BabyWhispererForums.com
SLEEP => Night Wakings => Topic started by: bongabees on January 12, 2015, 14:55:45 pm
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My LO is 11 months old now and for the last few months has been waking multiple times a night screaming. She was previously IS, and STTN from 3 months old. It seemed to have started when she learnt to sit up in the cot, then she was ill for a while with bronchitis and then we have been away staying with family and freinds over Christmas for three weeks. She has literally slept through twice or three times in the last few months. She is easy to settle most of the time - wants to be held or a hand on her, or just lie back down. Sometimes she wants me to stay with her, but I try not to get into that habit.
I have started STing again (as she got in the habit of having me stay with her for a while) with WIWO and it seems to working for settling to sleep at BT and naps. She still cries quite a bit but settles herself after a while. However, it seems to have no effect at night and he crying at night is different - last night she let out a blood curdling scream too.
I have tried altering a times and naps - but nothing affects the NWs.
I have also given her paracetamol, thinking it could be teething - but because it's been going on for so long now I am not sure if it is. She does have some swelling at the top beside the four she has already. Can teething take that long and with so much pain for that length of time?
Every time she wakes she sits up immediately - could this be something to do with it? I am totally at a loss and completely baffled!
The only other thing that crossed my mind was SA? DS did express his SA around 9 months when I went back to work in the same way, but was easy to ST out of it and it lasted a couple of weeks.
Thanks for your help!
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Hi Anna, I'm sorry to hear you're still struggling with this! :( (((Hugs)))
It could be SA, she's still in the prime age for it and esp with all that has gone on the past couple months (sitting up, illness, traveling), it makes a lot of sense for it to be that. But, WIWO would be the recommendation to deal with it (along with all the other daytime practices: Tips for seperation anxiety). How long have you been doing WIWO?
Some of those bigger teeth, like premolars and canines definitely can be bothersome and take awhile to come through, but I don't think they would cause the NWs you're describing for that period of time. :-\
What does your daytime routine look like? When you've tried altering it, has it been for a period of more than 3 days?
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Thanks for the response Katie. She actually STTN last night! I gave her paracetamol as her cheeks were radioactive red yesterday afternoon, but I don't know if that is the reason for her good night.
I have been doing WIWO for a couple of weeks.
The routine is not consistent at all. This is mainly due to inconsistent naps - she will sometimes short nap (30-45 mins) and sometimes longer. She is also tired after bad nights so is yawning much earlier than I would normally aim to PD. I aim for a 3.5 hour a time as this seems to be good for her, but not always possible if she does 2 short naps. However, I am sure that sometimes she is UT as I am trying to squeeze in 2 naps in the day. Does that make sense?! So in answer to your question, I don't think we have had 3 days with the same routine for a while. This is probably also due to all the traveling too. Possibly OT UT cycle now I think of it?!
For example today:
WU 7:30 (I woke her)
Yawning at 9, again at 10 - so I tried to PD at 10. She made a fuss and played around a bit in her cot so probably UT but fell asleep at 10:10.
Yesterday was similar in the morning - she WU 7:30, slept 9:50 - 11:05, then CN 3-3:30 and BT 7:30
I will try to keep a consistent routine for a couple of days like this and see what happens. Maybe she needs a shorter A time in the morning.
Sorry for the rambles, I guess I am thinking 'out loud' too!
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She actually STTN last night!
;D Sometimes all you have to do is post! ;)
It does sound like you could be in a bit of a UT/OT cycle. Her first A is ending up quite short as well, which can encourage the NWs. I'd push out to a minimum of 3-3.5hr, even after a bad night. It will look similar to what she did yesterday, but with a more age-appropriate morning A time (hopefully to discourage any NWs).
Something like this...
WU 7:30am
N1 11-12:30am
N2 4-4:30pm
BT 7:30pm
What do you think?
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Yes, I will try that, it sounds better, I think I was worried about the late nap close to BT as she can refuse BT. But I will try for a few days. Thank you!
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Hopefully, the A from the rest of the day should help that. Or, you could move BT to 8. Or, start offering only 15-20min CN. The joys of the 2-1, eh?! ;)
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Urgh, first night after this routine 4 NWs! But we will try again today and tomorrow and see...
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Oh dear. :(
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Hi Anna - joining as promised to help. Katie is of course doing fabulous job here but three heads is more than two:))). And our LOs are all almost the same age:).
I second Katie advice on morning nap. I would push, push and push. I think G was always rather average sleep needs so I would expect her to have at least 2h of sleep per day with at least 11.5h nights. I remember you said she is refusing bt if second nap is too late. How was yesterday?
I would be tempted to push even more in the mornings than 3.5h. Average is 3.5-4.5h or more and I don't expect G to be a HSN. Second point is that nap of 1:15h after such a short A in the morning sounds as she is waiting for it to "finish" her night sleep.
I don't know if that helps but we are currently on the routine of:
7am wu (slightly before)
11:30/11:45 nap for 1,5h; I cap if needed
4pm nap for 15min
7pm bt
However F is almost never refusing his bt.
Have you considered pushing short am-long pm solution? Se was doing very well on that routine when younger wasn't she? I would go for 10-15min in the mornings at 10:00/10:15 with 7am wu, maybe in a pram? And than at 1:30 nap for 1,5h-2h and long A till BT? Wdyt?
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Thanks Marta, I was leaving it a few days to let her get into a routine to see if it helped... After a little thought I think I underestimated how messed up her routine was with all the travelling.
I also thought that maybe she is still hungry! I realised that the NWs increased around the time that I cut the afternoon bottle. So I have gone back to that now as she was always so desperate to eat before tea time.
So, nights have improved. She has unfortunately been woken up by big bro a couple of times early morning and she threw up the other night. So not exactly 'normal' conditions, but I can say that with a 3.5-4 hour A time she is doing better. I let her sleep for 1.5 hours in the morning, but if she has a short nap, she seems to then have a longer one in the afternoon (like before). I wake her by 4:30 latest and she is Okay at BT 7:30. I have noticed that the days she does a longer nap in the afternoon the nights seem to be a bit more settled than a long am nap.
I would like her to keep the longer am nap as it's my only time in the day without DS too and I didn't like 2-1 transition with DS - he also had a short am nap and I found it hard to get rid of that am nap IYKWIM
Anyway, I will persevere with the third bottle and the routine and keep you posted!! Thanks for the help.
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One more thought Anna - if you say she goes better at night after long pm nap maybe you should go for a slightly earlier BT than 7:30 on those days when she has long-short routine and 7:30 when she did short-long? Or maybe don't cap the morning nap at 1:30 if it's after 3,5-4h A and than go for you normal short pm nap and normal BT? WDYT?
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Well, she is refusing BT now at 8pm after a nap of 3:10-4:30 so not sure what to do. But I will also think about an earlier BT when it's long-short.
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I guess it makes a difference if a nap which ends at 4:30 was 30min or 1:20:). I usually do second nap earlier if I can, if first one was short so to let him sleep but not have problems with BT. And frankly speaking I never let long pm nap even if the first one was short. On those days I usually do 2 shorter naps.
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I guess it makes a difference if a nap which ends at 4:30 was 30min or 1:20:).
This^^^
If you're going for long am, short pm and she doesn't sleep a full morning nap, I'd also do the second one earlier. If not, I'd just let her do the minimum that will get her to BT, rather than 'making up' for the morning nap, iyswim.
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Yes good idea, thanks! Only one NW last night again so getting there - thank you!
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:)