16 Week Old Has Started Waking at Night

He needs to eat and eventually he will start sleeping through again but he is probably going through a growth time and needs to eat more often. There will be several times that this happens in the next couple of years and the only thing to do is feed them and lose a little sleep. Good luck. :)

Babies are fine sleeping through the night at his age. You want to continue that habit. I once had a doctor friend (with 8 kids of his own) tell me that when a baby starts waking up at night, it's time to start feeding them cereal. Worked like a charm with my boys. They both started sleeping again the first night. We have yet to tell with DD, but she's twelve weeks and has been sleeping through the night for about 8 weeks. Good work. Continue that good sleep habit! Have fun and congratulations!

Sounds like he's going through a growth spurt. I'd feed him for a while and then cut back and try to make him fall back to sleep on his own. My oldest did that. He slept through the night from his first month on but then at 8 months started waking every night. I'd give him a bottle (I couldn't nurse) and started feeding him cereal or other baby food right before bed and it didn't take long for him to get back into the habit of sleeping through the night.

OPPPS!! Disregard as J. let me know I thought 16 mos not 16 weeks! Yes she is very lucky he sleeps through the night at this age!!!!!!!!

Can I suggest not nursing him at night as he is using you for a pacifier or to help him soothe. It probably is teething, which disrupts sleep. Check on him if he is fussing, rub his back, give him motrin/tylenol or teething tablets before bed.
Kids change sleep patterns a lot when they are growing or cutting teeth (especially eye teeth and molars). But nursing him will start a habit for him that will be harder to break.
I would say if he goes to bed with a full tummy at 16 mos he shouldn't need to eat during the night at all. Also, letting him fuss for a bit and teaching him to get back to sleep himself is crucial at his age too! :)

Your baby is only 4 months old, the fact that he slept through the night at such a young age is really good, but I think he set you guys up :). They still need to eat at this age and there are many reasons he could be doing this, the obvious is hunger, he could be in a growth spurt and those require a lot more nutrician, he could be teething, even though the signs aren't real obvious at this age, I call it the warm up stage..before the real teething starts.

I never recommended CIO especially at this age, make sure when you get up with him that you keep the room dark, and keep interaction to a minimum. Babies sleeping habits change all the time as they reach new milestones, teething even orneryness can change it, all we can do is work with it and most of the time the problems right themselves.

He will probably go through this more than once. He is probably about ready to hit a growth spurt and wants/needs more food. With my first and my second, their sleeping habits changed often. Good luck!

All instances of adding rice cereal to the diet to keep them sleeping at night are anecdotal. There is no scientific proof that adding other foods to their diet will help. In fact, the scientific proof points the other direction.
That said, if you want to introduce solids at this point (meaning rice cereal) you probably can. However the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends waiting until 6 months. He's probably going through a growth spurt -- most do around this age. (Mine is almost 5 months and you're lucky he's only waking once -- she wanted to eat every two hours during her growth spurt!)
Good luck!

Feed him a hearty meal before bed. Maybe shorten his nap time. Stop waking him to eat in the morning. He might think that he should wake to eat. He is learning a pattern. Good luck and god bless

growth spurt. Just put him in bed with you to nurse him and don't turn on lights or change diaper. Then put him right back and I am sure he will go back to sleep. They go through cycles like this. totally normal and expected and if he didn't wake up at all for more nourishment, you should worry.

I don't know if I should even respond, you've had a lot of responses already, but I just wanted to say something a little different. It's the way I have taken with my 2 that works for me, which by the way, really the best solution for your problem is to do what works best for both you and your baby. My little girl did the exact same thing as yours. She started sleeping from 8 to 8 at 6 weeks old, it was beautiful, and I didn't see anything wrong with it at all. She didn't mind it, so neither did I. Then at 4 1/2 months, surprise she started waking up again in the middle of the night. At first I nursed her when she woke up and started her on solid foods the next day, thinking that that must be the problem. She just started waking up more, when she saw I would get up with her. So what we did, is we made a rule (I was working at the time, and my husband was staying at home, so getting up all the time was not the solution). Our rule is that I would only nurse her between 4-6, once. Other than that my husband would get up and get her back to sleep, (not by taking her out of bed) giving her her pacifier, ect. That worked for us, and we have done that with our little boy. Now I'm at home, and could get up that often technically but I still don't think it is necessary to nurse them every 2 hours once they are past the newborn stage. But you know, every baby is different and so is every mother. Just find out what works best for you. Hope that helps.

Bring him over to his D. and you can sleep all night!

He is probably just teething. Feel his gums. I used Tylenol with my pediatricians urging (my daughter had a terrible time teething--she would even cry during the day). Good thing about tylenol is you will know the first night if the problem is teething, because he will sleep for the first 4-6 hours no problem and then.....

Good luck, don't worry you are doing a great job!

It sounds like he might be hitting a growth spurt - expected at 4 months old. You're really lucky that he's been sleeping so long already. It may be time to add some rice cereal during the day to help fill him up - but wait till his 4-month checkup and talk to the doctor first.

If he's in a good mood when he wakes up, not acting really hungry, you can leave him in his bed. He may be able to settle himself down and go back to sleep. But if he's grumpy or acting hungry, feed him. He's still very little and you will not at all spoil him by responding to his needs.

Sounds like it's time to feed that hungry boy some calories during the day! Try a Tbsp or so of rice cereal in the a.m. and/or the p.m, and gradually work up to about 2Tbsp/serving. Sounds like he needs a little bit more over the course of the entire day (and not just the night). Sleep is important and you are wise in wanting him to sleep all the way to the morning--it is completely do-able at this age. Good luck!

He's probably about to go through a growth spurt and needs the extra nutrition. A lot of other moms would suggest not nursing him, but I'm a firm believer in paying attention to your child's signs. If he nurses and then goes back to sleep, then nurse him. You may be tired, but is that more important than your child having the nutrition he needs? To avoid this becoming a routine that continues after he no longer needs it, keep the environment very quiet and still. Don't turn on lights or verbally interact with him more than is necessary. Quietly, get him out, cuddle and nurse him, and then put him back into bed. Chances are when he's finished with this phase, he'll start sleeping through again on his own. Good luck!

That happened to my son every few months. All we could figure is that he was going through a growth spurt and needed that little bit of extra. You know the difference in the cries, so if it is a hungry cry, I would feed him. He will slow down on the growing and again sleep through the night.

Not to be mean, but consider yourself extremely lucky to have been sleeping through the night up until now! My daughter just started sleeping straight until 4am at 10 months of age!! Until 4 months old, she never slept longer than a two hour stretch at a time, and then I was lucky to have a 3-4 hour stretch at a time.

Sorry... waking up 2-3x a night is not abnormal for a 4 month old.

Honestly, you have nothing to worry about, he's only 16 weeks and waking once a night is no big deal. Just nurse him and put him back to sleep. Little ones need nourishment to grow. If he's only waking once a night you are not experiencing a "problem". This is totally normal. Both my girls woke at least two times a night until they were over a year old.