Babies Waking Every Two Hours Wreck the Whole Night
Many new parents are experiencing exhaustion and stress due to frequent feedings, teething discomfort, and boundary testing in their babies. They grapple with balancing caregiving demands and personal well-being while navigating the transition from infancy to toddlerhood.
SOURCES (60)
“For context, I am a FTM and had little to no milk when baby was born and we've had to supplement with formula the first week as he was still fussy after feeds and would cry nonstop. After the first week, I think my milk…”
“We call them the chaos hours. We have learned to dread the night..... Nothing seems to settle him down for long. He cries and demands feeding after feeding and gets so upset that he ends up spitting up a ton. Just over 3 weeks old this week. I know we're in the trenches still but my poor wife feels like I failure at times I reassure her. submitted by /u/criscodesigns [link] [comments]”
“title pretty much says it all. been cosleeping since 4 weeks old, little guy is a big nighttime nurser and it's made it easier to sleep together. I am so anxious about leaving him but it's for my best friends bachelorette and I have to go. I know he'll be fine w my husband, but my question is do I have to wake up in the middle of the night to pump?? I know it's important in the early days but I obviously have an established supply at this point. I will be pumping during the dayti”
“I want my life back. I want my sleep back. Any tips highly encouraged in the comments! submitted by /u/fancypantsmiss [link] [comments]”
“Will my breastmilk be affected now that my 11 week old is sleeping 6+ hours at night and im exclusivly breastfeeding? submitted by /u/Clean-Guess-9463 [link] [comments]”
“Just wondering how to approach this.. I read to wean you just remove one feeding at a time. But how do you do that when you feed on demand?😅 I usually feed my daughter a bit after she wakes up, before she naps, and in between if she’s fussy. (8 months btw). Heading back to work at 12 months but I may possibly do 11 months. Just worried because she’s EBF (she hates the bottles but we’re working on it) and I won’t be able to work if she wants the boob submitted by /u/Ricekitten3 [link”
“FTM here! Our 12 week old became fussier the past week or so we presume he’s going through a growth cycle and generally waking up to the world a bit more. He’s been a pretty good and consistent napper since 2 months. This last week or so, he’s started wanting to eat as soon as he’s up from nap AND wants to eat again before going down. I wouldn’t have a problem with it, but he seems more frustrated before nap time. He wants to go to sleep, but realizes he’s hungry and goes through this screaming”
“Hi everyone, I'm expecting my first baby this spring, and I'm curious about the breastfeeding experience during the first month or so. Is four hours of consecutive sleep (give or take some time) during the early days possible, or is that an unreasonable expectation? I'm open to bottle feeding with breastmilk or supplementing with formula. I also have a partner I can share the feeds with. But from what I'm reading, it sounds like I would need to wake up every one or two hours to p”
“My 5 week old is EBF. During the day she eats on demand, but always at least by the 2 hour mark. At night I’ve been setting alarms for every 3 hours. Her weight gain is on track and her pediatrician has given the okay for her to sleep longer stretches and wake me up. Will this mess up my supply? Is there a cut off where I should wake her up anyways, for the sake of my supply? Sorry if this is a dumb question, I just have a lot of anxiety surrounding my supply dropping! submitted by /”
“So my youngest is 7 months old and combi fed (majority breast but one formula bottle a day) and currently wakes to feed around 10 and then feeds continuously from around 3am. My partner is adamant that by this age, they do not need to feed in the night, but as far as I'm aware, it's normal until 12+ months. If he's right and I can stop feeding in the night, I'd love that as I'm so sleep deprived but the health visitor also made a comment that she's just getting her calori”
