BabyWhispererForums.com
SLEEP => Night Wakings => Topic started by: momma.bear on February 03, 2013, 00:00:54 am
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My DS is 4.5 months old. There were times when he slept until 4/5am without a feeding around 2 months of age. Things have gone downhill fast since then. For the past month or more, he has been waking up multiple times at night. I did do some sleep training as he was not settling at BT and his naps were all 40 minutes long. Our EASY looks like this:
7am wake up and feed
9am-11am sleep (sometimes I will get a straight 2 hour nap, but it's not often. Usually he'll wake up around 40 mins or 1 hour or so and I have to give him his paci again and re-swaddle sometimes)
11am feed
1-3pm sleep (this nap is rarely solid sleep, often broken into 3 stretches of sleep where I have to give him his paci again and sometimes re-swaddle)
3pm feed
5pm cat nap for 30 mins
6:45 feed and BT by 7pm
*I feed him 2x a night... once usually between 11pm and 1am and then again around 4-5am. He often will sleep until his first night feeding if it's before midnight. But then after I feed him, he'll go an hour or two and then I give him his paci again. Sometimes it works, sometimes I have to go back in a few times and sometimes re-swaddle. Then an hour after that, I'll repeat. His next NWing I'll usually feed him (don't feed him if it's been less than 3 hours since his last feeding, try to keep it to a minimum of 4 hrs), again he'll often wake up an hour or two later.
I am at a loss of what to do. I'm usually up a minimum of five times with him. I don't know what to do. I've tried putting him in just a sleep sack but he won't settle. I've tried leaving just one arm out in the middle of the night and that has worked, but if it's when he's going to sleep, he often has his hands by his face and will knock his paci out. I'm not sure if his paci is a prop, but I have a 21 month old DD and cannot afford to use other methods to help him sleep. I would have to let him cry and find his fingers, which I don't like either.
Would love some help! And sleep! :)
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Are you burping after the night feeds? DS woke after night feeds when he had gas pain. Often sucking on the dummy would help him pass the wind but sometimes he'd need more than that...
Do you think he's been bitten by the 40min nap bug or has he recently been sleeping 1.5-2hr naps without intervention? I just wonder if you up his a time by 5 or 10 mins, you may find he naps better. Main reason I ask is that he's sleeping some 1hr naps which would indicate he can get through the transition but is undertired.
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I'm not burping after night feeds... I've tried but he just doesn't burp. And the 40 min naps are hit and miss. Sometimes he's up after only 30 mins which I think is OT but that's still after just 2 hours of A time.
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We are experiencing the same challenges with our 4.5 month old. She was sleeping through the night since the first week and now we have spiraled downhill very quickly as well. And, I can totally relate to the exhaustion. I started the dream feed at 11:00-- she is still sleeping during it and I put her right back down. That seems to keep her sleeping until between 3:30-4:00am when we have been gradually helping her get back to sleep on her own. Our LO instantly relaxes when I put my hand on her chest while she's still in the crib (along with the paci). I make sure she is wrapped tightly and warm and lay my hand on her chest- it seems to initiate her relaxation response almost immediately. She is usually able to go back to sleep on her own within 10 minutes. Problem is that she is still waking (thus my sleep also continues to be interrupted), though the time it has taken for her to get back to sleep has decreased significantly and the times she wakes up seem to be getting a little later. Keep at it....eventually things will fall into place. In the mean time, I keep wondering when I will ever get a good nights sleep again! Good luck to you.....
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Are the 30min naps in the afternoon? If so, I'd still suggest pushing the a time to see if you get better naps. Otherwise you're getting undertired short naps, then overtired short naps and then an overtired night...
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The 2 hour naps usually happen in the morning. But I honestly don't know whether the afternoon naps are mostly 30 mins or 40 mins. He almost always goes back to sleep, sometimes he has to cry a little and then settles, other times I let him play for a bit. But I'm consistent with a 2 hour A time and it still varies between 30 and 40 mins. He is also gnawing on my fingers constantly and his fingers as well. I think he's getting his eye teeth (DH got his first and it's apparently genetic) so maybe that's what all the NWings etc. are about but I just wish I knew when it would end. I'm to the point I'm so tired I feel sick at night.
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Cn you record what happens for a few days so we can see if there are any patterns? Hard to know what to suggest without enough information...
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Yesterday went like this:
6:45am wake up and eat
8:55-11:10 sleep
11:15 eat
1:20-2:40 sleep
3:00 eat
4:50-5:30 CN in car/at home in car seat
5:30 eat
6:30 top up and BT by 6:45
Today was completely different:
7:15 wake up and eat
9:10-10:30 sleep
11:00 eat
12:40-1:20 sleep - couldn't resettle him so played in bouncer until I finally got him down again
2:30-3:00 sleep (maybe 3:10 - can't remember!)
3:15 eat
tried to put him down several times after this but he would have none of it.
*He currently is a bit stuffed up and also has something going on with his voice... no cough, just a weak cry like his throat is sore/ hoarse
I realize that NWings can be due to illness, but he has had tons of NWings even before he was sick.
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His A times could do with a little increase by about 10 min or so to get those naps a little longer. Definitely look like naps are still not quite up to the 2 sleep cycles which suggests he's still UT.
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I think I read somewhere that the average A time for a 5 month old is 2.25 hours. My son is almost 5 months, but it is a struggle to keep him up past 2 hours... I've been pushing him to do 2 hours and 10 mins... so should I be doing 2 hours 20 mins then? Thanks for your help!
