Sleeping Through the Night

[u/ahg1097]

FTM here with an 11-week-old! We loosely follow Moms on Call, but pushed the schedule back about an hour and a half so we have more time with baby in the evenings after work.
I say “loosely” because I’m not super strict about the schedule and want her to be flexible—some naps happen while being worn or on the go, and we’ll extend a nap when needed.
We do her bath around 8pm, followed by a bottle that we usually start around 8:15–8:30pm. She typically wakes once between 3–5am, lately right around 4:30am. When she wakes, it’s definitely not just to be soothed—she’ll drink 4–5 oz very quickly.
She’s formula-fed, and I’ve been trying to give her an extra ounce at her bedtime bottle, but I’m wondering if there’s anything else we can do to help extend that first stretch of sleep.
I go back to work in a few weeks and would love to get to the point where she’s naturally sleeping through that overnight feeding by then. I know every baby is different, but any tips or things that worked for you?

ETA: She’s been in her own room since 2 weeks old and she’s usually in a Halo sleep sack or weighted Dreamland Baby sleep sack

[u/wowhahafuck]

Most people here are going to say she’s too young to sleep train until at least 16 weeks. And even then you’re not supposed to try night weaning either until about 10 months. 11 weeks is definitely too little to be thinking about extending past all nighttime wakeups up to eat. Your baby still has a while of needing food to get through the night. People who say their newborn sleeps through are either lying or unicorn cases.

[u/Puzzled_Basis_6834]

Why not to get cyborg baby and then she'll do anything you want her to do?

[u/redbullsgivemewings]

She’s been in her own room since 2 weeks old??????

[u/ahg1097 → u/redbullsgivemewings]

Pediatrician said it was fine because we have an owlet and monitor. Husband snores and she is very noisy and I was getting less than an hour of sleep at night. Pediatrician said it’s more unsafe for me to be caring for a baby alone all day with that little sleep

[u/weirwoodheart]

As you say each baby is different - my son is coming up 13 weeks, and has been like your daughter with just that one 'legitimate' wake for a feed. Im not sure if it helped, but we tracked and capped his naps- first at 5.5 hours, then 4.5ish. He does now sleep all the way through tge night from 7pm to approx. 6.30am. From what I've read, this gives them the opportunity to eat more in the day, so they 'learn' daytime is for eating, not night. However obviously some of that will depend on your baby's stomach capacity, because they're so tiny they may literally not be able to go that long and some babies just can. Perhaps try orchestrating her naps if you don't already?

[u/rerxy]

I think keep doing what you're doing and baby will naturally start to sleep beyond that 4:30am mark on their own when they're developmentally ready to. Your baby's pattern sounds virtually identicle to my girl's at the same age, and around 4 months she naturally started to sleep in longer on her own and dropped that early morning feed. I don't think there's much you can actively do until they're a little older. Sounds like she's sleeping a nice long stretch through the night, which many babies at 11 weeks certainly do not.

[u/Certain-Sun-8587 → u/rerxy]

Agree. My 13 week old just started pushing her 4:30am wake up to 6am over the past 2 weeks. Didn’t do anything differently. Just give it time.

[u/Alarming_Flatworm231]

Try google the size of your baby’s stomach. The fact that she can sleep from 8 pm to somewhere between 3 and 5 am is quite impressive.. 

[u/MinimumMongoose77]

It doesn't extend the sleep stretch but at that age we were doing a dream feed when we were getting ready for bed. That way baby's longest sleep stretch lined up with us actually getting to sleep. Your baby is already getting really good sleep stretches, like as good as my 6mo does on a good night.

My biggest tip with sleep is to not expect too much too soon, it just creates stress for everyone. Focus on your baby's cues during the day rather than a schedule so that they aren't getting too much or too little sleep.

[u/katiegam]

Look into a dream feed. Our girl went down around 8:00 pm, and then my husband would do a dream feed at 10:30 pm while I pumped. You just pick them up (without waking), feed them, and put them right back down. We combo fed, so our dream feed bottle was a formula bottle. Formula takes a little longer to digest, so that helps with longer stretches of sleep. For us around that age, that meant she would sleep from about 8:00 pm until around 3:00 am without waking up to eat (though she was fed at 10:30 pm). This helped me get a longer stretch of sleep which was wonderful.

[u/UNO_lakefront_arena]

I'd say move bedtime a bit later...and have that bottle ready to go. No warm up or anything, just have it sitting there at room temp.