BabyWhispererForums.com

SLEEP => Night Wakings => Topic started by: christians mummy on September 26, 2006, 11:10:51 am

Title: 9 month old waking constantly - help!
Post by: christians mummy on September 26, 2006, 11:10:51 am
Hi Guys,
will try to make a long story short, but please bear with me, as I am becoming a desperate woman!

To set the scene, I have (had) a perfect LO who has slept thru the night from 5 months, very happy baby, loves his food etc etc.
About 3.5 weeks ago, he started waking through the night, sometimes crying in his sleep, sometimes waking.
I would either put the dummy back in or pick him up and rock him for a few seconds and put him back - whatever was required.
I assumed it was teeth, as his top 2 should be coming down any day now. What confused me, is sometimes I would put teething gel on, and he would go straight back to sleep, othertimes it would make no difference.... anyway, I have been perserving which is hard, as his waking can be every 20 mins or every hour - either way, I am getting close to NO sleep, hence the desperate woman bit!

I took him to the community nurse last week, who firsty told me she had no idea, then told me (upon inspection) it looks like his top teeth.

At the end of last week, I read a few posts from this night waking topic, and I started to think that maybe he wasn't getting enough sleep, and therefore having restless nights. I have been putting him down for the night about 1.5hrs earlier since the end of last week, and I have seen a slight improvement.

Out of desperation last night, I brought him into our bed about 3am, and discovered something interesting...
it seems he is waking up because he is rolling over and sitting up.
Now what I can't work out, is he sitting up (and waking up) becuase he is in pain or uncomfortable, or is his body doing it and therefore waking him up? sounds a bit silly, I know, but it looks (to actually watch) like he is rolling over, and sitting up in his sleep and then waking up.

Just to confuse the matter..we have 3 separate issues - he started properly crawling about 3 weeks ago, and charges around the house like a maniac all day, I also began finding it quite hard to put him down for a sleep, started having to rock him a bit (for the first time ever) as he seems to be too full of energy and couldn't get himself to sleep, and he began to change his feeding patterns - reduced his milk intake and increased the solids.

Will answer the necessary questions....

How old is your child?                        9 months and 3 weeks
What’s his/her daily routine?               6 am - wake and activity/play
                                                    7am - 200ml formula and activity/play
                                                    8am - morning sleep (can be 1.5 or 2 hours)
                                                   10 am - rice cereal and fruit (sometimes given before morning sleep)
                                                   11-12 noon - activity/play and lunch (yougart and fruit)
                                                   12-1.30 - afternoon sleep
                                                   1.30 - 4pm - activity/play
                                                   4pm - 5pm - wind down - bath and dinner
Varition depend on how day has gone       
                                                   Sometimes 5pm - 6pm - sleep and bed at 7.30pm, sometimes can hold him out until 6pm and put him down for the night                                         

What’s nap routine?
How long are naps?
What's bedtime routine? Time?
Do you bottle or breastfed??
How much? or how long?
If breastfed.. one side or both?? (at each feed)
How many wakes per night?
What’s your LO like when waking at night? How long is he/she up?
When you go to him/her is she fussing or crying? Or is it a mantra cry?
What have you tried to settle??
What do you do for A time and how long is it?
Are there developmental issues such as teething or milestones?
Have you introduced cereal? Why, how much, and how many times a day? (for LO’s under 6 months)
Do they have a prop? If so what is it?
Do they have a lovie?

Title: Re: 9 month old waking constantly - help!
Post by: christians mummy on September 26, 2006, 11:37:25 am
sorry guys, somehow managed to post my message without even trying (or finshing)- must be lack of sleep!

to continue on....


What’s nap routine?                      not sure what is meant by routine, but as soon as the yawns start he goes down!
How long are naps?                      now (since last week) 1.5-2hrs (used to be 1 hour max)
What's bedtime routine? Time?       routine is wind-down, bath, bottle, cuddle
Do you bottle or breastfed??         bottle (breast fed to 6 months)
How much? or how long?              650ml/day (used to be 1000ml, but he now won't take as much)
If breastfed.. one side or both?? (at each feed)
How many wakes per night?          Anywhere from 5 - 10
What’s your LO like when waking at night? How long is he/she up? sometimes seems to sit or stand up and cry (all in sleep), other times he is awake and standing in the cot. only takes minutes to get him back to sleep
When you go to him/her is she fussing or crying? Or is it a mantra cry? not exactly sure what mantra cry is, but crying starts with a whimper and ends with full blown crying - not a situation where he can self-soothe
What have you tried to settle?? put dummy back in, or pick and and rock for a minute or so
What do you do for A time and how long is it? number of things, sometimes play games just 2 of us, or interact with other friends and babies, or do our shopping !
Are there developmental issues such as teething or milestones? first top 2 teeth should be coming, and has started crawling and standing.
Have you introduced cereal? Why, how much, and how many times a day? (for LO’s under 6 months)
Do they have a prop? If so what is it? dummy only
Do they have a lovie? no

Sorry, after re-reading my daily routine bit, I realised I had left out all the bottles! But he has 4 hourly feeds.

Also, looks like he sleeps alot! I better mention that he wants to sleep every two hours, If I go much past that he becomes a nightmare, and since the night wakings have started, I have made a very big effort to stay home and set a definite routine, have found he has increased his sleeps from 1hr to 1.5-2hrs - so am assuming he needs it?

Anyway. I realise this post is way too long and I'm sorry, but I suppose my queries are....

