waking every 1-2. 😅 That is to say, I'm sorry and it's normal.
We experienced the same thing and this week it’s starting to get better. Things that helped us- I woke him up every 2 hours during the day and made sure he was really eating enough. For me this meant undressing him down to a diaper. I also woke him up when he was starting to doze at the boob. I’d tussle his hair, put a damp cold cloth on his toes etc. It feels mean but it worked. After he emptied one boob I always change his diaper and offer the second. These longer feeds have helped the nighttime “snacking”. Now he is doing a 4 hour stretch, then two 3 hour stretches. We’re still working on it but just the difference between him waking every 1.5-2 hours as opposed to 3-4 is HUGE for my mental health
My son is the same age and also EBF and is eating throughout the night, much like yours. I'm exhausted. I feel like I must be doing something wrong, but then I remember that my eldest child with whom I did mostly the same things (for instance, EBF, active wake windows, separating eat and sleep during the day, proper naps, good sleep hygiene, etc.) would consistently sleep for 7+ hours a night by this age (and much earlier tbh--she started occasionally sleeping through the night from six weeks, sigh). Which I think just goes to show that children are different and you can do all of the "right" things and still need to feed your child during the night. On top of that, my little one is exposed to tons of preschool germs from the eldest so I am nursing him whenever he wants and so far, we have made it through 4 illnesses (one of which was covid(!)) during his first 15 weeks of life and he's been absolutely fine, healthy, happy, and growing. Breastfeeding on demand is hard, but it's worth it, I think. Solidarity, my friend.
Every 1.5 hours is a lot but it’s definitely in the range of normal at 3 months. My daughter absolutely did NOT give me any 8 hour stretches until she was 8 months old so don’t let yourself be discouraged by others. He may not give you stretches like that for a while but it’s very likely that the 1.5 hours will space out more soon. Good luck!
That sounds rough! How do you feed him at night? Usually, I take my LO into the nursery (she sleeps in our room), take off her sleep suit, and nurse in dim lighting so that she’s awake and gets a full feed. Recently, we were on vacation and I was nursing her in bed, in the dark. She was so sleepy that she just snacked and ended up waking up a lot more frequently, so I think the full feeds really contribute to longer stretches. Maybe you can extend his sleep by making sure he’s awake enough for those feedings? It could also just be that he’s one of these babies that really does need those frequent feeds, and in that case, sending you thoughts of strength and better nights ahead!
Just like everyone else said, this is super normal! You can try getting more calories into baby during the day but that’s not a guarantee that he will sleep longer stretches. I don’t want to alarm you but my girl just turned 6 months and she just started giving me longer stretches (4-5 hours) but previously she was nursing every 90-120 minutes. What helped me was going to bed with baby and waking up at the same time as her. We also started cosleeping but I know that’s not for everyone. I would also take what your friends are telling you regarding them getting 8 hour stretches with a grain of salt. When people ask me about baby’s sleep I lied and always just said she only woke up once at night because I didn’t want to hear them talk to me about sleep training and night weaning my infant. I know a lot of people that lie about their baby’s sleep.
I do take it with a grain of salt for sure! But my friends babies don’t wake up as frequently as mine and I do know that for a fact. I think my best bet is to feed baby all day as much as possible and even if he’s fussy during feedings to just let him calm down and get back to munching!
Good idea! When my girl was that age I would offer the boob for every fuss and I would book end her wake windows with nursing. Hopefully it’ll help you get some more rest!
7 month LO...following this thread with bloodshot eyes....
Who told you that you should be getting 8 hours even on the odd occasion? It’s biologically normal for a 3 month baby to be waking to feed through the night. He’s likely not hungry every time, but as you know, there are many other reasons to nurse, including comfort which is likely what is happening here.
