9 month old waking up 20/30mins into night sleep then taking hours to fall aslee

[sosleepdeprived]

And he has always been doing so as if his body doesn't differentiate between day and night sleep. The worst thing is that when I go back to him he takes over an hour to go back to sleep.  I've tried different bedtime, I've played with wake time before bedtime but no improvement. I can't be then trying to put him to sleep for over an hour as I have a 2 year old to look after!

 Our bedtime routine is the same: cleaning face and hands, brushing teeth, changing into PJ's, singing a lullaby, feeding. Sometimes he will fall asleep in his bed provided I'm next to him sushing and patting but it takes ages (over an hour) and I can't be doing this with my toddler either around or downstairs alone for so long. So, most of the time he nurses to sleep or is rocked to sleep.

His day looks more or less like this:
6am wake up
8.40 nap (between 40mins and 1hr20mins)
12.30 nap (again between 40mins and 1hr20mins)
Sometimes he would have an additional nap before 4 - he often fights it and even if he does go down for this nap he wakes up after 20mins and is miserable for the rest of the afternoon.

If he doesn't have this last nap I try to put him to bed around 4.30 otherwise is 7.30 (well he never falls asleep before 8 anyways).

And to make it more fun he then wakes up every hour at night.... ! I know he can sleep for longer because every now and then he will sleep for 3hours but it happens once every few weeks. I'm exhausted and frustrated and have absolutely no idea what to do.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

[deb]

Is he perhaps teething? Try some pain meds half an hour before bed and see if it makes a difference.

May also be a cold or ear infection.

[sosleepdeprived]

He is teething at the moment but he has been sleeping like this for the past 6 months. His ears are fine.

I am so lost and exhausted!

[deb]

The first year is full of developmental leaps and bumps in the road. Is he getting enough full-on exercise during the day? Lot of tummy time can also help him wear out physically.

What's his personality? (Grumpy, Touchy...?)  Also, whats his food intake like these days? Let's see what we can tweak here.

[sosleepdeprived]

He is very active and spends most of his day crawling, standing up by the furniture or trying to clims all over me he is also generally a very smiley happy boy and hates being left alone for too long.

Solids are a different story. You can tell he likes exploring new tastes and textures. He's a self feeder also to the point that he turns his head away from an approaching spoon. However, ever since starting solids we have problems with constipation. He poos every 7-10 days and strains for a day or two. This means that he is less likely to eat solids if it's been a couple of days since he pooped. Although I know that this probably makes things worse in terms of sleeping as he's uncomfortable, his waking up started way before he ever touched solids (at 6months of age).

We see a pediatrician tomorrow in relation to his constipation because nothing seems to work. He mainly eats fruits and vegetables (hardly ever carbohydrates), I make him home made prune juice, offer him water throughout the day but it's not enough. Not sure whether this could be correlated but he's always been a horrible to burp baby - sometimes it takes an hour for a burp to come out.

I know the obvious thing to say would be that it's trapped wind causing it but why does it get so bad in the evenings? Today it's a prime example of how it looks like:
Nap 9:12 - 10:11
Nap 12:48 - 1:24
Then I tried to put him down for a nap at 4pm but gave up after 30mins. Then bedtime at 5.38. woke up 6.06 and didn't fall asleep until 8.40...i nurses him, rocked him, walked with him but he was crying. Only when I put him on my bed next to me he was quiet and after a while started to explore the bed and play with my face. Only because my husband was home he was able to look after the 2 year old and get him to bed. Otherwise I would take the baby downstairs after about 40mins but he is then grumpy and clingy all evening and when I do go and try to put him back to sleep again after 2/2.5hrs he still takes over an hour to fall asleep.

Yesterday was as follows:
Nap 9:24-10:38
Nap: 1:23-2:22
Wouldn't go down for his 3rd nap so bedtime at 6.20. woke up at 6.53. Fell asleep an hour later and woke up after 35mins. Took 25mins to fall asleep and slept for 1hr 2mins and then kept waking up every hour for the rest of the night.

The day before:
Nap: 9.09-9.50
Nap
12.04-1.22
Nap 4:11-4:45
Bedtime: fell asleep at 8.28 after 1.5hr of trying. Woke up 45mins later...

I don't know what I do wrong but I feel like a total failure! I have no time in the evening for my two year old, for myself or for my husband. I finish every day exhausted and fed up.

[Katet]

Hugs my eldest was like that woke many many times. Took lots of Dr visits and until he was 5 to discover he actually had fluid in the ear... Every GP said his ears were fine, but only an ENT saw they were full of clear fluid but not infected...GPs tend to look for redness and bulging, but the ENT noticed they were too clear, so it was fluid.

