15 week old waking almost every hour!

[lyssie28]

Hi my lo is 15 weeks old and about 2 weeks ago she went from sleeping at 11pm to 4am to now waking up at 1, 2, 3.30 etc.  Ive had her on a 3 hour routine but her A is only about an hour 15 so im trying to lengthen it gradually.  Im also going from feeding every 3 hours to every 3 and a half to transition to a 4 hour routine when shes 4 months old.  The past week her nw are much more frequent.  I have been thinking maybe i need to put a  extra ounce in her bottles per feed? Ill try this today but just wanted some feedback.  Im not sure if its just because of her age and developmental stuff and itll go back to normal on its own. Also she thrashes about in her sleep.  She is swaddles and ive stopped swaddling for her naps but she wakes after 45 minutes and i have to go back in her room and help her back to sleep.  For this reason she is still swaddled through the night.  Is her moving around a sign that maybe she doesnt want it anymore?

Routine is:

Wake up at 7.00

E7.00
A
S 8.15-8.30 depending on how tired she is

E10.30
A10.00
S 11.15-11.30

E2.00
A1.00
S2.30

E5.00
A4.00
S5.30 for cat nap

A 6.15-7.30
Bath
Bedtime 7.30

We try a df at 10.00 if shes asleep but we have trouble actually getting her to sleep at all at this time.  Sometimes she's awake for about 3 hours it seems but wont go to sleep until she falls asleep out of sheer exhaustion.

[katie80]

Hi there, (((hugs))) on all the NWs.  She's definitely in need to more A time.  At her age, I would expect her to be staying awake at least 1h30min, possibly up to 1h40.  Here is a good guide... Average A times- BOOKMARK ME! . I also think she could go til 7:45/8pm after her CN (you may be trying to put her down too early and that's why she's resisting, although I'm not exactly sure what you meant by her being awake for 3hr at that point.  Does she typically go down well for BT or is she awake from then?

I would definitely start moving her to a 3.5hr feeding routine and pushing the A time will help with that.  You may need to offer more oz at each feed while you do that.

It does sound like she's going through some develomental milestones too.  I would guess she still needs the swaddle and is 'thrashing' about mainly because she's getting more mobile, not because she doesn't need it, but that's up to you.  I'd say average swaddle weaning age is more around 5-6mo, but some do it earlier.  I think getting the A time right might help with some of the unsettled naps as well.

Hope that helps... let me know what you think!

[lyssie28]

Hi thank you for the advice! She has almost always had a hard time sleeping between the hours of 5 and 10pm.  She will have a catnap but then she'll be awake until about 10.  I will try to extend her A times to 1h 30 mins gradually so that hopefully by the end of next week she'll be easily staying up that long and see how that goes.  Today she did not have her long nap between 2.30 and 4 but instead had a much shorter nap of about 20 minutes.  I thought for sure it was gonna b one of those nights where shes awake all night but i stuck with it and she had her feed at 6.30 and by 7.30 she was asleep.  It is 10.15 now and my partner has just went to give a df.  Fingers crossed for tonight! I'm hoping extending the A times now will ease her into a 4 hour routine and maybe i could get rid of the 3rd long nap and replace it with a shorter one?  Maybe i should see how she makes it through the night first though.

[katie80]

I'm hoping extending the A times now will ease her into a 4 hour routine and maybe i could get rid of the 3rd long nap and replace it with a shorter one? 

Yes, that would be the goal. It's very normal for young babies to be more fussy and struggle a bit during the hrs from 5-10pm, but I do think a lot of it in your case stems from not enough A time throughout the day until that point. Last night is a good example of the opposite. Hope the rest of the night ended up ok. Let me know how you get on...

[lyssie28]

Hi she had a really good night last night she woke at 2 but i just had to reswaddle and then at 4 for a feed.  She was then up at 7.  Today had ended up the same as yesterday however.  I put her down for her third nap and she wouldnt sleep.  I extended her A time by only 5 minutes but it looks like it was too late.  Now it is 7.20pm and she has had a little nap since 2.45 and im going crazy! She is just so cranky but nothing i do will help her sleep.  My partner has taken her for a drive to see if itll relax her enough to send her off when they get back.  I'm hoping her sleep tonight will be as good as last night.

[katie80]

(((Hugs))), those long afternoons are always tough! . It's great that she had a good night last night though, I think that's good evidence she needs more A time.

I extended her A time by only 5 minutes but it looks like it was too late. 

I actually think that's not likely enough.  She's probably just not tired enough to sleep then.  Only really touchy LOs seem to need jumps of 5min and since she's a decent amount under the average, my guess is she can handle more like 10/15/20 more min. 

[lyssie28]

Hi, yesterday she managed 1hr35 minutes between naps and she had a great day.  Her third nap was a bit broken up but sje got wnough sleep.  She had a cat nap between 5.00 and 5.45 and was asleep by 7.15.  However, she still woke up through the night :-( she woke at 2 for a feed because she wouldnt take her df and then i fed her at 4.30 but she was waking in between all night and i dont think she went 2 hours without waking up. 

[katie80]

Hmm... what's going on with the swaddle and developmental stuff?  The other thing I wondered is if the DF is actually disrupting her night sleep.  Since she doesn't always take it well, would it be worth it to drop it for a week or so and see if that makes a difference?  It doesn't help all babies, unfortunately.  Any other reason to think she's uncomfortable?  Too hot, too cold, tummy issues, etc?

I also think it's still worth gradually pushing the A times until you get closer to 1h40-45min.  She may be a bit UT still.

[lyssie28]

I still swaddle her but she always breaks loose she moves alot in her moses basket and ends up kicking the sides of it.  I tried her in a sleeping bag but because her arms were free she kept waking herself up even more.  I want to try her in her cot soon but with her waking so much i think i'll wait until she is sleeping better.  She has started to roll over and is wanting to stand and sit rather than lie down all the time. 

It is hot here at the moment so we are going to try using a fan to cool the room through the night.  I just hope it is that and nothing to worry about.  She was always a good sleeper before and her naps are stil really good apart from the one in the afternoon. I'll also try dropping the df see how how she is.  We have also started her on very small amounts of pureed food and juice because she is not taking as much milk now.

[katie80]

I want to try her in her cot soon but with her waking so much i think i'll wait until she is sleeping better.  She has started to roll over and is wanting to stand and sit rather than lie down all the time. 

She may be telling you that she needs more space to move about and putting her in her cot would actually help.  It sounds like she's getting a bit cramped in the Moses basket.

It is hot here at the moment so we are going to try using a fan to cool the room through the night.  I just hope it is that and nothing to worry about.  She was always a good sleeper before and her naps are stil really good apart from the one in the afternoon.

The heat can definitely be playing a factor in her sleep.  We all have trouble sleeping when it's so hot and there are lots of moms and LOs on here right now going through similar issues with the heat.  A fan is a a good idea, also dressing her in as little as possible.

We have also started her on very small amounts of pureed food and juice because she is not taking as much milk now.

I'd be very cautious with this, she's quite young still to be starting on solids and they can actually make sleep worse rather than better when their digestive systems are still immature.  You also want to make sure milk is her main source of nutrition, as it's much more calorie dense and better for her at this point than any solids she can have.