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SLEEP => Night Wakings => Topic started by: HelzBelz on January 18, 2018, 10:05:39 am

Title: 4.5 month old waking frequently in the night
Post by: HelzBelz on January 18, 2018, 10:05:39 am
Hi. Looking for some advise.

My four month old has started waking frequently in the night. She is on a four hour routine and it has been working really well. Her EASY routine is as follows;

7.00am: wake
7:30am:  feed
8:00am: playtime
9:00am: sleep
11:00am: wake
11:30am: feed
12:00pm: playtime
1:00pm: sleep
3:00pm: wake
3:30pm: feed
4:00pm playtime
5:30pm: cat nap
6:00pm: bath
7:00pm: bedtime routine and feed
7:30pm sleep
10:30: dreamfeed

Up to now she has been like clock work....but the last week she has begun waking in the night. She is well able to self soothe because sometimes she wakes during her naps and goes back asleep herself. I give her a paci when i put her down but i dont replace it if she wakes and she self soothes back to sleep herself.

But now she has begun waking at 3am, 4am, 4:30am, 5am and basically every 30mins from then. I give her the paci to try put her back to sleep. Then at 7am i get her up.

Please help. She used to sleep so soundly during the night. Its not hunger because she fusses on her morning bottle and its a struggle to get it into her.




Title: Re: 4.5 month old waking frequently in the night
Post by: Marizza4 on January 18, 2018, 10:41:18 am
I am following this post. We have the same problem,  but I made it worse by feeding her. Good for you for recognizing she is not hungry! My baby started doing it also when she reached 4 months, it’s been going on for a month now because I’ve turned it into habitual waking...
Title: Re: 4.5 month old waking frequently in the night
Post by: HelzBelz on January 19, 2018, 14:35:17 pm
Would really love some advice on this please 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻😩😩😩

Last night my DD work and midnight and then every two hours from there until il 5am where she started waking every half hour. Each time i gave her the paci and she dozed back asleep. I have a tired unsettled baby today and i am exhausted! I will try anything. 😢😢😢😢

It’s definitely not hunger because I eventually took her up at 7am and fed her and she fussed like mad on her bottle and didnt finish it.

Title: Re: 4.5 month old waking frequently in the night
Post by: creations on January 19, 2018, 15:02:54 pm
3:00pm: wake
3:30pm: feed
4:00pm playtime
5:30pm: cat nap
6:00pm: bath
7:00pm: bedtime routine and feed
7:30pm sleep
Hi there.  have you considered offering a longer nap instead of a CN in the evening?  Looks like she naps well after 2hrs A time but just before that CN at 5.30pm you are stretching to 2.5hrs so she will be more tired but then given a shorter nap. This could be causing OT, perhaps.
How about a longer nap say 5 - 6 (1hr) and then either a shorter A before BT with BT at 7.30pm (shorter A time after the shorter nap which is 1 hr instead of 2hr she takes the rest of the day) or if she refuses BT at 7.30 move it to 8pm until the routine changes again?
Title: Re: 4.5 month old waking frequently in the night
Post by: HelzBelz on January 19, 2018, 19:54:01 pm
Thanks so much for your reply, so you mean an EASY as follows;

3pm wake
3:30pm feed
4pm playtime
5pm nap
6pm bath
7pm feed and
7:30/8pm bed

I will def try it. But can i ask....how does that effect night wakings? She does settle to bed so well and the minute and takes her dresmfeed at 10:30 and never wakes on it.

Then from midnight....all bets are off this weather 🙈🙈

She has been so good up to now and sleeping through the night with a dreamfeed since she was nine weeks old! Most mornings we actaully had to wake her at 7am...and beacuse of this we were considering cutting out the dreamfeed. But now i dont know whats gone wrong or is it the four month sleep regression? I also considered taking away the paci but if shes able to self soothe for her naps why cant she do it for night wakings?
Title: Re: 4.5 month old waking frequently in the night
Post by: creations on January 20, 2018, 09:40:08 am
how does that effect night wakings?
Night waking can be cause by OT so although a LO goes to sleep easily at BT their sleep can be disturbed either with frequent NWs in the early part of the night sleep or with waking too early (and not refreshed) and having to be put back to sleep multiple times.
There are of course other possible reasons for NWs including the 4 months regression, teething (this could be the case with your LO), props, illness, growth spurts, noise or light, developmental leaps...
Looking at your EASY the difference in the last A times and CN were the things that stood out.  The change in the later art of the day may or may not resolve the NWs, you'd have to try it and see how things go over a period of time (ie not just one night).

The 4 month regression is often linked to A times being too short and not increased rapidly enough for Lo to nap well, this isn't the case in your current routine as you've already increased to 2hrs, 4hrly E and getting good naps.  It's all a bit of guess work.

Let us know how you get on.
Title: Re: 4.5 month old waking frequently in the night
Post by: HelzBelz on January 20, 2018, 11:30:14 am
Perfect!

Will try that today! Thank you so much

Fingers crossed for me 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻
Title: Re: 4.5 month old waking frequently in the night
Post by: creations on January 20, 2018, 19:00:47 pm
Just realised I said 2 hrly feeds in my last post, I've change it now to 4 hrly which is what I meant.

FX for you :)
Title: Re: 4.5 month old waking frequently in the night
Post by: HelzBelz on January 24, 2018, 20:04:19 pm
HI,

Thanks so much for the advice. I changed her evening nap to 1 hr from 5-6pm and started bedtime a bit later. She cant quiet manage the later bedtime...starts getting cranky but just trying to gradually extend her.

She is no longer waking every 2 hours during the night thank god! She sleeps right through but is waking at 5am on the button the last three mornings. I leave her and she coo’s in her cot for a solid hour and then at 6am she shouts to get up. Ive tried resettling her but she just wont settle back to sleep. So the last three mornings i lifted her at 6:30am and brought her into our bed where she fell asleep until i wake her at 7am to start the day.

Is there anything i can do to cut out this early waking? Im worried about bringing her into our bed as i dont want her to get into a bad habit. I would shorten her day time naps but she cant handle more than two hours awake time?

Any suggestions?
Title: Re: 4.5 month old waking frequently in the night
Post by: creations on January 25, 2018, 20:00:32 pm
Personally I would avoid bringing her to your bed for another sleep as it can rapidly become a habit - although many people enjoy the morning cuddles.

I would probably try a W2S before 5am to see if you can kick start another sleep cycle to stop the 5am habitual WU. And teach her than she needs to go back to sleep but in her own bed.
Failing that I'd shift the whole day on.  Being a wake from 5 am to 6.30am is almost a full A time so she is in effect taking her first nap with you.  If you shift the whole day you could have a later BT, sleep through the night and later WU.  It depends what you day looks like really and how long the night is.  It could be you are expecting too long a night and she's just finished sleeping and doesn't need more. She sounds pretty happy.