Possible growth spurt? STTN thrown out of whack...

[Lyndzies]

Hi ladies! 

Question about your experiences with "growth spurts" affecting your LO sleeping through the night. 

Cady has slept through the night since she was only a couple weeks old.  In late December, we listened to her cues and figured out what a good "schedule" for her was, since I was heading back to work 1/3.  She started sleeping from about 8 pm through till around 6 or 7 am around Christmastime. 

Well, the past five days or so, she started getting up around 4 or 5, two nights ago she woke at 3:30 and last night at 2:00, ravenous and nursing like she'd never been fed before. 

She turned 3 months this past Saturday.

I guess I'm wondering what your thoughts are on what's causing this... do you think it could be "just" a growth spurt, and she'll go back to STTN soon?  Or is this a case of "just as your get used to their routines, they change them?"

I'm at a loss, and am wanting my full night's sleep back!  I'm not complaining; I know I was SO BLESSED to have a baby that STTN so early on, and am very thankful for that. 

Thanks so much for sharing your experiences!

[Knitting Mama]

I would say it's probably both.

[tnh2007]

I would agree with the pp.  I think it really depends on your lo.  I don't want to discourage you at all, but my ds STTN until he hit about 4 months old and then it was a long time until he didn't wake at all.  My dd hasn't ever slept through the night (she's 7 months)... 

I would say DS consistently STTN again at about 14 months.  (for months he woke up once in the middle of the night)  As a fellow working mama I totally understand the challenges.  I just try to remind myself that this too shall pass!

Hopefully your lo will go back to it since there was such a good routine established. 
Good luck!   

[Knitting Mama]

Yeah, I meant to elaborate my earlier post but didn't have time-- Cecilia STTN until maybe 2.5 months old, and then she started rolling over and growing fast, and then hit the 4 month regression, and then started teething, and...yeah, she still doesn't STTN again at 9 months. It will be nice when it happens again!

[SeattleRain]

Oh mama, I sooooo feel you.

I had the most beautiful, sleeping baby from about 8 weeks until 4 months. He slept from 7:30pm-7:30am every night. It was incredible. And then the four month sleep regression. Ugh. We're JUST getting to some kind of normal now that he's eating solids and we've upped his reflux meds.

A piece of advice I got from the Baby Whisperer is that if a baby wakes up at the same time every night, it's a habit. This is particularly true if they're not nursing for any real length of time/taking more than an ounce or two from the bottle. Adults do this too, we just randomly wake up at certain times and go back to sleep. If it's just habit, you're supposed to soothe them back to sleep without eating since that's really not what they want. If a baby is waking up at random times and is STARVING (like it sounds like your baby is doing), they're seriously hungry. Baby whisperer says to try upping their feedings during the day to compensate. If you're working and pumping, that could mean adding an extra ounce of BM to her bottle at every feeding. See if she'll take the extra milk during the day so she won't wake up and be so hungry at night. You could also try clusterfeeding her in the evening so she's superfull. She also could be reverse cycling because you're at work and she's missing the nursing. Is she eating a lot during the day?

It sounds like she's going through a growth spurt.

[newmamalizzy]

Originally Posted by Cecilia's Mama 

Yeah, I meant to elaborate my earlier post but didn't have time-- Cecilia STTN until maybe 2.5 months old, and then she started rolling over and growing fast, and then hit the 4 month regression, and then started teething, and...yeah, she still doesn't STTN again at 9 months. It will be nice when it happens again!

Ditto this...seems like it's pretty common for them to STTN early on then stop.  We get at least "major" wake-ups a night around here with some minor ones in between, and that's the best it's been since about 4 months.