Wakes and Fusses/Whines Back to Sleep

[Mom2katiebug]

DD is just shy of 11MO and goes to bed between 6:30 and 7:30.  She wakes around 11pm for her first night waking (NW) and then again around 3am for her second NW and between 5am-6am for her third NW.  She will resettle herself after some fussy crying (nothing desperate) for the first 2 wakings and I give her a small diluted bottle to tide her over til breakfast at the third waking (hasn't been settling on her own at this one).  DH and I are still exhausted even though we don't have to get up and function cuz the 11pm waking hits us just after we've fallen asleep and it takes us to a full-awake mode.  Then we have 4hrs of sleep until we're woken again, although we can get back to sleep pretty quickly from this one usually.  Then we get about 2.5 hrs more before the day starts with one more wakeup during that time. 

I'm happy that DD can resettle without us, but is there anything that we can do the eliminate the wakeups in the first place?  I tried W2S and it was great for the first 2 nights, but on the third night she was in too light of a sleep and I woke her up too much.  She bumped her aquarium on and it scared her SO much!  Oh, and we still had the 11pm waking - even after all of that! 

Do I need to try it again or is this just part of the normal "sleep learning process" that she'll work through on her own? 

[scary t]

I'm so glad you've posted this Katie's Mum.

My LO is 4mths and on 4 hour EASY. We wake him at 10 for a DF but he's recently started waking between 4 and 5 most nights. There are times he can send himself back off but other times one of us goes in and a dummy usually sees him through til morning. But I'm really struggling to get back to sleep myself and I'm getting really tired.

I haven't tried W2S because he can wake anywhere from 4 to 5.30am so I'm not sure when to do it.

Would be great to hear some advice.

[Colin Macs Mom]

Casey, we might need to talk about your new avatar. 

It sounds like Katie's waking at the same times every night, yes? Have you tried W2S? That really is great though that she's resettling herself most of the time, I know you really struggled with that.    Is she teething, or having any developmental stuff going on?

[Kimberly®]

Have you tried W2S?? Do you use a monitor? if so turn it off so you can't hear her unless she cries. You have a great start with her settling herself.

[Mom2katiebug]

We tried W2S and on the third night it was disasterous.  She was already in a light sleep and woke fully, bumped her aquarium on and scared herself.  Fortunately, she settled quickly back to sleep, but she still woke at 11pm. 

I guess we should give it another try.  I think I'll stagger the times by maybe 1/2 hour or so over the nights so she doesn't get used to that nudge/jostle at the same time each night (saw this on another post)! 

Was thinking about closing our door over to help dampen her fussy cries.  She's got such a loud voice that even her fussy cries wake us up.  Closing our door would help limit the sound, but I'm not sure we'd hear her if she needed us. 

And, on a weird note...last night I fed her the breakfast bottle at 4:30am.  I know that I said 5am was the cut-off, but she'd been overly fussy from 3am to 4:30 so I gave in on both the time and the size of the bottle.  It was a full feed bottle (7oz.) and she drained it.  And, she slept until 7:10am without another peep.  I gave her a smaller "breakfast bottle" since the overnight bottle had been a full one and she didn't eat much of it (like 2 oz.).  So, I know it was only one time, but do you think she could be one of those babies that just needs that overnight feed for a bit longer? 

Jessica - She has a Seahawks dress.  It's SO cute to see her in it, but I know she'll outgrow it before the season ends.  I take it your not a 'Hawks fan?

[Colin Macs Mom]

It could be worth trying again, and staggering the times like you said. You're also right in that she could be one of those LOs that needs a night feed longer than most - or could she be having a growth spurt?

Jessica - She has a Seahawks dress.  It's SO cute to see her in it, but I know she'll outgrow it before the season ends.  I take it your not a 'Hawks fan?

I'm just not a football fan in general. Mariners, on the other hand....    That's Colin's future I tell ya! Someone will have to support me in my old age.