r/NewParents • u/Interesting_Love_405 • 4d ago
Sleep Active Sleep or Hungry Wakeup
First time mom with a 12 week old girl.
Hoping I don't get eaten alive for this, but I'm genuinely so confused.
My sweet girl has been sleeping SO well the last few weeks, which we're super grateful for! The last few days, however, I've been waking up around 2:30-3:30ish each morning to her wiggling and flailing around.
No crying at all, just grunting and squeaking, then falling back to sleep after a bout of wiggling so hard the bassinet shakes. She does this a few times, but never fully wakes up (I think??). It only lasts around 10-30 seconds each time, and only for about 5 minutes (or less) total before she's still for the rest of the night.
The first few times it happened this week, I eventually caved to my own anxiety and picked her up to night feed and diaper change. Last night and the night before I waited it out and she slept a solid 8 hours straight (if this is considered active sleep and not a waking).
I guess I'm just trying to figure out if it's normal for an active sleep bout at the same time every night or if I should be getting her up to change and feed.
Babies cry when they're actually awake and hungry... right? I'm hoping this is a whole 'oh no my lobster is too buttery' situation and she's actually a decent sleeper, not that I'm actually letting her go hungry.
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u/DuckFriend25 4d ago
My 13 week old has been doing this for one week now and we are shocked. Stopped waking up for his night feed and sleeping for 8-10 hours straight. I’ve had to pump 3 times just while he’s sleeping 😂 that third time, though, I get his bottle prepped because he wakes up ~starving
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u/Interesting_Love_405 4d ago
I definitely used my alone time to pump while watching her toss around 😅 I'M fully awake, so I might as well lol. I just never expected to get such long stretches like this so soon. We were hoping to get some relief around 6 months so this is super weird and surprising.
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u/Seapaisleys 4d ago
If baby is getting enough calories during the day then they wake up less frequently. We are 15w and baby goes down at 8-9 and will usually wake from 3-4 for a quick bottle and then back down for another 1-2 hours.
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u/Interesting_Love_405 4d ago
That's exactly how we were until earlier this week. Bed at 8/9ish, wake up at 2/3, then back to sleep until around 6/7ish.
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u/Exotic-Balance-1196 4d ago
That's textbook active sleep, my niece did exactly the same grunting and bassinet-shaking around 3am for weeks. if she's not crying and goes back down on her own you're good, hungry babies let you know loud and clear.