8month old, random waking, can't figure out why??

[hil217]

Hi All

Wonder if anyone can give me some help, my little guy is 8.5 months now.  He has generally been a good sleeper, apart from periods of teething and illness when he would wake in the night and he hard to settle.  I dropped his dreamfeed about 6 weeks ago as it seemed to be disturbing him more than anything and he seemed to adapt to this well.  He would wake some nights around 10.30pm,  but just stir and get himself back to sleep.  The last 2 weeks he has woken around 1.30-2.30pm on random nights and won't settle without a bottle, usually sinking 7oz then going back to sleep fine on his own. I have tried sush pat, which has worked in the past for naps, but pick up/put down has never worked just makes him worse. He has done this before but it was on three consecutive nights when he had a cold  and was teething at the same time and it was around 4-5am. I have tried to think what it could be as i am not convinced it is hunger.  I don't think it is teething again as there aren't any other of the signs, he is a little off his food/milk but each day is different and it has never runs that a day he is off his food is followed by a night of waking.

this is our day give or take 30mins

E - 7-7.30am  Wake and milk ( approx 5oz)
     8-8.30am Breakfast - cereal
S    9.30  ( this is anything from 1-2hours )
E-  11.30am - Milk ( approx 3-5oz)   
     12-12.30pm Lunch
S - 1.30-2pm nap ( 1-2hours, sometimes shorter if out, he only tends to sleep for 45 mins in car seat or buggy)
E   3.30-4pm Milk approx 3-5oz   
     (If he hasn't ad a good afternoon nap, may have another 30min cat nap)
     5pm - Dinner
     6pm Bath
E/S  7- 7.30pm, book, bottle & bed (fingers crossed till morning).


If anyone can see any obvious gaps or have any advice, please let me know.  I don't want the bottle to be a prop for him to go to sleep with, i have worked hard to try and avoid that.  he has become a little more clingy the last few weeks, but then i hear him wake at other times and he is perfectly OK and gets himself back to sleep OK.

any advice welcome, I've had a quick read through some of the other posts but nothing fits our situation.

thanks in advance

[robinh13]

Hi there!!

i just read your post, and the only thought i have is that maybe he is going through a growth spurt.  i have 8mo twins, and i had questioned one of their night wakings thinking it was maybe that, and i got a reply on a different thread that babies typically have another growth spurt around 9 months, so for some babies that means closer to 8mo or closer to 10mo depending on the baby.  That is what seems to make sense to me, as he is drinking a full 7oz and then going back to sleep.  i would maybe see if you can increase his intake during the day with food and bottles and see if that makes a difference, sometimes they just need to work through the couple of days of the extra feeding and then they go back to their normal routine. 
Hope this helps, and good luck!!   

Robin

[Layla]

This is a tough one... feed him or not . "I" have always been "ok" to think that its possible for a baby to be genuinly hungry even up to 12months of age. My girls kept their feed until 9 months so maybe thats why I've been ok with it....

BUT if he's waking up on random nights, I don't think its a growth spurt (as usually with growth spurts they will wake a few nights in a row - well up to 1 week) until they are done with the growth spurt. So... I would maybe put it down to other factors. Have you noticed him waking at night when the pm nap is short? It could be from overtiredness & maybe drinking a bottle is the only thing able to settle him.

Routine wise.... you might want to experiment & see if he could do 3hrs in the am & 3 in the pm so that the last A time is not so long (4hrs) .. cause it could be that he's overtired from being awake too long before bedtime. At that age, Jasmine could only handle 3.25hrs before bed. Try adding 15mins or so to his A time every couple of days to spread the naps out more. So something like this:

7-7.30 - wake
10-11.30 - morning nap
2.30-4pm - afternoon nap
7.30pm - bedtime

What do you think?
Layla

[hil217]

hi

thanks for your advice, i am going to give it a go, sometimes i think he is overtired by the time he goes to bed, also sometimes when its wind down time after bath, daddy comes home and although its no ones fault just situational, he gets excited again and wind down has to start again.  He was fine last night, i heard him murmuring around 11pm, daddy had to get up early  (5am) to go out to work but (thankfully) this didn't wake him or if it did he got himself back to sleep, but he woke at 8.15am, which is unusual for him he is normally more around 7am, its a lie in if its 7.30am.  So i am thinking he is either under the weather /  he was disturbed by daddy getting up at 5am and like the wake to sleep theory went a bit longer than normal / or he is just changing....we will see what happens tonight.  I'm gonna try the extending A time to see if this helps, i was also considering bringing bedtime forward a bit.

[Layla]

hey... how are you doing?