“That's it that's the post. My daughter is 2 weeks old. I have a 27 month old son who I successfully breastfed until 21 months old but this time around I feel stuck. I'm trying to not stress and follow her cues, feed on demand, but it's not enough apparently. She had her 2 weeks old peds appt and I was happy to see she has reached her birth weight but apparently it's not enough, doctor is not happy that she gained only 5oz in 10 days, her doctor says that they're supposed”
“Basically as the title states… my 12 week old (13 in 2 days) was sleeping 8-10 hour stretches from the nigh before she turned 8 weeks through sometime last week. She is now waking again to feed between 1-3am. I had also noticed last week she was becoming irritated halfway through her bottle (around 2oz) and feeds were taking forever so I upped her nipple size. She is still drinking 4oz every 2-3 hours. On nights that she sleeps through, she drinks 6oz first thing in the morning. Just wondering w”
“A quick google tells me once babies are around 4/5 months and 12-14lb. Well my 3.5 month old weighed 18.5lb on our bathroom scale this week lol. He does his first stretch anywhere from 2-4hr in his crib, and then it’s just easier to cosleep so I bring him into bed with me where every couple of hours he stirs and I either pop the paci in or give him a quick nurse, usually only one side and very short session and we both go back to sleep. But I mean, he’s doing great weight wise. I’ve also heard t”
“Well. Our LO is still taking 3-4 oz every 2-3 hours during the night. He usually go to sleep at 6:30 pm and “wake up” at 5 am. It seems like he know when is the bed time, and it is very consistent. However, during the night, he will just wake up and cry for bottles for every 2-3 hours. He will go right back to sleep after or during the feed. Is this something we need to worry about? Or should we try something to reduces the feeds? He usually drink also 2-3 hours but 3-5 oz during the day. Averag”
“This is recent. He's 6 weeks old now and he usually wakes up in the middle of the night around every 2.5-3 hours for his 2oz bottle of formula. Last week we started feeding him 3 oz in the middle of the night because we find that allows him to sleep longer before waking up. But starting yesterday, he started waking up every 2 hours, sometimes 1.5 hours and he still drinks all 3oz of formula. Anyone know what's going on or if this is normal? His weight seems normal. Last I weighed him he”
“Right now we’re just feeding on demand and he sleeps most of the day away anyways but is starting to get bigger wake periods but I do know having a routine helps kiddos! I know right now there’s not much to a bedtime routine or day to day but I just wanted to ask!!! Do people actually get their kids to sleep by 7-9 pm 🤯 my partner thinks that’s absolutely bonkers and only something people say online to seem like better parents…(we’re in the middle of a sleep regression with our 3 year old so th”
“My youngest is 14 months and we're currently trying to night wean (or just get a longer stretch between feeds at night even). He's generally always woken at around 2-4AM and 5-6AM for a feed for a while now. To help with this, my partner has been going in to settle him instead of me. My partner has always done our baby's bedtime 3 nights a week. He used to give him a bottle of expressed milk but recently it's been rejected. Given his age we were happy to drop the bottle, and he s”
“6 week old has been sleeping 4-5hrs between feeds at night but she will consistently wake up every 30-45 min and need resettling. Sometimes it’s spit up/reflux that wakes her, other times I find her thrashing her legs around and if I wait and see, she will fully wake up. I’m usually able to pat her butt or rock the bassinet and she will resettle but it’s getting exhausting. I keep seeing people say their babies are getting 5+ hour stretches through the night but is that straight through with no”
“I have been exclusively breastfeeding directly since baby was born around 14 weeks ago. I've noticed over the last few days, baby will have a feed after her bath at around 7pm and then sleep until 9.30, fuss for a feed and then be asleep until around 12.30/1am. After which she's up every 2 hours for a feed. How is she able to do a long stretch between 9.30 and 12.30/1am which is a long stretch for us but then us up every 2 hours after that? submitted by /u/kweeeeeeeeeen [link”
