3 Month Old Suddenly Not Sleeping Thrrough the Night

Babies really cannot be put on a sleep schedule until they are AT LEAST 4 months old. Infants needs upwards of 14 hours of sleep a day, and may do so in various increments. The term "sleeping through the night" really means 5 hours, and ideally babies, especially breast fed babies, need to eat every 2-4 hours. It sounds to me like your little one is just doing what babies do best -- i.e. change up on you jsut when you think you hav a routine. This is nothing to worry about; although you may be tired. As for the nanny, i am glad to hear you switched -- babies need interaction, touches, love and care to thrive and just letting her sit in a seat all day is concerning. Best of luck.

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Three months is very young to sleep through the night. That said, observing changes in her schedule and in her behavior can help you to figure out how changes in her day affect her night. As a physical therapist who does Early Intervention (birth to 36 months), I am concerned about her being in a bouncy seat for extended times. It is important for her to have good supervised tummy time sessions so when she is awake she learns to play on her stomach and develop her motor skills. I am also a Feldenkrais practitioner with a specialty in wellness movement classes for infants and babies. I can also help you teach your baby to settle and return to sleep after you have fed and changed her as necessary. Sometimes, babies rouse at night due to their expanding movement repertoire, and need to learn how to put themselves back to sleep. This is a good time to teach and foster healthy sleep patterns. If you are interested in having a session to learn fun tummy time and baby handling skills, please contact me. I am in the West End of Richmond.
Yours,
R. Shapiro
Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner
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Have you given the nanny a schedule to follow? I'm a nanny and it always helps when the parents tell me exactly what they expect.

Its not uncommon for infants to change their schedules every couple months. Just when you think you have it figured out, they throw you for a loop.

My little baby did the same at 3 months, although I changed nothing with her schedule or feeding or anything else for that matter. My friend has a little boy who is now 3 1/2 months old and she said that he started not sleeping well at night at 3 months old as well (she also changed nothing in his routine). I am not a fan of cry it out, so I would calm her and feed her when she woke. It took some time, but she just learned on her own how to sleep one night around 4 1/2 month. I put her down swaddled after feeding like always. She woke 30 minutes later and since I was in the shower my husband picked her up and calmed her and then put her down unswaddled. She cried out 2-3 more times over the next 30 minutes (each time he went in to calm) and then she slept the rest of the night without waking (a first!)

I'm not sure I could have done anything different. Perhaps she just needed my attention and then when it was time for her to be comfortable calming herself she did.

My girl did that when she was hungry and not getting enough to eat during the day.

That said, your daughter is simply young! Don't worry too much about a rigid schedule just yet.

Personally, I think this is normal. it could be a growth spurt. She also could be waking up with something irritating her... no pacifier, arm twitch... uncomfortable in position. Everyone says that your baby SHOULD be able to sleep through the night at 8 weeks or so, but I personally think that babies should not be pushed to do so. They are so little and growing so much. Yes, it is hard on mom to get up, but our baby's health is so important to us. I would hate to push my daughter to sleep when she really needs a little nourishment and she will sleep happily. I know there is the "cry it out" method out there. I don't think it should be implemented until they are much much older and understand that they don't need to be fed at night...

3 months is very young to expect to sleep though the night perfectly. it is perfectly normal for a baby to eat every three hours their first months of life. I don't recommend the "add rice cereal to the bottle" method either. Your little one is waking up for a reason. Just enjoy her as much as you can while she is this little. My daughter is now 13 months and I can't believe how the time has flown. She slept though the night at 16 weeks, then regressed at 6 months till about 9 months. She woke up at 4:30 every night to nurse again... then it went away. So now, she is an angel at night. I figure, I wake up every night to pee... why can't my baby be given the same privilege. No one forces me to cry it out. A little bit of love, a little bit of mommy time, a little bit of nourishment (formula or breast) and all is well again.

Hope this helps to take the stress off of you. Your baby is totally normal.

Sounds like the new nanny is giving the baby some needed stimulus for the brain. Your baby has to adapt by learning how to soothe herself and fall asleep, etc. You may need to add something to her nightly routine to help the settling process, just add one minute or two, nothing extensive - and give her time to figure it out. Or add music/ nature sounds to sleep time (just an idea, if it isn't there already). Look forward to these behavior changes, despite the lack of sleep they may bring...there will be many and they are wonderful opportunities to bond your lives together.

You can spend hours trying to figure out "why" , forget it, stop trying, just go with the flow. It will pass, she will eventually sleep throught the night (for a little while) then again regress to not sleeping through the night, and so on and so forth. Just go with it, be there for her, she is so young that she may be going through a growth spurt and need to be fed in the middle of the night. Just keep doing what you are doing, don't change anything, repitition is the key, most babies when they have developed a new skill are so excited about life have a hard time sleeping. This is so normal. Again just go with it, have fun holding your baby in the middle of the night and just relish being able to spend more time with her, because trust me it doesn't last long. I have two daughters and they are growing up too fast. With my second, I took more joy in parenting because I realized after the first it goes by way to fast, now when I get up at 2am to feed her or hold her (my second girl) I am all the more happy too!

Wow, C. be thanking your lucky stars to have a child who has slept through the night! My little 15 month old just 2 months ago started sleeping through the night. I think it is significantly easier and earlier if the child is bottle fed to sleep through the night. I recently weaned my daughter due to pregnancy at 13 months and that was when she slept through the nights. Not sure whether your daughter is bottle or breast fed but if she's breast fed it could easily be months before she sleeps through the night. I know it's so hard when you work full time to be up at night but I promise it won't last forever. I too, work full time and have a nanny. We have had 2 nanny's now as well and I would write out a schedule of when to give bottles and ideal naptimes. My baby didn't really get on an ideal nap schedule until 9 months. At 3 months they sleep when the are tired. I would suggest putting the baby to bed at 7PM. I know by the time you finish working it's not alot of time with them but they love their schedules. Remember the first months are tough but once the baby is on a schedule you'll forget the hard times. Good luck.

A little late in responding I know, but I would add this. At three months, they suddenly get very smart. They wake up to the world and start to get the idea tha tthey have a choice about sleeping. Wha tyou are experiencing is very normal.

Both my kids are great sleepers. But they both hav ehad their periods of crazy changes tha tit takes a few weeks to figure out. It's normal.

Stick to reoutine, but adjust timing. Put her to bed earlier or later. Also be wary if you think it might be pain due to teething or ear infection. IF she sleeps all night, it is probably not that. But often sleep changes are the main indicator of pain.

Good luck. this won't be the first time that she changes things on you. But it will be fine. YOu will setle into a schedule tha tworkds for her.

"Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" is a great book too!!