BabyWhispererForums.com
SLEEP => Night Wakings => Topic started by: meredith1851 on April 23, 2011, 22:30:55 pm
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Hi, my almost 5 mth old goes to sleep around 7:30 and wakes for a night feeding between 2-4AM. After that he only sleeps about 1-1.5 hrs and wakes up crying and can't be soothed unless I hold him in the crook of my arm in bed with a paci. Thoughts on how to deal with this? Last night he woke at 4 AM (the longest he has ever gone!) and then was awake crying again at 5:50. He DOES not want to be awake and is mad that he is I can tell. Since he is able to sleep in my arms for another hr (till 7:00ish) I feel he really wants to stay asleep. Since I can't hold him all the time any more and need to get ready to go back to work, do I just make him get up at 6 even though he does not want to be up? I know that would push his schedule a little earlier so that would need to be adjusted. He also does not eat much in the AM as his night feed is a big one!
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((HUGS)) Can you post your routine in EAS format?
EWs are killer, especially when you are getting ready for work. I was rarely able to extend the mornings, because I didn't have time to work on them. But it is key to make sure that you aren't going in too soon to settle your LO and if you do decide to try and extend, that you try until you decide it is time to get up. Have you tried extending other than having him sleep on you?
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We are on a very loose EASY but for the most part he eats at 7, 10ish, 1ish, 4ish and gets a bottle before bed at 7PM and is usually asleep by 7:30 PM. He wakes around 2-3 AM for a night feeding and goes back to sleep for only 1-1.5 hrs, wakes up around 5 ish but does not want to be awake. I can sometimes bring him to bed with me till 6:30 or even 7 but not always. He takes a 45 min nap usually in the AM around 8:45 AM, a 1.5-2 hr one mid day and a 30 min one around 3:30-4PM. His activity time is getting closer to 2 hrs lately but sometimes still 1.5 hrs.
He is only getting 8.5 to 9 hrs of total sleep per night and all I read is that infants need 10-12 hrs so I worry about his sleep.
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It could be a routine issue then. At 5 months, you want to make sure that you are focusing on routine and independent sleep or you can have major sleep issues. If As are too long or too short, they can really effect nighttime sleep. It is hard to tell what is going on with what you have posted. Of the top of my head, it looks like your LO is doing a 3.5 hour A on a 30 minute nap which is what my 11 month old does. That is a very long A and can cause NWs/EWs.
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=64158.msg476652#msg476652
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=164029.0
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=69369.0
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Thanks for responding. He doesn't typically have more than a 2 hr A time at this point, but his AM nap is 30-40 min and accours about 1.5-2 hrs after he wakes or so. His mid day nap has been getting better and lasting about 1.5-2 hrs. The late afternoon nap seems to only last 30 min or so and typically ends around 4PM ish and he starts geting very fussy a bit past 6 PM and I start his bedtime routine around 6:45 to try and have him down asleep by 7:30. I know that is a bit of a longer A time, but trying to give him a 6 PM nap probably would not make good sense right? I have tried pushing his bedtime out a little longer and it is tough to do. It is like he knows when it is 6:30 and he starts to melt down. Also, his naps require lots of soothing a few times, so he is not sleeping straight through all of them.
I would very much like to get him to eat more consistently.....right now he does a few oz in the AM and eats anywhere from every 2.5-4 hrs throughout the day and takes different ounces each time. He was a colicky baby and now just very fussy and tempermental so it is hard to withhold a bottle when he is shreaking, but I so wish I could get him to just eat every 3.5-4 hrs and have it be like 6 ounces each time :-(
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If your first nap is short, then you want to shorten the next A. You would not wait the full 2 hours to put him down. Also, an early bedtime is definitely a good option. If he is fussing at 6 and wants to go to bed, then put him to bed. That last A can significantly effect the night and if it is too long, you will have issues.
