I'm in desperate need of some help. I feel like such a bad mother because my 7 mo old has never slept through the night
. She used to only wake up once a night for a bottle, but about a month ago, she started waking much more frequently. Here's some info:
Routine - has been quite erratic since she was born because she had reflux and hates to drink milk. We had to quit breastfeeding because she refused to eat and it was very hard on both of us. Since then we went from Similac to Isomil to Good Start and now she is on Alimentum. Nothing seems to agree with her, but we are working very hard at getting on a schedule. Here's a bit of what her days are like:
- Wake in between 8:00 and 9:00 am - Try to feed her a bottle - sometimes she'll refuse, sometimes she'll take a few oz and sometimes she'll take a full 6 oz
- If she doesn't take formula, I feed her 2 tblsp cereal and 2 tblsp fruit (usually apples, pears or blueberries)
- A - diaper change then on the floor to play with toys and she has just started crawling so she is pretty active
- If she ate formula in the morning, then I will feed her cereal and fruit after A time usually around 10 or 10:30
- She is usually ready for a nap at about 11:00 am. If she hasn't taken formula yet in the morning, I will feed her a bottle before nap.
- Her morning nap is usually only 45 min to 1 hr 15 min - usually wakes up to burp
- Depending on when she had her morning bottle, I will either feed her formula when she wakes up or go right into A time
- Afternoon A time is usually playing with toys, going shopping, or going visiting
- Usually ready for another nap around 2:30 or 3:00. This nap can vary - sometimes only 30 min, but sometimes 1 hour to 1.5 hours
- Once she wakes up I will feed her another bottle - usually 4 to 6 oz.
- We will then play again until it's time to make supper. She plays in her chair or on the floor while I make supper
- 5:30 or 6:00 she'll have another 2 tblsp of cereal and 2 tblsp of vegetable and meat
- 7:00 bath time with her dad
- after bath we have quiet time while she gets massage and her pajamas on
- then she has a bottle (4 to 6 oz) and in bed by 8:00
- from supper to bedtime, her routine has been very static for the last month or so - it doesn't vary at all
- usually wakes up 1 1/2 to 2 hrs after going down because she has to burp - most times this is mantra cry until she burps
- then she will wake at midnight to eat - fussy cry - we've tried to settle her with shh/pat and pu/pd, and often she'll go back to sleep but only for a few minutes. Ultimately she wants to eat.
- then she wakes at 4:00 am - same routine as the midnight waking
- if we are lucky, she'll sleep until morning, but often she wakes in between 5:00 and 6:00 am. If I bring her into our bed, she'll fall back to sleep until 8:00 or 9:00
I know this is all over the place, but with her short naps and always having gas, we just do what we can to get through the day. Sounds like accidental parenting, doesn't it? I've read a lot about others schedules on the site, so I'm really trying to get her on a better schedule. Last night she woke at 10:30 to eat 4 oz and then at 2:30 am to eat another 4 oz. I heard her wake up at about 4:00 am, but she put herself back to sleep. After that it was 5:30 when she woke again, so I brought her into bed with me until 7:30. At that time, I fed her a bottle, but she only took 4 oz. Then she played until 9:00 and had some breakfast, but she didn't eat very much. Tried to put her down for a nap at 10:00, but she fussed and finally went to sleep at 11:00. She only slept until 11:35 so I thought she might be hungry. I offered her a bottle but she refused it. Now she is still quite tired, but she is on the floor playing. I'm really starting to pull my hair out.
She has a pacifier that she only uses when she is tired, but she does need it to go to sleep. She usually goes down by herself (with her paci) but lately that's been difficult. We've had to do PU/PD quite a few times.
When she wakes during the night, she is still very sleepy. She never wakes up and wants to play. She often seems like she is in pain because she is grunting and groaning, but that is usually taken care of by a burp or some gripe water. She is so gassy, that we thought we would try Alimentum, but there has been no change since she started it a week ago.
I know this is very long and drawn out, but I would really like some advice. I.m thinking of taking her back to my GP to see if her reflux is back - her Ped took her off the meds that the GP put her on for reflux because he didn't think there was anything wrong with her (I wasn't very happy with that Ped so we won't go back to him).
Anyway, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!!!
