Hi, I am pretty new for this board，but really thankful for the information here. I have a 5 months baby girl probably textbook/spirited. I've been trying strategies from BW since 3 months, now things are much better: she goes from a baby always needs rocking/nursing to fall asleep, 30 minutes naps, up 3-4 times per night on a regular basis, co-sleeping TO now, sleeps in her crib, most naps we can just lay her down for naps and leave the room, can nap over a hour if i use W2S (30 minutes nap still stroke once in a while), lay her down for night sleep then she will cry, then I just softly pat her or stroke her head, she will calm down and fall asleep (she has more difficulty for night time maybe because this is the time she was nursed to sleep before, had one and a half times of CIO experience for this sleep a long time ago, or some separation issue, i am not sure what it is. She just knows night time sleep is different, even the bed time routine is the same music, slow dance and laying down).
However, I have been trying to tackle her long night waking for almost 2 weeks: in most nights, she woke up some time between 2-4 am, not immediately ask for anything and kinda happy in her crib, crawl and rolling and babble for a bit, then start to call for us. I tried to ignore a few times, occationally, she fall back to sleep; other time, end up crying. Initially, I thought she may be hungry since the times are different, but no, she will drink some, but not fiercely.
My suspect is that she is crawling and wake herself up. She is young for crawling skills, and very spirited for this aspect. Pretty much, she can cover every inch of her crib during that one hour (sorry I have to sleep on the floor of the same room and can't fall back to sleep if she is not, I want to move out a couple of weeks later though). I just can't see that I can do more PU/PD or interference to get her back to sleep since she won't really cry for a while even she can fall asleep any point if soothed properly (like nursing as I did before). But once she cried, I still have to reassure her even if it is only a little bit reassurance for maybe 10 minutes stroke/murmur till she fell asleep. But I kinda hate doing this every night for much longer (I wish I had more patience, she is really sweet baby and I can see that she is trying to sooth herself, just not quite get the idea that she has to stop moving to fall asleep. She hates swaddling stuff, not an option for her). I run out of ideas, maybe to this point, I just have to ride with it? But any suggestion would be appreciated.
here is the list of the answers
How old is your child?
5 months
What’s his/her daily routine?
wake up 6-7am
E 7
S 9-10
E 11
S 12-1
E 2:30
S 3:30-4
E 4:30
E 6:30
S 7 (DF at 10pm, up one hour between 2-4am, so her night sleep is 10-10.5 hours in total most nights, she can sleep 11 hours on good nights though)
What’s nap routine?
30-15 minutes before nap, I hold her to tour around the house to see stuff. then slow dance with music, then lay her down in crib, say go to sleep and goodbye, curtains off, leave the room. will come back if she starts real cry.
How long are naps?
30minutes - 1.5 hours
Do you bottle or breastfed??
BF
How much? or how long?
If breastfed.. one side or both?? (at each feed)
Mostly, one side and part of the other side, I keep offering a couple of times each side, till she really just lay one my knees, head downward to play, very cute.
How many wakes per night? What’s your LO like when waking at night? How long is he/she up?
Recently, just once. Most times happy for a while. Can be up for 1-2 hours, i can't really tell the time. Not sure whether she fell asleep in the middle.
When you go to him/her is she fussing or crying? Or is it a mantra cry?
At the beginning, i went to her as soon as I hear a sound because I didn't have DF that time, I always think she is hungry. But after DF, I start to hold until she fuss. When she first start to cry, it is "i need someone" cry, but she will on and off for a while.
What have you tried to settle??
Previously feeding/rocking, but this week, just murmur and stroke on head.
What do you do for A time and how long is it?
A time has crawling on floor, on bed, jumperoo, going to parks, story, playing with household items......
Are there developmental issues such as teething or milestones?
no obvious teething pain, but constantly on movement milestone since 3 months, first rolling to tummy, then rolling back, then all over the crib (every time, it caused night wakings, I just can't believe some baby would have milestones for so long and so many different things， can she be one?)
Have you introduced cereal? Why, how much, and how many times a day? (for LO’s under 6 months)
yes, three times a day, just a couple of tea spoons for taste, so she can have nice combination from 6 months
Do they have a prop? If so what is it?
For naps, no, just white noise; for night sleep, still need my reassurance stroke on heads and murmur.
Do they have a lovie?
no, not yet.
Thank you again, any kind of suggestion is appreciated!