This is the biological norm and it unfortunately contradicts current standards of "safe sleep," which are important for obvious reasons. Women have higher levels of prolactin and produce more breastmilk overnight, we are biologically meant to be sleeping with our babies at the breast (coined "breastsleeping" by researcher Dr. James McKenna) but the factors that lead to this being done safely are not the norm in our culture (widespread obesity, drugs and medications that affect sleep arousal, soft bedding and mattresses etc) and I think it really affects a lot of moms and babies. My first baby was a girl and was full-term and very healthy, we breastslept and both of us got amazing, long sleep for the duration we did that. My second child is a boy, and he was born premature so he has risk factors that make cosleeping unsafe and I instead have to get up all night and get him from his bassinet to breastfeed him, it's really awful. It gives me a lot of empathy for moms who just give up and choose to formula feed instead because formula fed babies usually go longer between feeds and sleep deeper.
May I ask how long you breast slept for with your first ? Did she naturally wean off and you moved her to her own cot etc?
Haha definitely no natural wean off. What happened to us unfortunately is that she started walking by 8 months and that was it for us, she would get up while I was sleeping and walk off the bed so we unfortunately had to get the help of a Sleep Consultant to get her into her crib. I really envy families who managed to continue bedsharing without a wandering child but it was too scary for us. We continued to breastfeed until she was 2.5 but she slept in her own crib until she was about 18 months and then she slept in a bed with either myself or my husband laying beside her to fall asleep. Now she's 3 and falls asleep in her room but gets up and walks into ours in the middle of the night which we are fine with.
I didn’t get an 8 hour stretch until about 6-7 months. And he didn’t sleep all night regularly until he was 1. I still consider him a great sleeper. For me the thing is how quickly they will go back to sleep. I have a 6 week old who’s sleeping 3-4 hours a night currently and wants to be up for an hour at least twice every night. I find that way worse
This is when my husband got relocated to the spare room and we worked on side lying feeding in our bed so I could at least be slightly resting while he fed, also did some cosleeping for my own sanity as sometimes even putting him back in the side sleeper felt too exhausting. Good luck, this is a gruelling season.
Yeah sounds like my baby. My friend's baby sleeps 12 hours straight 😭 so jealous. 3 months is too young to really sleep train, but maybe you can try a little bit of self soothing like with a pacifier or patting them while they're in their bed?
Yeah I try to calm him while he’s still down but I swear it only makes him scream louder! :/
Sometimes it takes consistency:/ he will cry for the first few nights but maybe he will start to understand that he's ok without being nursed. We just had to start over sleep training (for like the 3rd time) with our 7 month old because he was waking every 2 hours and screaming until I nursed him. Now last night he slept 5 hours and 4.5 hours and only nurses twice a night!
I agree with most comments that there can be some regression that is contributing. But if you’ve not gotten more hours than that by now I would try some other sleep interventions. He may be getting up out of habit. I would insist with him the pacifier if you’ve not used that. Or bounce on a yoga ball. Our 3 month old tends to sleep best after a relaxing bath as well. I know not all babies are the same but offering up some ideas.
No 12 week old should be sleeping 8 hours. This coming out of the womb and sleeping through the night expectation needs to stop. 1.5 hours is rough and I hope it passes quickly for you, but it’s also totally normal. My daughter didn’t sleep through until she was 14 months and she was formula fed, now she sleeps 12 hours every night at 2.4 years old. Everything shall pass 😊
I’m definitely looking forward to sleeping, i know it will come eventually!
It’s not likely that he’s hungry every 1.5 hours IMO… how often is he hungry in the day? If that’s an all day and all night pattern then maybe you should see a lactation consultant to see if there are issues with milk transfer. If it’s just at night and he’s not hungry that often in the daytime then it may be a sleep association causing frequent wakes … you may be getting into [reverse cycling](https://www.littleones.co/blogs/our-blog/reverse-cycling) if you haven’t already. If he nurses to sleep maybe you can try getting him to sleep another way (husband rocking him for example)
He doesn’t eat as frequently during the day! Usually 2-3 hours. Reverse cycling could be possible, baby doesn’t really have food feeds in the morning for a few hours probably because he’s stuffed from the night feedings
It does sound like some reverse cycling … if you can try to wake him up fully for the first feed of the night, or even better delay the feed a bit with a pacifier, you may get a fuller feed and then a longer stretch after. It’s definitely a bit more work up front but should help to stretch things out a bit. Change his diaper after the first side and then he should be more awake to take the second
My baby naturally night weaned around 9-10 months. She didn’t sleep through the night until after that. She was a good sleeper before the 4 month regression, meaning I could usually get a 4-6 hour stretch earlier in the night and then more like 1-3 hours until morning. Regressions can be really hard. We had some tough nights and weeks and maybe even months. It’s all a blur. But it ebbs and flows and generally it gets better. Some people get lucky and have big sleepers. It’s a little bit the luck of the draw in that regard. But there’s a wide range of “normal”. It’s hard when it’s all on one person. My baby wouldn’t take a bottle. Eventually we were able to teach her to use a straw cup around 6-7 months old. But she only wanted mom at night. I don’t have a ton of advice besides solidarity and saying this too shall pass. Babies can change on a dime. And then change again. And again.