“Mostly night weaning. We’ve stopped during the day. We’re down to 5:45p, 7:30p, once overnight, and once in morning. The awake feedings seem easier to stop, and we’re starting to skip as my boobs allow. But the middle of the night…she gets so upset if I don’t feed her. I try to skip it all the time and she will have a full meltdown. We do cosleep, which we’re working on stopping too. So, moms of Reddit, how do we do this? submitted by /u/geedeebee22 [link] [comments]”
“My baby is 4 weeks old and my husband goes back to work in a couple weeks. So far we have both been getting up when she’s needing to eat overnight or I’ll do the feed and put her to bed (husband can sleep through this). We have been EBF for the last week after some latch issues but she will easily take a bottle and I have lots of pumped milk stored in the freezer now. I’m trying to understand how we can begin splitting out nights into shifts so that we can each get a bit more sleep. My main conc”
“My LO has been a lazy eater since day 1. That, coupled with low supply in the beginning, made for immediate formula supplementing. I used to be really impatient and not wanna sit around for an hour every other hour throughout the day to feed her, so bottle it was. However, I’ve always known I want to bottle feed AND breast feed. EBF has never been a desire of mine. I have stayed committed despite her eating so slow, taking in a lot of air, falling asleep at the breast, and then ultimately not be”
“When are all the different ages your baby cluster fed? Thought I was out of the woods since my baby’s 8 weeks, but she just started again yesterday. Need to mentally prepare for how much this will happen over the next year 😵💫 submitted by /u/Relevant_Lynx_5117 [link] [comments]”
“As the title says! But I will add all the context below. Sorry if there's too much information but I'm conscious I don't want to repeat myself endlessly in the comments My 23mo has been weaned from day feeding for approx 2 months. I was extremely overstimulated and at the time, day feeding was the easier thing to drop. He now feeds pre-nap, pre-bed and then pretty continuously throughout the night - coslept since birth. Dad is able to put him to bed no problem, but when he wakes from”
“Hi, It's my second child, both breastfed. I'm still breastfeeding him at 14 months once at midday and then for bedtime and through the night for wake ups. The problem is that he's waking during the night for feeds, nurses a little but isn't satisfied, and then will not settle at all for hours until finally a bigger letdown comes and satisfies him. Last night the crying was too sad so we brought him a bottle of milk, around 2-3oz, and he finally settled and slept. I'd like to”
“It’s about to his 5am and baby has been awake since 3:30am. We changed him, gave him boob, burped him. Still didn’t seem satisfied. Have him more boob. An hour had passed and he still fussed and asked for boob, so made a bottle. I gave him 2oz bottle, tried to pace him. He finished it, burped him, still wide awake. Laid him down, gave him boob. He desperately looked for boob but has kept fussing. He’s been having these long wake windows and fussy fits. His poop and pee is regular, he passes gas”
“Everyone loves to brag about when their baby starts sleeping through the night. It’s a phase that I am excited for, as I miss my sleep. My baby is 10.5 weeks right now and still wakes up for 2 feeds per night (typically around 12:30-1:30am & 4-5am). I typically breastfeed her. But if my husband gives her a bottle, I’ll pump in place of it. However, when she starts sleeping through the night, can I also sleep through the night?? It seems that’s why moms boast about this phase - because everyo”
“My LO is now 11 weeks old. Pretty much since birth he only feeds 5-10 mins per feed and feeds every 1-1.5 hours. He usually comes off at about 5 mins each time. He does this during the day and the night. Often it’s more frequent and he feeds every 30-45 mins. Occasionally he’ll do a 2 hour stretch in the night. The lactation consultant said he’s just an efficient feeder and may be a snacker. He does seem to gulp it down and he’s growing well. He has a good latch most of the time too. I’ve tried”
“We have a 3 month old and have a routine that seems to work - we bath him around 8:30 then my husband sits in a dark room and feeds him; it sends him to sleep and he usually then goes through until 5:30/6 which is great! However, friends have said this might be too late for bed? We could try an earlier bedtime but we’re worried he’d just wake earlier and also it means my husband and I would have no evening together due to the dark room and feeding. Thoughts?! submitted by /u/scoutwes”
