Yes unfortunately the "Save out sleep" doesn't give way for growth spurts, bouts of illness or anything else that can cause baby to be unsettled. Its not considered a gentle method at all. Are you interested in more gentle methods or should I move this to the baby general discussion?
IMO you are putting him to bed (doing the nighttime routine) too early. 4pm seems very early to me to be starting the bedtime routine and settling down for the night. 4pm til 4am is 12 hrs so I'm not really surprised that he is waking up then.
I haven't read or know anything about 'Save our Sleep' but I would probaly be waking him, feeding and having a little play (nothing too stimulating of course) at about 7pm till about 8pm. Dropping the 9pm and midnight feeds for a 10 or 11pm dreamfeed. I would not want to have to stay up until midnight to be doing any feeds (unless it is your DH doing it) you really need to be in bed before that! I would expect to still be feeding a 3month old overnight and that may very well be at 4am! Personally we were still feeding overnight until around 7mths then we had a bad patch from about 8mths until about 9mths and now we are generally sleeping thru at 12mths!
HTH
If you think he needs feeding then feed him. Routines seem like a great idea but often the little ones don't want to go along with the party and are far more settle when their needs are met quickly. You're getting up at midnight for a dream feed which sort of defeats the purpose. Try the dream feed when you go to bed. They don't work for every baby.
I know you're anxious about how you're going to manage when you go back to work but you will manage. You'll just be used to getting by on less sleep
Thanks for comments. Yes I am very interested in a more gentle approach if anyone has any ideas. He woke up at about 3.50am this morning so I fed him and sat him up on my chest for about 10 minutes before putting him back down without his dummy, so far so good.
But I must admit I would rather give the dream feed a try at around 10-11ish and see how we go from there. Might try that one tomorrow. I guess its trial and error. But its so hard to know what to do when its your first time.
Yes puppies it is very hard to know. I know with my first I tried everything, I read all sorts of books and I tried different techniques. But she only slept for 40 minutes at a time, for 24 hours. Its exhausting and tiring but eventually she slept longer and eventually I learned to trust my instincts better and parent by instinct rather than by a book. Once I did that, I was able to relax and get on with things like work and life. Try reading some other books like "Parenting by Heart" by Pinky McKay... just for balancing different parenting books.
Another thought - this time of year it tends to get cold around 4am. That could be waking him too. But a growth spurt at 3 months is very common, so I would be trying the feed too.
I don't change nappies at night (AM hours anyway) unless they're pooey.. so yeah.. just feed without waking him up too much
Well I am going to try and do the dream feed at 10.30 as suggested. I last fed him at 3pm and bathed him and he has been asleep since 4pm. I will wake him in a minute for another feed and light play and then give him his dream feed at 10.30ish and see what happens.
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