3 Month Old Waking Often at Night

For every step forward they take (taking a good nap in the daytime) they take 2 steps back (waking in the night more frequently). I think it partly has to do with the fact that things are changing and they need more reassurance. Try feeding her right before bed. When she does wake up in the night, keep it very low key (lights off, no talking, etc.). I don't agree with letting them cry it out this early in life. If you and your husband both work then it might make sense for you to take turns in the night or take opposite nights. It will pass. Good luck!

Babies aren't really ready to sleep through the night until 6 months. I would just feed her and then let her go back to sleep. At that age my babies would get at least 2 and maybe 3 bottles during the night. I would also let her sleep however long she wants to during the day because at 3 months she needs to be on her own schedule. My 19 month old takes 2 - 1 1/2 hour naps each day and then sleeps 12 hours at night. He's a busy boy and needs his sleep. All kids are different so I'd let her keep her own schedule and she'll get more consistant.
Now when she's 6 months old she should be sleeping through the night. Then I would take one bottle away at a time and let her cry it out until she learns how to self sooth. She should also be in her crib in her own room at that time too. She'll be in a great schedule in no time and you'll all be getting a good nights sleep.
Best Wishes,
J.
Mom to 4 wonderful kids ages 5,4,3 and 1

I would try only allowing her to sleep about an hour during the afternoon nap. Try gently waking her up after an hr. time period. Maybe before bedtime, you could try using Johnson & Johnson nighttime massaging gel on her tummy. They also have calming bedtime lotion. I think the long afternoon nap is too long and is allowing her to be up more at night. Also maybe she is just hungry. Have you tried giving her a little more to eat before bed? Just a suggestion. Hope this helps, Abbey!

Hi Abbey,

With my twin boys I found that they were waking more frequently either before or after a growth spurt. It seemed like they slept a lot when they were in the middle of a growth spurt. My boys are a year old now, so their sleep is more consistent, but reflecting back over the past year, it really varied over the course of the year how much and how well they slept.

I agree with you that it's too early to use the cry it out method or to try and get her to sleep through the night. She will sleep through the night on her own when she is ready. My kids also did not like swaddling (right from the beginning) b/c they wanted to be able to move (crammed in-utero maybe??).

She might be waking up and be hungry, and at this age, if she seems hungry then feed her. You really want her to grow to her max potential the first year - b/c it dramatically decreases after 1. One of my boys would eat until he puked, so just be careful of that in case your daughter is the same.

When our boys were waking up a lot, we started giving them Mylicon gas drops in their bottle, especially the one before bed and the middle-of-the-night bottle. We didn't know if they had gas, it was more of a "just in case" deal, but it REALLY seemed to help them sleep better and we became dependent upon it until they were about 8 months old. We noticed more wakings and cryings on nights we didn't have the gas drops.

These two solutions usually nipped the problem right in the butt for us, so I'm not sure what else to suggest. I hope these ideas are helpful!

My little girl is almost 3 months and just started doing this, too. I've been reading "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Marc Weissbluth and it sounded like my little one isn't getting enough sleep so she is over-tired and wakes up at night now. I am experimenting with moving her bedtime up and working on getting longer naps during the day. In the book, it suggests a long morning nap, too, 2 hours after they wake in the morning. Maybe that's all you need to add to your baby's schedule.

Maybe moving her cereal or bottle time a little closer to when she goes to bed. I have 3 children, and all 3 of them were sleeping from 11pm-6am by 1 month old. They will sleep longer if they have a full tummy. (At least it worked for me.) Good luck!