I think too any bedtime before 7pm he will see as a nap, so possibly you need to completely cold turkey to only 2 naps no matter the time. So I'd go with 3.5hours A time in the morning, then 3 hours to the next and whatever it takes to get to say 7pm.

I wonder if maybe you are giving him too much fibre, which can be as bad as not enough as there needs to be lots of water with it.

[deb]

I've been away from the boards for a while - I usually check in weekly now that both mine are high-schoolers LOL - and was wondering how the doctor visit went, and if there have been any changes?

Also, even though you're trying to give him water & prune juice - both if which are fine - what is his other fluid intake (milk/formula) like? As much as possible, make sure any juice you give him is diluted - a LOT.

[sosleepdeprived]

Apologies for not responding sooner, I've been struggling with time lately.

The doc prescribed laxative which worked brilliant the first day - LO managed to poo within 30mins from drinking it. However, no more poo ever since (4 days). Maybe he just doesn't need to poo as often. I just hope that next time he goes the poo will no longer be hard. We shall see... I need to give it to him for a month and then go for another appointment to see how things are going.

In terms on sleep, I've been trying to keep him up for longer and extend his awake time but he seems to be very miserable. The last three days were as follows:

Thursday:
WU: 7.32
Nap1: 10.10-10.41
Nap2: 12.21-1.26
Bedtime: 6.37
Woke up at 7.09, went back to sleep at 7.25 woke up again at 8.28, went back to sleep at 8.39 and woke up again at 10.25 and every hour thereafter...

Friday:
WU: 6.10
Nap1: 8.42-9.08
Nap2: 11.43-12.26
Nap3: 3.10-3.43
Bedtime: 8.04 and woke up again at 8.48 and then every hour thereafter...

Saturday:
Wu: 6
Nap1: 8.48-9.55
Nap2: 12.46-2.48 (hardly ever happens!)
Bedtime: 6.32 (couldn't keep him up for longer as was very miserable) woke up at 6.57 went back to sleep at 7.20 woke up again at 9.26 then after one hour and then stayed awake for 3 hours initially happily playing and exploring the bed and then screaming and crying. Then went back to sleep and slept for 3 hours woke up at 5.20 and wouldn't go back to sleep...

I honestly don't know what to do. I am beyond exhausted. I don't know how to change his sleep patterns....

In terms of drinking, he feeds 4 times a day occasionally more if he's poorly or teething and he then he feeds at night on demand. I do always try to comfort him in a different way first but when he starts screaming bloody murder and waking my toddler up I resort to breastfeeding. Sometimes he takes a full feed other times he just uses it as a way of self-soothing.

He doesn't drink any juice yet other than the prune juice I make myself but even this he drinks every now and then and it is diluted with water. I also give him water with feeds and in-between but he generally takes a sip or two and that's it.

[Katet]

I know prunes tend to be the go to, but my friend, who was a nurse in a baby clinic said she found pear juice worked better,

In terms of being upset when awake longer, what happens if you take him outside and walk around showing trees and flowers... babies often get bored inside and fresh air and green plants can change their whole wellbeing.

If he’s not settled, take him for a walk, it will help you both , even if he doesn’t sleep

[sosleepdeprived]

The only reason why he gets prune juice us because he likes pears and he eats them often but I will try making the juice and see whether it helps!

Taking him outside sometimes works however the more tired he is the more unhappy he is even in his buggy/carrier - he doesn't generally fall asleep outside though.

[deb]

Hmm, the poor night sleep is making me think he's in pain or discomfort. Have you tried giving him pain medication before bedtime to see if it makes a difference?

You might also look into probiotics. Will he take yogurt? You can give it plain or mix sweet OR savory foods with it; mine liked it with squash/pumpkin and a little curry powder, but also w/a little cinnamon or even pureed greens. Even now as teens they eat a fair amount of yogurt, usually just plain. There are also special probiotics for babies, usually in a refrigerator of a health food store. DD#2 had awful tummy stuff happening as a baby and within a day or two of trying probiotics there was a definite shift. If he's ever been on antibiotics (or if you have been at any time while he's been nursing), that can upset the gut flora and affect digestion.

[Katet]

If he's cranky when outside, I'm going to second the pain/ discomfort.
I'm wondering if he's getting prune juice and pears if there isn't too much fibre for a small baby and that is constipating him up, as too much fibre pulls the fluid from the body and can mess with digestion.
What else does he eat?