“I can’t believe I really thought we’d be down to one wake / night feed by 8 months.. LOL. I don’t know why I was under the impression that baby would just naturally start dropping feeds as they got older and ate more solids throughout the day, too. If anything, my baby was a great sleeper, only waking once a night until the four month regression. Then it improved around 6 months but has been inconsistent and up-and-down ever since. I now have a 7.5 month old who wakes up every 2 to 3 hours all n”
“I’m a FTM and my baby is in his 6th week of life (had 5 week birthday on Sunday). He went through pretty intense cluster feeding on Sunday and Monday, he just wanted to eat and sleep so basically no play time. Today once again he just wants to sleep and eat. We got one small play session in though he didn’t seem interested in high contrast toys and mostly just wanted to kick around on the playmat. I want to engage his mind appropriately for a 6 week old, but also if I wake him from sleep he crie”
“I’m losing so much sleep checking my 8 week old’s monitor at night. She sleeps next to us but I like being able to check it so I don’t have to sit up to see her. I spend so long trying to figure out if she’s waking up or in active sleep - she makes so many noises and rolls around a ton. If her eyes aren’t open I may try to rock her gently/put my hand on her to settle her and it’ll work for like 5 minutes and then she starts doing it again. As soon as I see her open her eyes I pick her up to feed”
“I have a 2 week old, and for the past two days now he has been frequently giving hunger cues for the boob. He has been sleeping decently well at night with two to three solid feeds, but once 6am comes around, he wants the boob non stop. He’ll eat for about 15 minutes with active sucking and swallowing and then show signs that he’s full, so I’ll burp him and change the diaper. Then he’ll almost immediately start fussing and giving hunger cues, turning his head with a wide mouth toward the boob, p”
“My LO is just shy of 5 months. In the last week I feel like he is eating constantly at night - I am trying not to look at the clock but I suspect it’s hourly. We still sleep chest to chest and sometimes I feel like he has trapped air but just can’t work it out. I’ve tried burping and soothing him and nothing settles him except the nipple. I’m exhausted but also worried about flipping his sense of day, like getting all of his meals at night. I’m wondering if he would do better if we switched to C”
“My eight month old baby is exclusively nursed and co-sleep with me. Won’t take a bottle. Doesn’t like formula. Is eating solids and gaining weight great. Except I believe he is reverse cycling at night and literally eats at the breast every hour and a half it feels like how do I get out of this cycle? I do not want to sleep train submitted by /u/atomicblonde23 [link] [comments]”
“Hi! I’m a 27F with an 11 month son. My son learned to sleep through the night after one month. And now he stopped through the night but just needs one bottle then goes back to bed midway through. He doesn’t fuss much and loves to learn and listen to me reading him books or playing with his toys independently and with myself. He loves meeting new people and smiles at them and plays with them. His PT said he’s pretty extroverted and curious. Im currently pregnant w second (don’t know gender yet) a”
“We just dropped to 6-7 feeds during the day (she sleeps through the night). Is this normal? Or too much? submitted by /u/Dangerous-Analyst854 [link] [comments]”
“hi! mum to a 5.5m lovely little boy. i'm basically just feeding on demand but noticed he still drinks every 1.5-2 hours not that i really mind but i was wondering when this stretches out tbh 🥲 or is it normal to still be this frequent? he's growing normally, even went up percentiles so no concerns with growth submitted by /u/burnagyal [link] [comments]”
“I don’t understand how it works fully, according to the rules: Exclusive breastfeeding day and night. No long intervals between feeds. This means no more than 4 hours during day or 6 hours at night. No periods or bleeds. Baby less than 6 months old. I’ve met all these rules (not using this as contraception btw just want to understand), but I’ve heard if you pump then the method won’t work. I have pumped, but it never replaced feeds, just slightly pumped to relieve engorgement and baby was on the”
