I'd like him to sleep longer

[Cherished]

I'd like my 10 week old DS to sleep for longer periods during the night. A huge part of me thinks he will gradually sleep for longer as he grows but then I hear of lots of bubs even younger than DS who are only waking a couple of times or even once a night. DS will sleep anywhere from 2-5 hours (5 hours being rare) when he 1st goes down after his bath and feed but then will wake for feeding every 2-3 hours. I have thought that maybe he is waking because he is really hungry or maybe it's just because he is waking and not being able to go back to sleep or he is just used to being fed that often? He feeds well and then goes back down pretty easily too. So I'm posting in the gentle parenting section because we don't let him cry or go hungry just for the sake of stretching out feeds so is there any way to get him sleeping longer periods without putting him and us through stress?

[MummaSue]

He sounds pretty normal to me hun. My DD still wakes at least 3 hourly overnight for feeds. We co-sleep so that makes it easier to deal with. Do you co-sleep?

Sounds like you and he are doing a lovely job xxxx

[~Trish~]

Does he take a dummy? If so, have you tried giving him a dummy to settle him instead of feeding him? This worked really well with my DS1 and he started sleeping for long stretches pretty quickly. Don't worry, if he really was hungry he would let me know

[Lady-bug]

Sounds exactly like what our DS was like at his age. And just with time, the time between feeds got longer. The only suggestion I have is co-sleeping if you aren't already. Sounds like you are doing a great job.

[turtleschell]

He's so young still, he's probably genuinely hungry. Soon he will probably only wake about 3 times a night. Sounds like you are coping with the sleep deprivation so well, good on you for doing such a great job!

[Cherished]

Thanks for all of your replies and suggestions. We were co-sleeping until 8 weeks and now his cot is in our bedroom and he comes in our bed after his last feed as he settles better in our bed where we can hold his dummy in and his hands because he's a bit more alert after sleeping all night. Sometimes when he's woken before the 2 hours he will grunt a bit and if he's in our bed than we can again hold the dummy in and he'll grunt away a bit but I fall back to sleep so I don't know if he goes back or not lol maybe if we keep co sleeping all through the night rather than having him in his cot I can try the holding the dummy in when he wakes up and he might go back to sleep as Trish has suggested. If that works and he then gets used to going longer between feeds and having more sleep he can go back into the cot.... Thanks so much I think I've got a plan

[MummaSue]

Thanks so much I think I've got a plan

Let us know how you go!

[Cherished]

Just updating on how the sleep is going. I'm not really sure that there is much to report but I think I'm just sleeping better anyway having ds back in our bed. The 1st night I managed to get another hour out of him by holding the dummy in his mouth. Other nights I think he might be waking up before me and not grizzeling as much so I'm going back to sleep or just not hearing it so therefore I'm sleeping more lol maybe he's just way happier in our bed. But then I look at my chart (yes I still write down when he sleeps and feeds etc) he's sleeping 2, 3 or 4 hours at a time so I guess not too much has really changed? hmmm I might report back when I actually have a change lol