4 issues - possible teeth, change of feeding patterns, too much/too little sleep ? and milestone (crawling and standing) - what could be causing the night wakings???

Based on everything I have witnessed, I'm thinking that this is a milestone thing and his activity is waking him up - does this sound feasible ??

Would really appreciate your input, as all jokes aside, I am starting to go a bit mad with the lack of sleep

Thank you for listening!
Belinda xx


Title: Re: 9 month old waking constantly - help!
Post by: Colin Macs Mom on September 26, 2006, 16:36:43 pm
Hi Belinda! My goodness do you guys have a lot going on. I had to laugh a little when I was reading your post because I could have written it myself about 4 months ago.  ;D  ;D

Quote (selected)
Out of desperation last night, I brought him into our bed about 3am, and discovered something interesting...
it seems he is waking up because he is rolling over and sitting up.
Now what I can't work out, is he sitting up (and waking up) becuase he is in pain or uncomfortable, or is his body doing it and therefore waking him up? sounds a bit silly, I know, but it looks (to actually watch) like he is rolling over, and sitting up in his sleep and then waking up.
Nothing silly about it - it's very common for LO's body to practice. Rolling and sitting are both major milestones and really affect sleep. One night my DH went to check on DS about an hour or so after he went to bed at night, and he was sitting up in his crib, totally asleep.  ;D Hilarious! Anyway what I'm getting at is that while they are mastering those skills, they OBSESS about it. It's just about all they can think about and all they want to do. The best way to combat the night practicing and therefore waking is to make sure that LO has as much time during the day to practice as he/she wants. If they want to do nothing else, fine. It will help them master the skill faster and get the urge (hopefully) to practice out of their system.

Quote (selected)
4 issues - possible teeth, change of feeding patterns, too much/too little sleep ? and milestone (crawling and standing) - what could be causing the night wakings???

Based on everything I have witnessed, I'm thinking that this is a milestone thing and his activity is waking him up - does this sound feasible ??
Yes, you're absolutely right. I don't know that the feeding has much to do with it, but it does sound like he's got teething going on as well. Between that and the developmental stuff, that's a lot for LO and sleeping!
Title: Re: 9 month old waking constantly - help!
Post by: christians mummy on September 27, 2006, 01:36:30 am
Thanks so much for your imput!
Just to make things more confusing, he spent last night just waking up and crying - only stood up once or twice.
Somedays I can cope, others (like today) I feel like I am losing my mind!
He practises his new moves all day everyday, so don't know how much more he can do throughout the day to stop him wanting to do it all night.
Went back to the community nurse this morning, she has told me that I just have to bite the bullet and use tough love - let him scream it out. Tried it for about 10 minutes, and it had me a nervous wreck...I really don't know what to do  :-\
Title: Re: 9 month old waking constantly - help!
Post by: daniellechiasson on September 27, 2006, 01:48:35 am
I would try PU/PD before trying CIO, thru all the milestones he needs to know you are there when he needs you. My DD is about the same age as your DS and we did PD about a month & a half ago. Was worth it even if the teething monster and a cold have gotten in the way.

In terms of sleep, take naps when he does if possible. It's so draining to be up so many times in the night. For myself I try to nap during DDs morning sleep because it's her longest. During her afternoon nap is when I try to get my chores done.

~~~~~~~~Sleep Vibes for Christian & Belinda~~~~~~~~~~

Good luck!
Danielle
Title: Re: 9 month old waking constantly - help!
Post by: christians mummy on September 27, 2006, 09:43:23 am
Thanks Danielle - you are right!
I just feel so lame having to sleep through the day with an (almost) 10 month old! But during my tears today, I came to the realisation that I have to sleep, for his sake and mine - mummy being in a mental institution will not help him at all  ;)
Am going to re-aquaint myself with the book (BW) and start again!

Thanks for your support, it's really nice to know you're all out there! xx
Title: Re: 9 month old waking constantly - help!
Post by: Colin Macs Mom on September 27, 2006, 16:54:38 pm
Please, please, please don't do CIO! It goes against everything Tracy believed in and the BW philosophy. We don't support those methods here at all as they break the trust between parent and child. I know that it's hard, and you're so tired that you can't see straight. I've been there and so have a lot of other folks around here. But there's a gentler way! Like Danielle said LO needs to know that you will be there to meet his needs.
Title: Re: 9 month old waking constantly - help!
Post by: christians mummy on September 27, 2006, 23:21:35 pm
Not exactly sure what CIO stands for, but I get your point.
I have never liked the idea of letting them cry,  but I suppose you just question yourself when your exhausted and the professionals are telling you how it 'should' be done.

Don't worry, will persevere - dh is on holidays for 2 weeks starting this weekend, so I will have a bit more day and night support.

Thanks again guys
Title: Re: 9 month old waking constantly - help!
Post by: Colin Macs Mom on September 27, 2006, 23:32:00 pm
I'm sorry, CIO stands for cry it out. I know what you mean about questioning yourself, we all do that, especially in those sleep-deprived days.  ;)  IMO the problem with those "professionals" is that they don't provide you with all the information and options available to you. I mean, our parents and before them CIO was what people did because they had no reseach to show the negative effects and there was just no other way. Now there is, and we have choices on our parenting methods. So just remember that YOU are the parent and YOU are in charge. The choices are YOURS to make.  :-*

That's wonderful that your DH will be able to help you for a couple of weeks, what great timing!