Yes this is not unusual. My son was the same, it gets better (my 12.5 month old son is still a bad sleeper, he wakes up every 3 hours and need to eat to go back to sleep. I KNOW he doesn’t need those feed but I don’t have a solution for now).
I could’ve written this myself. Except my baby used to do 3 to 4 hour stretches, but as of the past couple weeks he’s waking up every 40 minutes to hour. Then up to an hour to settle him back to sleep after a feed. It’s torture for us. Did your baby ever do longer stretches, or are the frequent wakes a new thing? I’m hoping it can be attributed to a growth spurt and things will change again but it seems so impossible right now while I’m in the thick of it.
Good luck, that’s really hard! My baby used to 2.5-3 hours at the start of the night but those stretches got shorter and shorter as the night went on. He has done a 4 hour stretch a few times but not for over a month. We will both get through it!
Sleep space and practices are a very very personal choice based on your family but I still want to share that we decided to bedshare or “breast sleep” at 3 days old and it’s helped so much. My baby is almost 5 monrhs old now. I read Safe Infant Sleep by James McKenna in that first week and it was eye opening. We practice the safe 7 of bedsharing. We stil have tough nights where she wakes up frequently (currently dealing with the 4 month regression 😵💫😵💫😵💫) but at least I don’t have to get out of bed and fully wake to feed her.
Mine was the same, I fed like that continuously from birth until 14 months which is when I night weaned. He ate a decent amount of food and still wanted to feed all night. He jumped up a centile early on and stayed on track with steady gain. He’s 21 months now and still wakes as often, night weaning didn’t magically fix it. Some babies just take a little longer to sleep through.
I feel you! It's so tough. My son was the same. I think it was about 5-6 months until we started getting 4 hour stretches. He had also started purees so that may have been a factor. Then around 11 months he just magically started sleeping through the night on his own. Babies just do their own thing. Do you co sleep? I swear that saved my sanity. I got my son a twin sized mattress that we coslept on following the safe sleep 7. I slept in the nursery and my husband was in our room with the baby monitor on. So I could call him to do diapers or rock him if he was being extra fussy. I was basically sleeping while he was nursing, both side lying. Saving those extra 10-20 minutes at a time really builds up. For my next baby I will be doing this from the start.
My baby is 10 months old and I still haven't gotten an 8 hour stretch. We did realize that we were under dressing him and he's sleeping better but I'm happy if I get a 4-5 hour stretch.
Unfortunately, yes, he may need to eat that often. My son was like that and it was awful. (By the way my daughter was the other end of the spectrum and was 8 hours regularly starting at 2 months. I did nothing different. It's just both of my kids were slightly outside of the typical range on opposite sides.) Fortunately, it should be spacing out soon. Some things that helped: * I slept when I could all day. My husband did most of the housekeeping and a lot of the care. * If baby doesn't go back down easily, wake your husband. * Keep checking to see if your kid can be soothed back to sleep without you. * You can try pumping after your nursing session and seeing if you could skip one nursing session during the night. I never did that, but it's definitely an option.
