Night wakings reduced from 6+ to 1

[Lor]

Hi,
I did previously post my problem on the night wakings board but I'm now interested to know what others think of my story.  My LO started sleeping through the night when she was approx 14 weeks (dream fed at approx 10.30pm)and we didn't hear a peep from her from 7.30pm until 6.00 or 7.00am.  When she was 5+1/2 months she started waking in the evenings so we gradually moved her DF forward now approx 9.30pm but in the last couple of weeks (now 6+1/2 months) she is waking 4 or 5 times throughout the night. First I would go and place my hand on her tummy and she would normally settle back within 5 - 15 mins but it's getting increasingly difficult to resettle sometimes giving her a cuddle and it's taking much longer and 2 nights ago at one time it took 2+1/2 hours.  Last night she woke at 9.15pm we fed her but she couldn't settle back to sleep and eventually after numerous attempts and failing at 1am this morning in desperation I laid her on her changing mat on the floor and I laid next to her all night and she slept really peaceful until 7.30am.  I'm very worried about accidental parenting but after 4 hours of trying to settle her and having survived on very little sleep for the last month it was nice at least to have a few hours rest.  I'm wondering if seperation anxiety is creeping in??

[Jaime]

could be... it's not common at 6 months but definitely possible.  i'm more likely to doubt that though, since you don't mention the classic "screech" that usually accompanies separation anxiety.

could be a growth spurt - or it could be developmental related.  6 months is a prime time to develop new skills, and then they want to practice at night.  if she hasn't started doing anything new recently, she may be about to...

[Lor]

Hi,
I too am now doubting that its the seperation anxiety as the following night I slept with her and she was still really unsettled.  This has been going on for 3-4 weeks now - how long do growth spurts last for?  If not a growth spurt how long do the developmental unsettlings usually last for?  Last night was dreadful - she woke up literally every 45 mins to an hour from 9.30pm until 4.30am.  However, looking on the bright side she did settle back quite quickly as soon as I went in and put hand on tummy.
Lor

[Katet]

Is she on solids... I just worked out a correlation between foods & my ds unsettled nights, I can't give him pumpkin for dinner as it gives him wind & has him up for ages.

Also for us growth spurts at 6months have been almost a month long, on/off for both my ds's.

[Lor]

Hi,
I keep a diary of my baby's day; foods, naps etc.  She is on solids and has been for approx 4 weeks - her sleep started a downhill spiral about a week before that though but at that time it was only once or twice a night.  I have tried various foods but every night is restless and it just seems to be getting worse.  She is 6 1/2 months now and my health visitor advises that she should be on solids at this age.  At the moment she is waking literally every hour from 9.30pm until approx 4.30pm and each time she wakes she can only go back to sleep with me being there resting my hand on her tummy. At the moment I am poorly so last night my partner tried but LO just screamed and got into a right paddy.  I ended going in to calm her down but ended up feeling cross with her and left the room.  I don't believe in CIO but I also don't believe my precious LO should be subjected to an angry mum either when all is said and done it's not her fault, I'm sure she would rather sleep peacefully too.  After waking for the 5th time at 1.45am it took until 3.40am for her to go back to sleep.  I'm really getting to the end of my tether with this and it's now wearing me down physically as well as emotionally.

[Katet]

I can empathise as this week I have had some hellish nights much the same as you, every hour & taking ages to settle... I know much of mine is due to separation anxiety as there are other signs in the day to back it up. But it also has led to a spiral of accute overtiredness that has made it even worse.

I have found it is helping to move naps 1/2hour earlier & bedtime 1/2hour earlier & to do more quite stuff in the day, lots of walks in the stroller & cuddles, so he doesn't get too tired & add to the problem.

I agree she should be on solids... the first part may have been the start of the 6mo growth spurt. I would stick to 1-2 types of food a day... that was how I worked out the pumpkin, so you can at least rule out solids as a reason. Also look at her routine... in the EASY forum there are threads which show routines for each age group & see how yours compares, it may be she needs hers to be tweeked... either drop the catnap, or if you already have, add it back in. Day routines have a MAJOR impact on the night time.

[Lor]

I thought about moving bedtime a bit earlier but that would mean that her bedtime feed is only 2+1/2 hours after her tea which means she probably won't take a good feed. I've tried missing the late pm catnap (currently its in) but neither seems to make a difference. Give or take 1/2 hour a typical day at the mo is:

7.30:  wake
8.00:  bottle + breakfast (cereal)
9.45:  bed for 1+1/2 - 2 hours
12.00:  bottle + lunch (veg)
1.30-2.00:  40 min nap (never been successful in lengthen these)
4.00:  bottle +tea (fruit)
5.00-5.30:  40 min nap
6.45:  bath
7.10:  bottle
7.30:  bed
9.30:  DF

Tried earlier bedtime last night and no improvement. Going to discuss with Health Visitor today - now getting really down and desperate as this has been going on for 5 weeks+.

[Lor]

Thought I'd give an update: Went to see HV today and despite being healthy and alert, LO's weight is way below average.  I discussed the night wakings and bowel movements.  When LO was younger she had real problems with wind etc and although this is common we are wondering if there are problems with her little digestive system.  We are off to see the GP tomorrow.

[squeaky's mum]

Hi,

If it helps at all we have been through a very similar patch with Sophie. She started the unsettled patch at 5 months and became increasingly so until 6.5 months. This also included going away over Christmas which couldn't have helped the situation. All our normal tactics for getting her to sleep wouldn't work. Sometimes she would wake and just want to play, sometime she would wake very agitated and crying, sometimes she was just happy to lie in her cot and coo and ooo at the wall. This invariably happened between 1am and 4am, usually for 1.5 to 3hours. I was beside myself at times with tiredness. Although this is written in the past tense, we're not out of the woods yet, she is still waking once or twice at night but mostly she just needs reswaddling then settles back down immediately. She is now 7 months.

I'm putting this down to several things which. Firstly she has undergone massive physical development in the last couple of months. She is very nearly crawling, she has learned to sit on her own in this time and solids have been introduced. She has had her biggest growth spurt ever, putting on 18oz in 2 weeks. Finally, her gums have changed and I can see teeth lurking under the surface waiting to come through, although none have yet.

The 2 things I have done which seem to have helped is increase the amount of solids I have offered her and cut out the late afternoon nap and consequently put her to bed earlier.

Hopefully we are on the way out of this phase  , although just as I start thinking that we have a bad night! But both day time and night time sleep have been a lot better this week. Two steps forward and one step back. Throughout the whole of the this I have tried to stick to the 'routine' and now she seems to be falling back into the rhythm she was in, albeit without the late nap.

Good luck and I hope in time (although sooner rather than later) you get your sleep back.

Claire

[Lor]

Hi, Just thought I'd share this.  If you read the history of this posting you'll see that my LO and I were having terrible nights.  I took her to the GP last week and discussed sleep/feeds/nappies.  It seems the outcome was that the poor little thing was getting constipated.  I had changed her onto a 6 month follow on milk which has added iron and Doc suggested this might be causing the constipation.  I've now changed her back to 2 feeds of the 1st milk and 3 feeds of the follow-on milk.  For the last 3 nights she has only woken once each night!