BabyWhispererForums.com

SLEEP => Night Wakings => Topic started by: JECsmom on September 16, 2005, 18:10:15 pm

Title: 7.5 MO, new to BW, 5 night wakings, need help!
Post by: JECsmom on September 16, 2005, 18:10:15 pm
It seems like I've read all the books on sleep. I've settled on doing the BW technique to reduce and then get rid night wakings and getting his naps longer. 
Here's the background: My DS is 7.5 MO. He slept great up until 4 months. Then it went down hill very quickly. I'm BFing and I have been BFing him during most of his wake ups for all of his life. Since he set his own nap routine at around 4 months, he's been on a loose schedule. I have respected his need for sleep and he was getting 4, then 3, and now 2 naps a day. He is now on 2 solid meals a day. I can't say I have a routine/schedule like the BW recommends, but we follow a set rountine for the day, naps, and bedtime.  He is in his crib for naps and bedtime, but I have been sleeping with him after his 5:00 wake up. (I'm now willing to give that up and did so the past 2 nights)  Naps are also bad. He used to take 2-3 hour naps, but now is down to .5 to .75. Though yesterday he took a 2 hr nap!!! :D (I'm goind PU/PD for napping too)
Since 4 months he has been a very distracted nurser and will usually only nurse before naps and bed. No talking, lights,  etc b/c the littlest thing would distract him. From the BW solves all your problems book, I think he started not getting enough during the day at 4 months, so started waking up for feedings and then it became a REALLY annoying habit.
Also, he has never taken a pasifier.
He wakes up a couple times a couple hours after I put him down, but he self-soothes back to sleep (controlled CIO worked for that :oops: ). Then he'll wake up at least 3 times at around 11, 3, and 5. He goes to bed at 6:00 (his choice) and wakes up around 7:30. (Yes, that 13.5 hours!).

 :?: So here are my questions:
I don't want to go cold turkey on him at night with the feedings, so what should I do?
Do set a time to feed him - i.e. wake him up? and then do PU/PD for the times he wakes up on his own?
I can't just feed him if he acts hungry b/c he always acts hungry at night, rooting etc.

Thanks in advance for your help!
Anna
Title: 7.5 MO, new to BW, 5 night wakings, need help!
Post by: Katet on September 17, 2005, 10:50:40 am
Anna, I've read through your post a few times & tried to work out the direction I think best to point you in... but I'm still not sure.

So I will offer a few ideas, basically we need to help you up the food intake in the day & stop it at night.

Given your lo's age, I'd step up to offering 3 solids a day, but also make sure that you mix some milk into what ever you offer.
Can you/do you express? I found when me ds#1 got older, he was very distracted for feeds & I used to express one feed & give that to him in a bottle, but I did it 3 days/week for childcare anyway, so it was easy.

Now given his age he will in the next few months (theoretically) be able to go 10-12 hours over night without a feed. So re night feedings, I would actually suggest not doing a df or early evening feed, but dropping the first feed around 11pm. My reason for that is if you feed early in the night, but not later, your ds will think hey she fed me last time, why not this one, where as if he is not fed the first time then you don't have that confusion. From my experience, he will possibly drop the later feeds with less effort too.

If you are going to do PU/PD for night wakings I would also suggest you do it to extend the day naps... the better the quality of sleep in the day, the better the quality at night. If you can get 2 good 1.5 hour naps in the day time, that will also help your cause with the night wakings.

I know you say your lo has 13.5 hours overnight (his choice), I think that will make it hard with feedings, so if you can get longer day naps, I'd try putting him down a bit later (10-15mins every few days) so that it is about 11-12 hours from the time you want him to start his day, as I think if he keeps a 6pm bed time, you could find in a few months he wants to start the day at 4 or 5am! Also  from when I had these problems with my ds - I think he has the early bed time & wakeups just after bedtime, due to over tiredness (short naps & night waking)

Also because you have done CIO - there could be some trust issues & seperation anxiety may have kicked in, so be mindful of his need for you to be really consistent... he will get upset, when you don't feed, but if you start this (ie stopping night feeds) you really need to follow through & there may be times when it takes hours to get him back to sleep.
Title: 7.5 MO, new to BW, 5 night wakings, need help!
Post by: JECsmom on September 17, 2005, 15:01:12 pm
Thanks for the advise. Last night he woke up at 1:30 and I fed him, but not until he fell asleep and he didn't take as much as he normally does. I think your advise about not feeding this first wake up is a good one. I'll try that tonight.
I've been thinking about moving to 3 solid meals, I'll be doing that in the next week or so.
As for getting more BM in him, I'm going to stick with BFing him.  He's not much of a bottle feeder and I'm not able to express milk very easily.
I think the hardest one for us will be the 5:00. That's the one where I used to move him into bed and give him a good nurse. That will probably be another post! I think I'll tackle the first ones and move to that one in a week or so. But of course, not move him to our bed anymore!  Incidentally, he only woke up at 7:00, 1:30, and 5:30.  Things are already improving on day 2!!! :D