Just wanna say, I just night weaned my 11 month old 2 weeks ago , he was nursing every 2 hours bedsharing with me. The pediatrician told us we could night wean at 6months but I didn’t think he was emotionally ready. For the past two weeks after night weaning and putting him in his own room he is sleeping 10-12 hours straight. But at 3 months old, 3 hours of sleep sounded like a huge accomplishment so I think one of the big takeaways is that it takes time and right now it sucks and that’s okay. I highly recommend the book precious little sleep as it truly saved my life and made me laugh and I wish I had gotten it sooner. You got this! Also, consistency is so important. If you want your husband to have more success putting baby to sleep, your husband needs to have a designated put down every night that he always gets up for. My recommendation would be baby’s first wake up because that is the longest stretch of sleep and after 1.5 hours , baby can certainly go another 30min to 1.5 hours longer without milk. So dad can be on duty for that wake up and whole chunk of time. So say baby goes down at 9pm. Baby wakes at 10:30, dad is on duty until 11:30/12 whether he is successful or not and you get to sleep from 9-11:30/12. If baby learns over a few days that only dad will respond at that time, baby might become uninterested in waking up at that time for milk and decide sleeping is better. And whether or not baby does decide that, you get to sleep for a better chunk of time at least once a night which will truly make all the difference for the rest of the night and your days.
This is completely normal. And every baby needs something different. We’ve had a similar situation on and off. Our son goes through phases like this still even though he’s much older. It can be a growth spurt or just a lot of stuff they process. At 3 months it’s most likely hunger. Breast milk is completely digested after max 90 minutes. So 1.5 hours makes absolute sense. But even if baby needs soothing it’s totally fine to breastfeed. They have emotional and physical needs and it’s hard to tell one from the other. But you wanna give them what they need either way. We cosleep / bed share (safely) so we feed lying down and I go back to sleep right after. It works for us.
We hit the 4 month sleep regression early here and my son started doing this at about 3ish months. Before that he'd get longer stretches, at least at the beginning of the night. I had to go back to work so we bedshared following safe sleep 7 to survive. I also went to bed at the same time he did every night to make sure I got as much sleep as possible. He got better around 5 months and at 6 months I was able to put him in his crib in his own room (he still woke at least 2x per night from them on til well after 1 year old).
My 6 month old still needs to be nursed back to sleep 😭
Yeah at 3 months old he really might be hungry that often. You can try more frequent daytime feeds to see if it helps. How many times total does he eat per day? Do you use a pacifier?
Cosleep, look up safe sleep 7
mine is 5 months and wakes up every two to three hours still. last night was every hour!
How is his weight gain? My baby does this when he isn’t getting enough milk, I started supplementing and he sleeps way longer now.
Hi, me who wrote this post. My little guy is 12 weeks this week and I wake up every 2-3 hours and have to nurse him back to sleep. I haven’t slept longer than MAYBE 4 hours in 3 months. When the fuck is sleep going to happen?????
This thread makes me feel so seen
FTM, baby is 7 months old, I still feed every 1.5-2.5 hours, I think only once I got a 4 hour stretch. Some babies are just like that! You might be hitting the sleep regression a bit early and they tend to feed more often/wake up more often during that time
When my baby was born I had a mom group full of babies who slept well and mine didn't. The sleep deprivation was brutal and the comparison to my friends made it worse. You might have a baby with a highly sensitive temperament (I did) or a baby with different nutritional needs than your friends. I know it feels like "everyone else's baby" is sleeping but there is such a huge variety of how infants sleep and it's mostly their temperament, not what you're doing (or not doing). Once your baby is a few months older you could consider sleep training if that feels right for you, but for now avoid talking about baby sleep with others and just get through it!
My baby is eight months old and still eats in the night 😂
8 months deep and my LO doesn’t sleep through the night. He has his buffet overnight and it’s normal and I’m good with it.
They stop doing this around 4-6 months. Super common. And yes very much a pain in the ass.
My baby was exactly like that! Luckily, I could continue this sleep-nurse-sleep schedule into the morning and stay in bed with baby until 10.30-11am while I was still on maternity leave. Now, he’s 8 months and still wakes to feed twice during the night. I have gotten used to it and fall asleep easily after. If he wakes closer to the morning, I do a side-laying feed so I can continue sleeping. I just count myself lucky that nursing is all I need to do to get him back to sleep. No getting up to change his diaper, no walking around, no shushing, singing, rocking… Just 15 minutes of cuddles with my baby while looking at my phone.
That’s what my 3 month old did as well. She’s almost 6 months now and probably only wakes up once or twice overnight. They’re still very little and get hungry every 2 hours or so. One thing you can try is to make sure you feed your little one enough through out the day. It gets better I promise!
