What's Gone Wrong? Growth Spurt?

[Alison]

Dear all

Haven't posted for a while cos I'm knackered. DS had a lovely routine going
and has slept through from 7pm until 6am from 8 weeks until 16 weeks regular
as clockwork (corrected for prematurity). But these past two weeks he's
been waking at 8.30pm, 2am and 5am (give or take half an hour). I was
expecting a growth spurt at around this time but I was expecting it to be
like the others where we had feeding frenzy for a couple of days and then
things levelled out again. Will this be the feeding pattern now until he
goes onto solids or will he go back to sleeping through? He only sleeps for
about 15 mins 3 times during the day so it's not as if he's switched his
night into the day (used to have a 3 hour nap at lunchtime before all this
feeding lark got cranked up)

In this part of the world the introduction of solids happens at 4 months,
almost as soon as the baby wakes twice in the night two nights in a row.
I'm fighting hard to get to the 6 month marker and DS is showing no signs of
being interested in food nor even watching others eat/drink. I'm coming
under heavy fire here but I'm determined to ride it out. I just need to
know sorta what to expect so that I can either accept my knackeredness with
good grace, or look forward to a night's sleep in a few days time.

I'm also looking after 21 fish, 8 cats, 2 dogs, 2 OAPs (and a partridge in a
pear tree - ha ha) so I'm just wondering if anyone has yet found the button
for stopping the world so you can get off for a bit?

--Alison

[Phoebe & Allyson]

Alison wrote:

> DS had a lovely routine going
> and has slept through from 7pm until 6am

Wow! Caterpillar did that, too. Once.


> But these past two weeks he's
> been waking at 8.30pm, 2am and 5am

We haven't started solids, so I couldn't tell you from
experience whether it makes a difference. But we have
bedtime around 10 or 11pm, nurse at midnight, nurse at least
twice more in the night, wake up around 8:30 or 9:30.
Fortunately, she doesn't wake up unless I'm slow to open the
lunch wagon.

Phoebe :)
and the Very Hungry Caterpillar, who will be 6 months old in
4 more days
--
yahoo address is unread - substitute mailbolt

[Dawn Lawson]

Phoebe & Allyson wrote:

> Alison wrote:
>
>> DS had a lovely routine going
>> and has slept through from 7pm until 6am
>
>
> Wow! Caterpillar did that, too. Once.
>
>
>> But these past two weeks he's
>> been waking at 8.30pm, 2am and 5am
>
>
> We haven't started solids, so I couldn't tell you from experience
> whether it makes a difference.

If you mean, that starting solids will mean longer sleep, my experience
is that NO, certianly not. 4-5 months seems to be a pretty standard
period for sleep disruptions, from what I read here.
(I'm not even gonna tell you about the last few nights here at 14mo,
except to say I *really* need sleep)

[Judy King]

"Dawn Lawson" > wrote in message
news:Q8vxb.508508$pl3.455864@pd7tw3no...
>
>
> Phoebe & Allyson wrote:
>
> > Alison wrote:
> >
> >> DS had a lovely routine going
> >> and has slept through from 7pm until 6am
> >
> >
> > Wow! Caterpillar did that, too. Once.
> >
> >
> >> But these past two weeks he's
> >> been waking at 8.30pm, 2am and 5am
> >
> >
> > We haven't started solids, so I couldn't tell you from experience
> > whether it makes a difference.
>
> If you mean, that starting solids will mean longer sleep, my experience
> is that NO, certianly not. 4-5 months seems to be a pretty standard
> period for sleep disruptions, from what I read here.
> (I'm not even gonna tell you about the last few nights here at 14mo,
> except to say I *really* need sleep)
>

I had a whopper baby and he was so hungry It was a struggle to get to four
months without solids, let alone six! I started on a bit of rice cereal at
four months and he really did start to sleep better. I know plenty of people
who found the opposite though. That's the only certainty, they're all
different :-)

Judy

[Plissken]

"Alison" .uk> wrote in
message ...
> Dear all
>
> Haven't posted for a while cos I'm knackered. DS had a lovely routine
going
> and has slept through from 7pm until 6am from 8 weeks until 16 weeks
regular
> as clockwork (corrected for prematurity). But these past two weeks he's
> been waking at 8.30pm, 2am and 5am (give or take half an hour). I was
> expecting a growth spurt at around this time but I was expecting it to be
> like the others where we had feeding frenzy for a couple of days and then
> things levelled out again. Will this be the feeding pattern now until he
> goes onto solids or will he go back to sleeping through? He only sleeps
for
> about 15 mins 3 times during the day so it's not as if he's switched his
> night into the day (used to have a 3 hour nap at lunchtime before all this
> feeding lark got cranked up)
>
> In this part of the world the introduction of solids happens at 4 months,
> almost as soon as the baby wakes twice in the night two nights in a row.
> I'm fighting hard to get to the 6 month marker and DS is showing no signs
of
> being interested in food nor even watching others eat/drink. I'm coming
> under heavy fire here but I'm determined to ride it out. I just need to
> know sorta what to expect so that I can either accept my knackeredness
with
> good grace, or look forward to a night's sleep in a few days time.
>
> I'm also looking after 21 fish, 8 cats, 2 dogs, 2 OAPs (and a partridge in
a
> pear tree - ha ha) so I'm just wondering if anyone has yet found the
button
> for stopping the world so you can get off for a bit?

