shaking head...wakes self up every hour on the hour!

[Lindsay07]

My 3 month old ds slept really well....
he goes to bed well too....at around 12:00, 1am, he starts stirring...  his head shakes from side to side (sometimes violently...), he lifts his legs and his body squirms.  If I'm quick enough, i can get the soother back in his mouth and hold his legs down, and he won't fully wake up.  I hold his legs anywhere from 5 mins to 15 b/c when I try to remove my hand (VERY carefully and slowly...), he sometimes stirs again and i have to put the pressure back on.
This happens quite literally an hour later!
If I'm not quick enough, he wakes fully and needs to be picked up to be quieted.

Is this a soother/replugging problem?  If so, how do I rid him of it??  He has found his hands, but not quite to sooth himself....he is swaddled which does help a lot.
I'm going back to work in a couple of weeks and NEED some sleep!  The worst part is, my dh doesn't even hear him and sleeps thru the whole night, which drives me crazy!  So I'm getting maybe 45 mins of sleep in a row.....

PLEASE help me!  Is it too soon to get rid of the soother?  (and how to do this?)  Esp. before he has anything else to sooth himself with?  When do i start letting him try to sooth himself with his hands?  I'm afraid leaving his hands or a hand out of the swaddle will wake him even more!

[momofclaire]

Hi Lindsay,
Do you find that you are replugging the paci during naps and overnight?  If he wakes for the paci and goes right to sleep when you put it in then the paci might be the problem.  If you aren't sure, visit the props board. There is a thread there titled "props vs comfort items," and it should help you decide.
It sounds more like he is have trouble with the transition between sleep cycles.  Is he swaddled?
Can you post his daytime routine?  Repeated waking like that usually means hunger or overtired.  Taking a look at your routine might help me get a better idea as to what is happening.

Myia

[Lindsay07]

Hi Miya!
Thanks so much for responding...I'm totally desperate!

Yeah, sometimes he is settled immediately with the paci...I will check the props board.
But, sometimes when I sneak it back into his mouth, he spits it right back out.
He is totally swaddled, in a Miracle Blanket, so there's no coming out of it!
Maybe I can start upping his oz's...maybe to 7 per feed?  I have been putting a little more than 6 in his bottles and he does take it all....
Last doc's appt he weighed 12 lbs....that was almost a month ago...I felt that 6oz 6x per day, + a DF of 4+ oz was a lot of food in a day!!!  But, he just might need more?


Here is our routine:
E  5:00 am - feed 6oz
A  none
S back asleep by 5:30am

E 7:30am 6oz
A crib/mobile, change diaper - he is yawning by 8:20-ish.
S asleep by 8:30-8:45am
(has been waking at the 45 min period ever since XMas, but that's another posting!)

E 10:30am 6oz
A sit in front of fireplace, read a book - yawning by 11:20-ish
S asleep by 11:30-11:45am

E 1:30pm 6oz
A tummy time, chill out - yawning by 2:20pm
S asleep by 2:30-2:45

E  4:30pm 6oz
A hang w/mom and dad - yawning by same as above
S asleep by 5:30-5:45pm  (this is not a catnap...I've tried waking him and doing a bath before last feed, but it was really upsetting for DS, didn't like it...)

E  7:30pm 6oz
A bath, get ready for bed
S asleep by8:30-8:45, sometimes 9pm.

He has been waking thru naps too....  If I'm there to catch it i.e. put hands on legs and hand over eyes, he sometimes doesnt come out of it....if I miss it, he's awake (happily I might add) and is a nightmare to get back to sleep!

Thank you again!!!

[momfor1sttime]

Wow! My DS (3.5 mo) does the exact same thing! Usually around 4am-6:30am (every 30 to 45 min). Just like you said, shaking head from side to side violently and lifts his legs up. And giving him the paci works only sometimes because he will spit it out right away. Can't wait to hear some responses.

My routine also looks very similar to yours except he goes to bed at 6:30pm.

[momofclaire]

Lindsay, It looks like you have 4, 2 hour naps, is that right?  That might be too much daytime sleep.  You mentioned that he is upset by being woken from that last nap.  I think your biggest problem is the paci.  The routine looks pretty good except for that last nap as I think it might be too much sleep.  I would make that a cat nap and then put him to bed a little earlier. 

momfor1sttime- Do you feed when he wakes in the early morning?  Does he nap well?

[lilmary]

I just wanted to bump this up b/c my daughter does the same thing!  I was worried that something might be wrong with her b/c the head turning seems violent sometimes and she does the leg thumping thing too.  She is swaddled. I don't think that the amount of daytime sleep has anything to do with it.  It doesn't matter whether she's had a day of good naps or not.  Recently she has started to wake herself almost hourly at night!  I'm going crazy.  I hope it's just a phase b/c she's wiggling around the crib a lot more lately.

Can't wait to see if anyone has any advice on the head/leg activity.

[momofclaire]

lilmary,
How old is your daughter?  Often this added movment at night is due to developmental issues, like being more mobile and having more muscle control or to struggling to get through the transition from one sleep cycle to the next.  Day sleep can have an impact on that because an overtired baby will struggle more with that transition.

[lilmary]

My DD is 3 months and 1 week.  She certainly is more mobile these days.  Once she turned a full 180!  But, that isn't always the case when I go in.  She will be in the same spot that I laid her down in, eyes closed, whining.  It's almost sad.