“My 7 week old is a big snacker. Throughout the day she usually eats every 2-3 hours, but for the life of me I can’t get her to eat for longer during the day. She usually eats for 10-20 minutes and then is done, although I will say she is usually pretty efficient for most of that. Sometimes though she is only comfort nursing and then naps after. Because of this, she wakes up every hour and a half to 2 hours at night. All my friends are saying to feed her more during the day in order to give us lo”
“My baby has some days he eats 14 oz some days 4 oz during the day. He was being super fussy and gassy so I thought this may be why but he eats twice in the middle of the night and takes 4 ounce bottles. I brought him to the pediatrician who said he‘s fine and gaining weight and should be able to sleep through the night (lol). He suggested we wean him off the night feeds to get him to sleep through the night. Tried this last night- cut the ounces in half but still only had 13 ounces today, no mor”
“My 8 week old has been a great little eater since day 1. He latched well in hospital, he was back to birth weight at 1 week appointment, and has continued to gain weight consistently. The last two weeks have been weird with breastfeeding, specifically our afternoon/evening feeds. He usually eats around 6, 9, 12, 3, 5:30, and then once more around 8:30 before bed. He then will wake up around 1-2 for a middle of the night feed before sleeping again until 6. Some things to note - - I have a very fa”
“9 months postpartum and boy am I done and exhausted with this. I plan to night wean first so he can have more solids in the day. Did anyone night wean first? He is constantly on my boob all night. submitted by /u/fancypantsmiss [link] [comments]”
“My son is 11 weeks old and has been gaining weight well. He was born at 39+4 weighing 3.5 kg and now 5.4kg. currently about 95% breastfed and 5% bottle topups once every so often. Constant snacking / feeding almost every hour He can seem hungry and root for the breast, but then once he starts feeding he may only take a relatively small amount before becoming upset. Sometimes he will feed, cry, settle when held upright, then appear hungry again and want to feed shortly afterwards. When giving bot”
“My baby was a really good sleeper from 4mo up until 8mo. He used to sleep 7pm to 7am like clock work but all of a sudden it stopped and has only gotten worse as time has gone on. I know 8–10 month sleep regression is a thing but I thought sleep regressions were supposed to last only a month max? When this started around 8mo he would wake up 1-2 times per night but now it’s more like 3-4 with no sign of improvement. I feel like I’ve tried everything, I’ve tried more solids throughout the day. I’v”
“Or maybe all of this is driving me insane I don’t know but I would loveee some perspective. I had my second LO on 7/1. He is 11 weeks old today. From the start, we had feeding issues. His oral motor skills just were strong enough to pull milk out which tanked my supply and thus began triple feeding and supplementing. I had to do triple feeding with my first so I was very familiar. We were working with a lactation consultant at the time. She mentioned he had a slight lip tie at the time. Anyways,”
“I know there’s many of us out there and I want to share our story. My daughter just turned 3 and we co-sleep. She still wakes a couple times a night to nurse. It’s strictly out of habit and comfort, but this means we both don’t get a full nights sleep…for 3 years!! 4 nights ago I decided to drop night feeds. I prepped her by telling her that she can’t have milk at night, she has to wait until the sun comes up. I nursed her to sleep and when she woke up I reminded her that she can’t have any and”
“My 2 1/2 year old is a major fomo baby. Like since he was a baby baby. His sleep has been horrendousssss and I’ve never really been able to figure out a solid sleep schedule (ie 7-7) because he’s just all over the place despite having had the exact same bedtime routine since he started daycare at 9 months (bath, book, milk, bed). Now, I’ve realized that he simply is not tired at 7:30 and I’ve started pushing his bedtime to anytime between 8:30-9:30pm and it’ll take him anywhere from 10-30 min to”
