Q & A: I have a frequent waker

Hello Rosemary –

Jorja was born in June 2011 and was a ‘difficult’ baby – call it colic, call it whatever you want. She cried or nursed and that’s it – slept intermittently. NOW I have a five month old who has left her fussiness behind but I am left with a frequent waker. She wakes every two hours or so through the night to nurse…sometimes because she is hungry, sometimes just to nurse. Problem being, beside the fact that I would love to get some more sleep, we also have a three year old so I have always been somewhat quick to respond so that the three year old is not woken up as well. I have now purchased sound machines for their rooms to help drown out any fussing but I am not sure where to start to try to help her sleep for longer periods of time!

Any advice would be helpful!

Take Care

Chantelle Brown
Calgary, AB

Chantelle,

I’m happy to hear that Jorja (love the spelling!) has settled down. So here are some things you might want to think about:

Having a schedule during the day is very helpful. Babies thrive on predictability, so having a set time for feeding and napping is extremely important at this stage. Feedings should be spread out to every three hours and she should be getting at least three naps during the day. Make sure that all feeds are full feeds – mini, more constant ones are a lot tougher to handle. Night feeds should also be spread out to every three hours and teaching your baby to fall asleep on her own, both at nap times and at bedtime, will be very helpful for you. Once you start implementing a plan, you will start to see some positive changes.

Rosemary