Wow, your baby only wakes up 3 times a night? I'm jealous. My DD slept
through the night frm 1-4 months and then started waking up. She is now
approaching 7 months and eating solids and recently started to wake up every
hour throughout the night, boy I am tired! I hope it's a growth spurt as
well and not a pattern. If you find that button let me know, I just need 2
days off, one to sleep the other to clean my house.

Nadene
oht nak

[Ulrike]

"Alison" .uk> wrote

> Haven't posted for a while cos I'm knackered. DS had a lovely routine going
> and has slept through from 7pm until 6am from 8 weeks until 16 weeks regular
> as clockwork (corrected for prematurity). But these past two weeks he's
> been waking at 8.30pm, 2am and 5am (give or take half an hour). I was
> expecting a growth spurt at around this time but I was expecting it to be
> like the others where we had feeding frenzy for a couple of days and then
> things levelled out again. Will this be the feeding pattern now until he
> goes onto solids or will he go back to sleeping through? He only sleeps for
> about 15 mins 3 times during the day so it's not as if he's switched his
> night into the day (used to have a 3 hour nap at lunchtime before all this
> feeding lark got cranked up)

Sounds a lot like my daughter. She slept through (7 to 10 hours)
pretty reliably after two months, but at three and a half or so
started waking up again once or twice a night. She's a bit over five
months now and only rarely sleeps through anymore.

> In this part of the world the introduction of solids happens at 4 months,
> almost as soon as the baby wakes twice in the night two nights in a row.
> I'm fighting hard to get to the 6 month marker and DS is showing no signs of
> being interested in food nor even watching others eat/drink. I'm coming
> under heavy fire here but I'm determined to ride it out. I just need to
> know sorta what to expect so that I can either accept my knackeredness with
> good grace, or look forward to a night's sleep in a few days time.

Maybe your luck will be better than mine... Actually, though, by now
it doesn't bother me much when she wakes up in the middle of the
night. Once we had really got the hang of this breastfeeding thingie,
it wasn't a big deal anymore to nurse her at night. And, if it's any
consolation, waking up during the night is actually a good thing as
far as SIDS is concerned.

Out of curiosity, who is after you to start solids at four months?
I'm just asking because I find it odd that there seem to be people who
apparently aren't terribly knowledgable but feel the need to tell you
what's good for your child. I guess I'm lucky not to have encountered
any yet.

Ulrike

[Bruce and Jeanne]

Alison wrote:

> Dear all
>
> Haven't posted for a while cos I'm knackered. DS had a lovely routine going
> and has slept through from 7pm until 6am from 8 weeks until 16 weeks regular
> as clockwork (corrected for prematurity). But these past two weeks he's
> been waking at 8.30pm, 2am and 5am (give or take half an hour). I was
> expecting a growth spurt at around this time but I was expecting it to be
> like the others where we had feeding frenzy for a couple of days and then
> things levelled out again. Will this be the feeding pattern now until he
> goes onto solids or will he go back to sleeping through? He only sleeps for
> about 15 mins 3 times during the day so it's not as if he's switched his
> night into the day (used to have a 3 hour nap at lunchtime before all this
> feeding lark got cranked up)
>

There is a 4 month growth spurt so that could be driving the changed
sleeping habits. Then again, the baby could be trying something else
(e.g., rolling over, babbling, whatever) and *that* could be driving the
changed sleeping habits.

My two experiences:
DD slept through the night (not quite as long as your son) at 6 weeks
but at 6 months, she started waking up every three hours. She also
started solids around 6-7 months, so feeding solids to her definitely
had no effect on her sleep.

DS has never slept through the night (although last night he slept 4.5
hours!), with or without solids.

Jeanne

[Larry McMahan]

Alison .uk> writes:
: Dear all

: Haven't posted for a while cos I'm knackered. DS had a lovely routine going
: and has slept through from 7pm until 6am from 8 weeks until 16 weeks regular
: as clockwork (corrected for prematurity). But these past two weeks he's
: been waking at 8.30pm, 2am and 5am (give or take half an hour). I was
: expecting a growth spurt at around this time but I was expecting it to be
: like the others where we had feeding frenzy for a couple of days and then
: things levelled out again. Will this be the feeding pattern now until he
: goes onto solids or will he go back to sleeping through? He only sleeps for
: about 15 mins 3 times during the day so it's not as if he's switched his
: night into the day (used to have a 3 hour nap at lunchtime before all this
: feeding lark got cranked up)

I don't know about that. You won't like this, :-), but it has been our
experience that the frequent night wakings around 4 to 4 1/2 months has
more to do with motor development than feeding. This is the time when he
starts to sit, and it won't be long until he starts to roll over, crawl
then cruise and walk. Our experience was that when this started happening
ours did not start sleeping like before 4 months until after 10 months.
Regardless of how you fed them!

:-(

Good luck,
Larry