Waking in the evening

[jenniewren]

Hi my lo is 18 weeks old and has been waking in the evening the last 3 nights, which is not typical for him - he usually sleeps til his df at 11pm.

Last night he woke at 8pm (1 hour after going to sleep) & I resettled him, then 9,40pm - I couldn't get him back & gave him df at 10.25pm. Tonight he woke at 8.30pm - cried then resettled himself, & 9pm - I used pu/pd for the 1st time & he calmed after 20mins (quite pleased with that...) He just cried out in his sleep but resettled himself - 10.15pm. Am hoping he makes it to the df asleep!

I think he is going through a growth spurt as he has been more hungry in the day the last couple of days - feeding from both sides instead of one. He is still fed 3 hourly, ebf. I struggle to get him to go longer..

Todays routine - a fairly typical day

E 4.40am (usually between 4-6am)
A 7.10 awake (usually between 7-8am)
E 8am (not usually hungry til 3+ hours after night feed
A
S 9.10am into cot, asleep within 5 mins til 10.50am
E 11am
A
S 1pm - 1.55pm
E 2pm
A
S 4pm - 4.45pm
E 5pm
A
Bath 6.30pm
E 7pm
S 7.20pm


I know evening wakings can OT but he doesn't seem to be - very happy when he wakes, even after 45 mins. Only tim ehe sometimes gets grumpy is just before bathtime, but bathtime with Dad sorts that one! Anything less than 2 hr A I get a short nap in the morning. He has sometimes started doing 1.5hr nap in the pm as well, especially if had a short nap in am. I do a wind down before naps & he usually goes straight off. We struggled with short naps for a while but he is largely sorted - during that time he never woke up in the evening yet you'd think he would be more OT! Should I try a slightly shorter A time in the afternoon?

He did have his jabs yesterday - maybe that combined with growth spurt & maybe start of teething? He is constantly chomping on whatever he can get in his mouth & dribbles like crazy! I have wondered about starting to give him baby rice but he is not big - 13lb at 18 weeks (we are both small). He does watch me eat though & has got good head control/can sit up for a few seconds unaided, so some of the signs that he could be ready are there.

Any thoughts?

Thanks, Jen

[Evgenia]

Hi Jen,

I went through a simillar thing with DD around that age. Never really figured out what was wrong though.... I think its like u say teething, GS etc...

Have u tried giving him some teething gel before bed?

We also upped her bedtime bottle in case it was a GS.

Our daddy did the baths as well and one day when I walked in on him turned out he had hundreds of toys in the bath makin all kinds of noises playin with the lo. So I thought he may be getting her OS as bath turned into mad time instead of relaxing time.
So we limited amount of toys, noises etc jus in case it was OS.

We kinda did all at the same time and her sleep was back on track in a week r so, thus not sure what exactly did the trick

Hope this helps

[jenniewren]

Thanks for that - hopefully it will settle down over the next couple of days.

I wonder whether he gets OT in the last A time of the day - sometimes he wakes from his last sleep at 4pm, which would mean he's due a sleep at 6ish, which is too close to bedtime, and he would be a nightmare to get down then.. On those days I get him to bed by 6.45-7pm, but it's still nearly 3 hours long... I guess it's just developmental, & will sort itself once he can do longer A times?

Jen

[Evgenia]

Personnaly I would aim to extend his second nap to 2 hours, that way his last cat nap will be due at around 5. Lo's need their cat nap to give them the energy to get through the evening As which includes a bath. At the moment u have A from 5 till 6.30, then bath. He has his longest A in the evening with almost 2 and a half hours. I would aim to reduce it to 2 hours max at his age.

Hope this helps