Something you said stands out though. If he *was* colicky, does he have issues now? A bottle fed baby should easily go 4 hours right now. Are you sure he is screaming for food? Some LOs comfort feed if they have reflux. http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=654.0 Also, he could be screaming because he is OT if you are pushing naps and such. http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=141660.0
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Thanks for the links; very helpful!
We really have been unable to tell if he has reflux....if he does, it is silent reflux and he is on Zantac 3x/day now. I put him down a wee bit earlier last night BEFORE he really started fussing and he woke at least 9-10 times! It was a horrible night!! The only thing that calms him down is holding him and sticking the paci back in, but the whole ordeal goes on all night every hr. We tried letting him soothe himself and fuss for 10-15 min but then he really starts to cry/scream and doesn't calm down. I don't know what to do anymore :-( He is a high needs/fussy baby still. Not sure if had true colic or was just fussy, and although he is better now that he is 5 mths, the fussiness hasn't subsided so I am thinking that is just his personality. When he is alert and plays, he is ok, but when he starts to get tired...watch out!!
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Also, I was wondering....Does it make sense to try a dream feed at 5 months? I feed him around 2-3AM right now. Or is it too late or worth starting to institute?
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Hon, I am sorry, but this is more than a fussy baby. Reflux peaks between 4-6 months and it seems like the Zantac isn't working. Many LOs need stronger meds like PPIs (think Prevacid and Prilosec) to really see a difference. I would really talk to your ped about this. He shouldn't be waking that many times and it really seems like pain.
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We had tried him on the Prevacid a while back and seemed to cause him HORRIBLE gas pain for some reason which casued him to cry a lot so I went back to the Zantac. Also, the Prevacid stopped coming in the liquid form and it was a huge pain to administer. It was a pill that needed to be added to a syringe with a little water, shaken to disolve and then squirted in his mouth. It was a horrible process and never really dissolved.....you could see these timy little beads and they always stayed stuck in the syringe. Ugh!
Now, last night I should mention he had a better night. My DH let me sleep and took the night. We put him down at 7:10PM and he woke around 1 AM for 2 soothings and then woke at 2AM for a feeding. He then went back to sleep till 5:30AM and NEVER does a good stretch like that after he eats for me aft! DH then took him into his bed for another hour of sleep and he got up at 6:30AM. We both use pretty much the same soothing techniques with DS so not sure why he typically does a little better sleep when DH is responsible for the night?
I have another question that is more nap related so not sure you could help with that as well?? Because he wakes around 6:30 AM and only stays awake for A time for 1.5-2 hrs before needing to nap, his last nap has lately ended around 3:50 or 4 PM and his bedtime is not till 7 which I know is a long stretch for him to be awake and he melts down by 6:30. I walk in the door at 6 PM and I know we should not try to put him down then being so close to bedtime. Is there a way to solve this issue as I don't want that long activity period to effect his nightime sleep. Thoughts? (5 would be an ideal time for him to take a cat nap but the sitter is getting ready to leave and my DH takes over which is the time he gives him oatmeal and a nip of formula to ensure he has had enough calories for the day and then I walk in the door at 6!)
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We use Prevacid solutabs as well. What we do is put water on a spoon, let the pill dissolve and then pour it into my Los mouth. Very easy. :) We don’t have other side effects though. I have heard moms saying that they had to make sure their Los had probiotics when they were on PPIs.
How about thickening feeds. Are you doing that?
About bedtime, can your babysitter offer an early dinner, so that your DH can just give your LO a bottle and put him to bed early?
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What do you mean by thickening feeds? He gets apple in the AM and oatmeal in the PM.
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http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=175036.0
We thickened feeds and it helped a lot.
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Hello. Try to add some baby rice to his milk. But really it sounds like he is ready for weaning.
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It is not recommended to add rice to bottles. If the poster decides she is ready for solids, she can start via spoon. :)
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Same as it's not recommended thickening feeds but hey many do.
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1 person doesn't recommend it, another does, one website doesn't, another does, one doctor doesn't, another does