sleep questions

[ethansmom]

Hi all,

My DS is slightly over 4 months old, but was 5 wks early. I just started back to work part-time and the night wakenings are killing me...any advice? He stays awake for about 2 hrs at a time during the day and then naps for about an hour. He loves to go to bed at 6:45 but gets up at approx 10, 2 &5 before waking for the day around 7. Previously, he had been waking at only 2 and 5, so I tried feeding him before I went to bed - now he wakes up on his own at 10. Aaggghh! How do you tell if they are waking up because they are hungry? I always feed him when he wakes up, but he often falls asleep within 10 mins/doesn't seem to eat very much. I just hate the thought of not offering him the breast in case he really is hungry. (can you guess he didn't eat well in the beginning?) What has your experience been? If I leave things alone, will he just magically start sleeping for longer stretches? BTW, he eats about every 3 hrs during the day - do I need to try to stretch him out?

Many thanks!

[MartiesMom2B]

According to Weissbluth, if you child is born prematurely your child will be on track on its due date. One of my friends realized that her child wasn't waking up due to hunger because her son would only nurse for 5 minutes and then fall asleep. Maybe if you let him cry for a little bit and see if he falls back to sleep. DD didn't sleep though the night until she started to suck her thumb. That's how she puts herself back to sleep.

Sonia
Proud Mommy to Martie 4/6/03

[kfcboston]

I totally agree on the thumb!! And also, I didn't really address the "how do you know?" issue in my other post. But for us, it's more of a "waa waa"-less than enthusiastic type cry vs. the more urgent sound of a hungry baby. I think maybe as they get older they become more mature vocally and more ABLE to express variations in cry AND you become more experienced at hearing them!

HTH!