how do I break habitual night waking - W2S didn't work

[Liza]

Hello,

My LO is 13 weeks old tomorrow.  She has always been a really good night sleeper, only ever waking for one feed since she was born and in the past few weeks she has not been waking for feeding during the night.

However, for about 2 weeks, she was consistently waking at 4.08am (pretty much to the minute).  I tried W2S, waking her up at 3.40.  It did break the 4.08 wake up -  now she consistently wakes up at 3.40 instead   

She doesn't cry or anything, just bops about a lot and chats to herself.  I started by feeding her, but she fed for about 5 mins and then fell asleep, so I don't think she is hungry.  I then stopped feeding her and just popped her dummy back in.  Sometimes she goes back to sleep straight away, but sometimes it is over an hour before she is back to sleep - again, she doesn't cry, just bops about and I have to keep popping her dummy back in.

Any suggestions about how to break this waking?  Not sure wheter to try W2S again, or if this will just result in her just waking a bit earlier again???

thanks

[Colin Macs Mom]

How long did you do W2S?

[momofclaire]

It really could be that she is hungry.  Most babies that age still take a night feed.  Is she nursing?  Bf babies tend to become pretty efficient little eaters and 5 minutes is long enough for her to get a decent amount of milk.  If you really don't think she is hungry then I would just work on using pat shh to soothe her back to sleep. Also, if she isn't crying I wouldn't do anything until she does. You might be interfering with her ability to learn to self soothe by stepping in to soon.
Does that help?
Myia

[Liza]

Hello,

I did W2S for 2 nights, then she started waking before I did.

Yep, I breastfeed, so I suppose 5 minutes could be long enough for her to get a feed.  I guess I am just thinking that she is not hungry because she is not crying and because she is waking at the same time every night, pretty much to the minute.

I'll try not doing anything tonight when she wakes and see what happens.

Thanks for your suggestions

[momofclaire]

Let me know how it goes.  It could be habit but then again we all wake throughout the night as we transition through the various stages of sleep. It might be thatshe just happens to be going through a certain stage at the same time every night.  I would leave her until she cries. You might find that she is able to put herself back to sleep. 
Keep me posted.

[Liza]

I did wonder if it is that she is going through a transition of sleep at the same time, so I tired giving her 10pm DF half hour later at 10.30 to see if this made any difference and it didn't.

She woke again last night at the same time, so I tried leaving her and she just slowly got mroe and more awake, until she was fully awake, eyes open and cooing to herself.  Again, no crying, just awake and ready to face the world 

I left her for about 1/2 hour and she didn't get back to sleep, so I tired giving her her dummy and she just kept spitting it out, so in the end I fed her.  She fed for about 15 mins and then almost dozed off, but as soon as I moved her to her cot, she fully woke up again, and it was about an hour before she got back to sleep.  She pretty much got herself back to sleep, again there was no crying or anything.

I have put her daily schedule below in case anyone has any suggestions as to how to tweak it.  It's not a typical EASY schedule as we struggle with 45 min naps for her first nap.

7am wake.  I change her nappy first and make myself some toast so feeding is usually about 7.30am
7.30am BF
7.50 am Activity
9.00am Sleep

9.45am Wake & Activity
11.00am BF
11.20am Activity
11.45am Sleep

2.00pm Awake & BF
2.30pm Activity
3.30pm cat nap

4.00pm Activity  I used to do cluster feed at this time but recently she has hardly been taking anything as I assume she is still quite full from 2pm feed, and it also led to her hardly taking anything before bed.
5.00pm bed time wind down, bath, massage
5.30pm BF
6.00pm Sleep

[momofclaire]

I think your A time in the morning might be too long.  Most babies can't go 2 hours until at least 4 months and sometimes longer.  Could you try shortening that A time. It could be that your battle with 45 minute naps are because she is overtired.   
I would also try putting her to bed a littler later.  You want to aim for a 12 hour day and a 12 hour night. If she is up at 7:00 you would want her down at 7.  Your 3 nap would then be 1.5 hours and then a cat nap later.  Does that make sense?  She could be waking and just wanting to play because she hasn't had a long enough day.

So I would try something like this
7:00 wake and eat
8:30 nap (1.5 hours)
10:00 eat
11:30 nap (1.5 hours)
1:00 eat
2:30 nap (1.5 hours)
4:00 eat
5:30 cat nap (30-45 min)
6:00 eat
7:00 eat then bedtime
10:00 df
sleep sleep sleep...hopefully.
How does that look?