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How long have you been at 2hr10? Naps are better in those couple of days than you described before...
When are the wakings happening during the night?
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I've been trying 2hr10min for maybe a week now, I really can't remember. The wakings are happening randomly throughout the night. Last night was exceptionally bad. Usually he's fine for a couple hours after BT, but he'll often wake up 2-3 times before midnight at which point I feed him. Then he will often go two hours before waking up again. Then it seems to be pretty much every hour. I feed him again around 4am. An average night for me is him having 10 NWings. :(
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It's reasonable to be feeding him earlier than midnight if he's going to bed at 6:30. If he's waking several times before then, have you tried feeding when he wakes initially if its 4hr after BT, just to see if the waking is related to hunger? Have you tried a dream feed?
To be honest, it sounds like discomfort to me and when DS was waking in a similar pattern, it was gas. Reclining to feed and expressing milk off before feeding him at night feedings when my supply was higher helped, as did putting his mattress on an incline so the gas could be released as a burp rather than getting trapped low down.
Have you tried medicating for pain if you think he's teething? Does it make a difference?
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I'm sure that if he woke up at 10:00/11:00 that he would eat. He will ALWAYS eat lol! He was almost 18 lbs. at his 4 month check up. I have fed him at 11 before, but lately have been pushing him to go longer. But if he does wake up at 11, he will always wake up an hour later again if I haven't fed him. If I do feed him, I can usually go 2 hours before he wakes up again. I don't do a dream feed because I am going to bed at 9 since I'm up so many times at night.
Last night when he woke up 1.5 hours after his midnight feeding I did pick him up and he burped. And then again 20 mins later he burped again. But that's the first time in a while that has happened, usually I just give him his soother and he's good for another hour or so. This time he was good for maybe 1.5 hours or so, I can't really remember, but it didn't seem to be much different.
I have tried medicating for pain but it hasn't made a difference.
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I really think it comes back to the burping. Do you have trouble burping him in the day? Are you doing it differently at night to avoid waking him too much?
If he is waking an hour after being resettled, you might as well feed and get some more sleep. Could you put his mattress on an incline so gas can come up as burps rather than get trapped lower down?
The dummy helping will usually be when the gas is lower down and the sucking stimulates the release of the gas.
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He can take a couple minutes during the day to burp sometimes. I only burp him with him lying on my shoulder at night... during the day when I do this he is awake and often tilts back which may help him burp easier. I'll try sitting him up at night to see if that works. Last night I had him in his bouncer all night (often he's in his bouncer for an hour or so) and once he finally settled at 9pm, he went till midnight, then till 3am, and again until 6am. Not sure if that had anything to do with it, as he's been in his bouncer on many occasions...
If I put his mattress on an incline, he would slide down to the bottom. Unless the incline doesn't have to be much?
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It only has to be enough that his head is higher than his bottom. Mums with refluxers who put them on an incline sometimes roll a towel in a U shape under LO's bottom (under the sheet so it's not dangerous) to hold them still on the mattress.
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Thanks, I may try that some night but I actually have to remember before putting him to bed!!
Last night he fussed on and off until 11:15pm when I fed him. I managed to get a good burp out of him almost immediately, and he then went a beautiful 3 hour stretch! Then he woke up with a dirty diaper, and the next hour I fed him. Then he was up every hour after that feeding. I couldn't get a burp out of him after his feeding, but the next two wakings I got burps. But that doesn't explain the last two NWings after that :S
One day this will pass!
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It's pretty important to get the burps out early so the gas doesn't work it's way down further in the gut and cause painful farts.
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Any good techniques? I've tried sitting him upright with my hand under his chin for support, as well as having him draped over my shoulder but I can't seem to get this guy to burp at night! Last night he went one 2 hr. stretch and was up every hour after that.
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Have you looked into silent reflux?
I had success with sitting DS on my lap facing away from me with a little pressure on his tummy and rubbing his back in a circular motion, up on his right down on his left. some people hav head success with LO sitting the same way but circling their body gently, a bit like what you do to keep a hula hoop up. Terrible description :-[ hope it makes sense.
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Thanks, hopefully tonight we'll get better burps. I also put a wedge in his crib so maybe that will help. I suspected silent reflux when he was about 2 months old because he'd have screaming bouts in the evenings and often it was right after a feeding. I used the wedge too. But the thing is, he slept well at night back then. It's only from months 3-5 that it has been so bad. Also, the pediatrician said he probably had colic, not reflux, although my family doctor was willing to put him on meds but I wanted to be sure it was reflux before I went down that road.
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Reflux symptoms tend to worsen up to about 4-5 months, so it could be that. If you were to trial meds for 2 weeks and he is much improved, you have your answer. That the issue remains now is another indication of reflux, as colic tends to resolve around 3 months.
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After last night I am thinking it's just a prop issue. He always settles almost immediately, all it takes is a quick reswaddle and giving him the paci again. I wasn't able to burp him last night, but after his first NWing following feedings I was able to get burps so I'm almost certain that isn't the problem. But I have no energy to try weaning him from the paci :(
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How's his dexterity? Logan was replugging by himself around 5 months. You could give him the dummy to play with during the day and let him figure out how to get it in his mouth...
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He is able to pull it out no problem, in fact he will often unswaddle himself and do just that. But getting it back in is still something we're trying to work on.