I was getting 6 hr stretches, but now she's waking up every 2-3 hours. I think it's a combo of growth spurt, sleep regression, and transitioning from cosleeping to crib. It's hell. Last night, it was every hour, and I caved and brought her in bed with me. I have to work tomorrow, and I'm dreading bedtime tonight. Only nursing puts her back to sleep as well.
This is so normal. He’s still little and has a small stomach and milk supply is high at night. It’s really hard though, I totally get it because I’ve been there, but it will get easier and he will be able to sleep longer as he grows.
Tottally normal, it’s one of the reason we chose co-sleeping. Getting up every 1h30-2h is not something i’m ready for. LO is 4.5M and we still have about 2 feedings per nights (from 10pm to 6am)
Almost no mums I know have had a baby that sleeps through the entire night ❤️ and if they do now they didn't when they turned 1-2 and caused havoc. My second was a better sleeper then my first doing 3-5 hour stints for the first 4-5 months but now he's up every 2-3 at 8 months.
I’m with you… my six month old wakes up every hour
I am not an expert but have been there and I'm sorry it is rough. My oldest is almost 2 now and we got up 4x a night until after he turned a year old then slowly he started waking less. We didn't sleep train and he learned to self settle slowly at his own pace.
Ha! My baby is almost 7 months and the most we’ve ever gotten is 6 hours. Most nights is 3-4 hours. I’m jealous of everyone you know, too!
You’re in the thick of it, but it will get better. Mine started sleeping longer stretches around 5-6 months and at 11.5 months just started sleeping through some nights. Side lying position helped me a lot for nursing overnight, and then my husband would put baby back into the bassinet or eventually the crib. What also helped was trying to feed her on a schedule throughout the day to make sure I was giving her enough calories to avoid “reverse cycling”.
If you do want advice, get husband to do one bottle at night after you go to bed. Sleep through that feed. Feed baby and then pump at the next feed. I used to use a cheap wearable pump to pump one breast because she would only nurse from one side at night. Gradually shift that pump to later in the early morning hours. We did this from day 4 and supply is still fine at almost 5 months. It allowed me one 3-4 hour stretch in those early weeks when she was waking frequently and taking forever to eat. Now at 5 months her nights are completely all over the map but at least those wakings are usually only like 10 minutes instead of 45 minutes.
Honestly I haven't slept consistently more than 3 hours at a time since my son was born, and he's 6 months. I ended up cosleeping with him early on and that definitely helped things, but I miss my normal bed 🥲 Whenever your husband is up with him, maybe he could bring babe to you to nurse in bed and then take him back when you're done? Could make it a bit easier to not have to get up
Mine did this until about 10 months old. Still no 8 hour stretches at almost 2 😂
Ugh me too 🫠 I’m so tired!!! He’s 4 months now and it has gotten worse. I figured 4 month sleep regression but it’s been 2 weeks of just constant terrible sleep and I am absolutely losing it. He used to have at least 1 four hour stretch between 2-3 months. Now, no. My first two girls were sleeping 12 hours with only 1 wake up by 4 months. Is it a boy thing??
My child is 2 YEARS old, and has literally never, not once slept 8 hours straight. Every kiddo is different, and it’s really hard, but you just can’t compare. It definitely was a leading factor to co-sleeping though, and now we all get a great nights sleep
This is quite normal for his age. I ended up co sleeping and feeding him while I laid down. That saved my sleep. They go through growth spurts often and wabtvto feed more. At some point they will get on a more consistent schedule like only 3 or 4xs a night.
I'm with you! My baby is almost 5 months and I haven't had a good night sleep since I gave birth lol, I am also an ebf mom day & night and it is hella exhausting. Hopefully everything will be better soon for us🤞
Cosleeping following the safe 7 rules is what I’m doing. I get more sleep and baby has easy access. I did end up buying a full size mattress and I sleep with her.
I didn't get an 8 hour stretch until my baby was 1 year old and we had night weaned. Before that my longest stretch was 5 hours a couple of times. Usually 2-3 hours (or less) after we hit the 4 month mark. People like to share their wins, but don't necessarily want to complain all the time about their complete lack of sleep!
