Up all hours of the night -7 month old -help!!

[karebearry]

Hi girls, I've been putting off writing a post in hopes that I could figure this out myself.... But I just cant!  My 7.5 month old has neverbeen a good sleeper, I think probably my fault.  Anyway, an example of my issue is this... Last night he was up from 2-4 and then every 30 minutes after that.  Im exhausted!!!  Two days ago i tried to extend his A time to 2.5 hours and he takes 2 naps of 2 hours each.  Below is a sample roughly of his day.

830 am wake up ....and bottle ( just ceased bf last week)
10 30go upstairs to settle and sleep. Leave him by 1045
1245 pm up and bottle
3 pm upstairs, leave him alone by 315
515 up and bottle
No catnap
In bed for by 8 pm

So average A time is 2.5 hours and naps of 2 hours.
Just eliminated the catnap.
He eats a luttle solids but not much.... Were working on it. So he has nibbles in between.

Any help is appreciated!

[Ima shel Alon]

It sounds like your LO is UT, which causes the NW.
Usually NW that are hard to settle and are very long are UT. How is he in this long NW? Happy and chatty or there is a lot of crying?
If you look here: chronological EASY samples, 7-9 months you can see that many babies at his age are doing more than 2:15-2:30h A time and it could be that he is ready for more than what he is doing now. The other thing you could do is cap the naps are 1.5h, but you'd still need to up the A anyway because your stretch to BT will be too long.
I don't think he needs a big increase, 10-15min might do the trick.
What do you think?

[karebearry]

Thanks so much for your input, i too was wondering if maybe he needed more A time.  Just that sometimes he seems sleepy ... Of course that could be because he gets OT by being up all night! What a cycle! So today ive been battling the OT monster with 30 minute naps. I will try and get him to bed at a good time and work on stretching his A time out tomorrow if he has a good sleep. Its hard to stretch it out when he has bad sleeps because hes so exhausted.
I'll let you know how tonight goes.  Ughhh... So tired

[Ima shel Alon]

Its hard to stretch it out when he has bad sleeps because hes so exhausted.

Is there AP that works for you? Props?
It's always good to give him a day of lots of sleep and then start tweaking the A. You are right, it's hard stretching the A with an OT baby.

[karebearry]

Ok, update..... Last night i took him to bed with me After 2 hours as i couldnt get him to sleep. He slept ok with me, woke up a few times but at least was able to get him to settle ok,  he was soo OT!  Today he did good. Stretched his A time to 245 and 3 hrs long. He took two naps of 2 hrs and 1.5 hrs respectively.  He didnt have a catnap and he went to bed at 715pm. Lets see how he does tonight. Fingers crossed we get a better night with minimal wake ups.   I'll update tomorrow. Thanks for the help!

[karebearry]

Oh dear! Its 1am!!  My LOwent to bed ok at 7am after a great day! Or so i thougtht. 2.5 hrs later at 930pm he woke up and he's been up since! I have tried everything.... Diaper change, feed, burping, cuddles, walking, rocking, pacifer, singing, shh pat, pupd, tylenol... Nothing seems to work not even my AP on purpose!  He never woke and cooed or hung out, he seemed to want me all the time. I must be doing something wrong.... Any thoughts? Is this OT? Or UT?  I thought UTlast night but now.... Ugh.... I just dont know.... And im exhausted!

[karebearry]

Well he finally fell asleep by 130am! Was up at 2 am screaming and settled back until 4 am. And then up finally at 730am!  Good lord, i dont know what to do. Im exhausted!

[Ima shel Alon]

I think the jump to 3h was too much for him, hun. It's not easy for LO to jump straight away for his "correct" A, that's why we recommend that the increase is done slowly, by 10-15min increments.

Diaper change, feed, burping, cuddles, walking, rocking, pacifer, singing, shh pat, pupd, tylenol

That sounds like a lot of stimulation... What worked for you till now when he was NW? Pat/shh? PU/PD? Singing?
I remember nights that DS would have very long NW and I would try anything just that he finally goes to bed, I thought I am losing it. But it was too much, yk? Once I sticked with one thing it was easier for him to know what's going on.

[karebearry]

It was a lot! I was getting desperate. We've never really been in a situation quite like this one, normally he'd wake and i'd just pick him up, calm him down with back pats and rubs and then put him back to bed.  It use to take minutes.... Now nothing works. I will try and maybe put him to bed early tonight, maybe he's still OT from the rough nights passed.

[Ima shel Alon]

Could he be in pain? Teething? Any signs of SA?

If holding him and calming him doesn't work anymore then I'd think your way forward is PU/PD (he's a bit old for pat/shh IMO). But yk, you'd need to be consistent if that's the way you are going forward because the first few nights it will look like it doesn't work, but it does, it just takes some time till it does. He will resist it the first few days because that's not the way he is used to things being done, but after a few days he will get used to it being the new way and the time you'd need to use PU/PD will shorten significantly.

[karebearry]

Merry xmas!  Well we are away for holidays and things were going ok for awhile until last night.... He was up from 11:30am to 4:30am.....literally!!  Couldn't get him to sleep. Every time i put him down he'd scream!!  He goes down easy for naps... Quiet time and then i put him down quietly and he falls asleep. But at night, if he's slightly OT, its murder!!  I did increase his A time and have noticed a big difference, aside from last night of course.  Now he does 2.45 to 3 hrs of A time with 1.5 to 2 hours naps. Of course today will be a mess! Aside from tonight he still gets up at night.... Oh and he's not teething. Uh!

[Ima shel Alon]

Did such a long NW happened before? Besides that night do you manage to settle ok at NW?
Sometimes there are just these crazy nights that one can't see a reason for and they are gone as they came. There was a time when DS was a bit older than a year that he would wake up at night and scream for 2.5h! Even our neighbors complained (Boo to them). After like two weeks it was just gone. I am not saying this is the case with you but sometimes there are no reasons, these things come and go.

Have you noticed if the NW are happening at the same time every night? Have you started using PU/PD? Are you feeding for the NW?

[karebearry]

No, theseNW's are new. To be honest, his routine has been getting messed up for a few months, we've done major renos at the house and lots of traveling. I think its all caught up on him. Also, DH tried to help me a few nights but rather than settle him in bed, he picked him up and slept with him.... I wonder if that might have caused some regression.  Well last night i decided the new year is now the time to settle things. Start fresh, so i tried pu/pd last night and today. So far, nit bad. However, i dont have my book with me as im away.  I searched the steps for pu/pd and find contradictions. Some say pick up and settle then put back, others say pick up and put right back. Some others says after putting back down soothe/settle in bed with taps or back rubs?  Any input???  Well wish me luck!  I appreciate your constant support!

[becj86]

It depends on his age and physical development: How to PU/PD (inc age adaptations)

[Ima shel Alon]

You can post your current EASY if you like and we can see if there is some tweaking that can be done. Perhaps he is UT and that causes the long and hard to settle NW.