Does your toddler wake for a snack at night? - Seems to be getting worse!- Help!

[marensmama]

Occasionally Hayden wakes at night (before 10) asking for a snack.  I give her a yogurt smoothie and not too much interaction and once she's done she goes right back to bed without any trouble.  I can't feed her more in the day, she doesn't finish what I do give her (but eats a decent amount), and she doesn't look like she's starving!  

She does have reflux which is treated with Prevacid and doesn't seem to be flaring up.  She is still napping, we've cut it back to an hour because otherwise she was fighting bedtime.  She's been napping a bit longer lately as she has a little bit of a cold and I thought she needed it.

Thoughts?

[MummyToBen]

What time do you give her prevacid?  just wondering if it might be worth trying to give it her later in the day if you currently give it her in the morning?  That might help you rule out if it is reflux, as it may be affected by her being lay down more in the day (longer naps), and so she could be waking at night feeling it  .  Hopefully it's nothing like that, but it's always good to rule out the reflux before trying everything else!  (I know that my own reflux is soothed when I have a snack if I wake in the night). 

xxxx

[marensmama]

We've always given her the Prevacid at bedtime, so I don't think it's reflux related, but you never know. 

[MummyToBen]

Hmm, probably not then (as a Mum of a refluxer, it's always the first thing that springs to mind though  ).  Could you try giving her it after her nap (so a couple of hours after eating) and 30 mins before a snack for a few days?  It might just rule it out completely for you. 

Aside from the reflux I wouldn't have a clue  ....I'm sure some other ladies will though 

xx

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

Hmm...even on days where they've eaten next to nothing, neither of the girls wakes up at night hungry.  Masyn sometimes wants a bedtime snack, but that's about it.  How often does she do this? Maybe she's thirsty?

[marensmama]

Oh no, if she's thirsty she screams wawa at the top of her lungs.  It's been twice this week that she's woken for a snack.

[marensmama]

We're going to the doctor today, need to rule out reflux or other issues as a cause of her NWs.  Last night was a nightmare, she was up for over 2.5 hours.  She asked for a snack, my DH gave her some crackers but she would not settle, she kept shouting all different things ("I broke my leg!" "Come pick me up!") when finally at 2:30 am I got up and gave her a pot of yogurt and some tylenol.  She slept until 6 and is now awake, being a complete bear.  She hasn't STTN in over 3 weeks, mostly waking asking for a snack.  When I ask her if her tummy hurts, she says yes - but she loves getting medicine so she'd probably agree to anything.   

I'm exhausted and miserable and having a hard time enjoying her right now.  Any other thoughts on what's going on here?  Is it just time to drop her nap entirely?  It been cut to an hour, but she does still seem to need it.  I just can't take these marathon NWs. 

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

Well, if it's not the reflux or some other illness I would be tempted to try no naps for a few days just to see.  Or perhaps a nap every few days?  We do the odd nap for Masyn still (like this week she has to go to swimming and needs the rest beforehand)  Spencer hasn't really been napping this week (why they have swimming during naptime I'll never know!) and has been making up for it by having 13 hour nights.

[Alison_3]

How did your appt. go?  Those nights sound just awful! 

I'm hoping it's not the reflux, but have no idea what else it could be.     Charlie went through a phase a couple of months ago when he was having multiple NWs.  He stopped napping suddenly for a week or two too.  Then we got back on track.  I never really could figure out what the problem was. 


Big {{{hugs}}}.

[marensmama]

We went to the GP (who, btw, I don't think has a ton of knowledge with reflux in infants, since he originally told me that Hayden was just a colicky baby and that I had PPD) and he said that he thought her Prevacid dose should be enough.  He thought that I should be giving her a bedtime snack with protein and change her milk back to full fat.  He thinks she's UT and that she'd have better nights if she didn't nap.  I'm not convinced that it's her reflux (but I'm not sure that it isn't iykwim), so I decided I've give his suggestions a go.

So for the last three days we haven't put her down for her nap.  She has fallen asleep for 20 minutes in the car each day and is  a bit miserable, but her night sleep has seemed to change.  The first night she woke at midnight, asking for a snack (which I didn't give to her).  I told her firmly it was bedtime, she could have water if she wanted but she was not coming out of her crib.  She was mad but quickly got over it and went back to sleep.  The next night she woke at 4 am asking for a snack but we ignored her and she gave up after a minute or so.  She hasn't had any EWs, but she is very tired during the day.  I do feel somewhat like I am torturing her, though.   

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

How much night sleep is she getting now?  would she even do a 20 minute power nap except for in the car?  {{{hugs}}} hopefully her body will adjust to sleeping more at night and not in the day. Oh, and just wondering why the Dr. wants her back on full fat milk?

[marensmama]

She gets about 11 hours of night sleep, plus whatever nap she has.  I'm going to ask my daycare to give her a 45 minute nap tomorrow and see how she does tomorrow night.

The Dr thinks full fat will give her extra calories during the day so she's not waking hungry at night.  I'm not sure hunger is the issue really, but want to give all his suggestions a try so as to not be overlooking anything.

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

Ahh, that makes sense...hopefully the 45min nap will do the trick!!!

[marensmama]

So she's had two days at daycare this week, my daycare provider has been very understanding (thankfully, since Hayden's touchy side comes out when she's tired).  Hayden has had a 20 minute power nap (one in the stroller on a walk, one on the couch) and seems to be adjusting fairly well to that.  She has not had a NW at all in the last two nights, and isn't melting down at bedtime so I think we're not getting into OT yet. 

Now to figure out what to do on my days off since I no longer have to be home at nap time! 

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

Now to figure out what to do on my days off since I no longer have to be home at nap time!

Woohoo! Freedom...   Glad to hear the power nap is doing the trick!