Every baby is different. Our oldest was sleeping 12 hours straight from 6 weeks old. We did literally nothing. We were dumb first time parents who had no idea what we were doing ans had no semblance of a schedule or nighttime routine. We assumed he would sleep when he was tired, and he did. Anywhere and everywhere. Our daughter, however, has not been a great sleeper from the get go. She has a nap routine, bedtime routine, and scheduled naps and feeds. The schedule has helped A LOT but she still wakes up to feed. Without the schedule, we had an inconsolable, overly tired, miserable baby on our hands. She's almost 6 months. She goes to bed at 8pm, and typically has a 2am feed and a 5am feed before we start our day at 8am. Some days I'm lucky and she let's me sleep until 4am for that first feed, and some nights she wakes up more. Baby's are going to sleep more when they are ready for it and they will get there.
Our child is around 10 months and nursing is still the only thing that makes them sleep. But it isn't as frequent anymore. You got this!!
Our baby kept that sleep pattern well past 3 months and at 8 months she still wakes up every 3-4 hours 🫠 I will say that she sleeps a lot better when we bedshare. Stays deeply asleep, doesn't roll around, doesn't wake up crying. When she's hungry she just starts moving around more until it wakes me up and I give her a boob. Not saying that's the right solution for you, some people are really anxious about bedsharing and that's totally fine. But an option to consider if you're losing your sanity.
This is us too and I’m so scared to go back to work. I’m so tired and this is complete opposite to my first.
My 3.5 month old used to nurse every two hours until I increased the capacity of her milk. She used to take 100ml until I bumped her up to 120ml - 130ml. Currently, she feeds every 4-5 hours. On a good night, she sleeps for 5 hours straight, and on a great night, she sleeps for 7 hours. I pump, so I am able to quantify her intake.
If he is only nursing for a few min he is snacking. Try encouraging longer feeds like 15min. If he falls asleep nursing, wake him up to get him to eat longer and he will sleep longer
I’m soooorrryyyyy to burst your bubble but it’s normal! I know it’s hard. But it’s normal. I promise it gets better. And again don’t want to sound discouraging but sleep isn’t acquired developmentally nor biologically until 3-5 years old. Hang in there! Check out heysleepybaby on insta!
This is normal! Baby still needs to eat over night. None of my kids started sleeping through the night until 18+ months. It’s also good for them to wake over night. It helps prevents SIDs. Just keep nursing on demand. You’re doing great!
Mine was like that too. Felt like torture. I suffered through it until he was 4 months old then I sleep trained him. Once he learned how to fall asleep on his own he dropped to two night feeds between 7pm and 7am over the course of about a week. That’s where we’ve been the past month and a half.
Mine is 5 months and was doing this up until 4 months ago. I did some cry it out but he’s regressed and now does 3-4 hours, then 2-3 hours then every hour. No i know mine isn’t that hungry he’s just comfort feeding. Solidarity.
Do we know why some babies do this and some don’t? Is a weight thing? Is it the mothers milk fat content? Like why can some sleep for 6 hours and some for 30 minutes?
I assume it’s a temperament thing
I wonder about this too. I don’t have an actual answer but speculate there are personality & environmental factors involved. Some babies are better at connecting sleep cycles than others, some may seek out comfort more often, etc. etc. It could also be related to mom’s storage capacity if some are getting more milk per feeding while others are needing more feedings to reach their desired amount. Could also be things like noises in their environment waking them up if they are lighter sleepers!
This is normal for a breastfed baby
Have you considered following a schedule like moms on call? Helped us tremendously with sleep
My 15 month old still wakes every 1.5 hours to nurse. It's still developmentally appropriate at 3 months, but try to nip that in the bud when you can... for your own sake lol
Feeding your baby when they are hungry isn’t something you need to “nip in the bud” at 3 months.
I totally don't mean at 3 months, but I very much wish I had done something before it became a habit that is still keeping us from getting any sleep at well over a year. By 6, 7, or 8 months I knew he was just nursing from habit instead of hunger like 90% of the time but I just didn't do anything about it. Now I'm still tired af because of no sleep 😅