5 month old night waking all of a sudden....exhausted

[D2323]

My LO just turned 5 months and has started waking almost every hour in the night. She has always woken a couple times but just needed the pacifier back in her mouth and would go back to sleep. Now it can take up to 1 1/2 hours of shush patting to get back to sleep. When she goes down she stirs some before her DF but it isn't bad and she just needs a pat and paci. After the dream feed at 10, she has been waking up between 1-1:30 and taking up to 2 hours to get back down. She is not crying this whole time. She will drift off and I think we are good then startle back. This goes on and on until she finally stays asleep. I continue to shush pat after I feel her relax but she still wakes back up. Her eyes will either pop open or she will try to stretch her arms. She is still swaddled because she is impossible to get down if she is not. After the 1:30 waking and lengthy getting back down, she continues to wake almost every hour and every 15 minutes around 5.  I'm exhausted and don't know what to do. She has reflux and is on meds. She has been on meds for a long time. She used to sleep until around 4 and then eat and back..we slowly pushed the 4 feeding until later because I think it was more habit. She ahs been fine with that so far. Naps are usually good..if I can catch her and shush pat her at 45 minutes. Otherwise she wakes. Lately if I catch her I can get 1 1/2 or more
Here is our schedule
6:00 wake
6:30 E
8:00Nap
9:30-45 wake/eat
11:30 Nap
12:30-12:45 wake/eat
2:30: nap
3;30 wake eat
6:00 down
DF 10:00

[MommainNY]

I don't have advice per se but I am in the same boat. It's almost like reading exactly what's going on in our house!  My 5-month-old son was a great sleeper from the start- typically only waking up 1x/night for feeding.  Now, he is waking up several times a night.  I, too, am doing a DF at 10 pm and he is waking up b/w 1-2 am for another feed and then back up again around 5 am.  He is guzzling his bottles in the middle of the night which I'm worried is contributing to the problem (meaning, that he is getting more nutrients in the middle of the night when he really needs to be getting those during the day).

I should note that he's in daycare M-F so much of his schedule is not entirely in my control.  I encourage them to put him down around 9 am for 1st nap, 12-1 pm for 2nd nap, and then he usually naps a little once I get him home.  I put him down at 6:45/7:00 pm. 

I do think he's teething but I don't remember having this hard of a time with my firstborn!

[Erin M]

Hi there-
My first thought is that you've got some discomfort going on -- you mention the reflux -- has the dosage of her meds been checked recently?  I know that lots of those meds are weight dependent and tiny adjustments can make a huge difference!

You could also have a prop issue with the paci, but with her being awake for so long even with the paci, it really doesn't feel like it to me.

If it doesn't seem reflux related to you, it also might be time to start using some A time out with a mind to dropping the cat nap in the not too distant future.

What do you think?

[D2323]

HI, her meds were recently tweaked...we added another dose but that hasn't made a difference. Do you mind explaining what 'using some a time out' means? Thanks!!!

[becj86]

Do you mind explaining what 'using some a time out' means?

Probably a phone autocorrect - Erin was meaning pushing the A time out, extending her A time with the aim to drop the catnap.

[Erin M]

Do you mind explaining what 'using some a time out' means?

Probably a phone autocorrect - Erin was meaning pushing the A time out, extending her A time with the aim to drop the catnap.

Yup, sorry about that!