Should I Add a Feed During the Day?

Thanks for your question! How frustrating because it sounds like you have been having great success with nighttime sleep for some time now.

Before I answer, allow me to make sure I understand the depth of your question:

My LO just hit 16 weeks and has started waking one per night around 2:30A. She has constantly slept through the night since week 3/4. When she wakes she is looking to feed then quick falls back to sleep; a total 10-15 minute process. If we let her CIT she'll cry for over an hour. Should I add a feed during the day? What else could be causing this?

While it may seem like a much easier route to feed her and then put her back to sleep, you definitely don’t want her to start believing that if she wakes up and cries in the middle of the night, you’ll come running with food and snuggles.

My first suggestion would be to look at your daytime routines. Did you already drop a daytime nap? If so, maybe you can look at adding it back in to get one more wake, feed, sleep cycle during the day.

It could be that she is going through a growth spurt and needs a little extra food to get her through the night. She’s a little early to try rice cereal, but you might ask your pediatrician about that. If you can rule out hunger, then you can start really working on the schedule to ensure she truly knows day from night.

All that said, she may just really need some extra food right now and I would encourage you to trust your heart; if you think she’s hungry, then feed her! Don’t stress too much about it unless it starts to become a habit. Then you’ll have to put your mom pants back on and help her remember that 2:30 AM is too early for wake time.

Best of luck to you; we hope some of this is helpful! For more help, consider reading Baby Sleep Problems: Causes & Explanations. Feel free to follow-up with us in the comments below.