“Mostly a half joking vent. First time dad, I take night shift so my wife can rest. Since night 2, our little girl has been going 4-6 hours non stop drinking milk. My wife is producing a mix of milk/colostrum at this point, but not enough so we supplement with formula. Anyways, we log what she drinks and within 4 hrs, it seems rather high…just south of 210 ml or 7 fl oz. Granted, she came out at 8 lbs 11 oz…full term at 40 weeks 2 days. So maybe her size matters here? Should I be concerned? Can t”
“Tbf idk if they're really cluster feeding or not. Last few days they wanted to eat every 2ish hours vs. Their typical 3-3.5, but their naps have been all over the place. Sometimes they'll do grear and nap for over an hour (a win in our book), other times they'll nap for maybe 45 mins if lucky then up and wanting to eat. Today they were giving a hungry cry an hour after eating, which sounds like textbook cluster feeding, but now I'm a little lost on what sort of schedule I should”
“I'm having trouble breastfeeding as the day gets later, and I was wondering if anyone here has had a similar experience/tips. Basically, my 10 week old feeds well in the morning, but in the afternoon she never seems satisfied by breastfeeding. Like she'll spend a really long time (30 min - 2 hours) feeding on my breasts and then grow frustrated and I'll give her a bottle, and then she'll drink 4 - 6 ounces, which makes me think she wasn't getting any milk from me. I met with”
“Fellow parents of a 2 month old: What does your bedtime routine and overnight timeline look like right now? Any tips on what works for you and what doesn't? I have a routine but am always open to hearing what everyone else has going on. Thanks! submitted by /u/Shot_Razzmatazz5560 [link] [comments]”
“Hello all. So how am i even asking this question when my baby is 10 weeks old.. well he was born restricted uterine growth in the less than 1% and thus i was scared of him not eating enough and have been feeding him every 3 hours regardless if he is fussing for food. But it has now lead to him just taking 1/2 the bottle and being full and us playing for an hour and then finishing it (i exclusively pump). I want to see if he will eat more if i just wait till he is hungry but i heard if you wait t”
“My baby is 8months, (6 months adjusted) and his pediatrician is recommending weaning for night. Initially this came up because I mentioned he had been waking up and having a wake period in the middle of the night. She said if I didn't wean at night it would only get worse. When I got home from the appointment, nothing I found supported her claim, I read "weaning with love" from La Leche League Canada not for profit resource, and some other websites that seemed reputable. They all p”
“Hey, looking for a sanity check. At around 2 months, was anyone else’s baby only sleeping in 2-hour chunks? I’m working with our pediatrician and trying everything under the sun to help him sleep longer, but I’m wondering how common this is at this age and whether it eventually improved on its own. submitted by /u/Significant_Tie3570 [link] [comments]”
“Hey, looking for a sanity check. At around 2 months, was anyone else’s baby only sleeping in 2-hour chunks? I’m working with our pediatrician and trying everything under the sun to help him sleep longer (new formula, nipple flow, I’ve read all the sleep books) but I’m wondering how common this is at this age and whether it eventually improved on its own. submitted by /u/Significant_Tie3570 [link] [comments]”
“My son turned 1 earlier this month and I’m struggling to figure out a schedule. I want to continue to nurse until the end of the year if I can. He normally nursed: 8am, 11:30am, 2:30pm, 5:30pm, 7:30pm and overnight as he wanted. Today I am out running errands and I am out later than I planned so my husband said he could give a bottle for nap. Should I pump when I get home? submitted by /u/Mdgirl1 [link] [comments]”
“My LO is 5 months and 1 week old, and we are in the thick of the 4 month sleep regression it would seem. For the past 3 weeks I've been getting 1 1/2 hour stretches at night before she stirs, needing the breast to resettle and fall back asleep. She will scream otherwise. We co-sleep, or else i would be getting 0 sleep at this point. Her naps have also been crap. Usually 30-45 minutes before she wakes and either needs the breast to resettle, or she is just ready to wake up and resume her day.”