Night wakings driving me crazy!!

[duffers]

I will start off by saying overall I am very lucky with the way my DS has progressed and many would say I should count myself lucky, that said I have a number of things on my mind, and I am hoping someone out there can assist!  The daytime really usually runs like clockwork, so I have no complaints there, all my issues seem to be around the night time. I have read previous messages that indicate that you need to fix the day to fix the night therefore I thought I would include my daily routine.

My DS is 7 months old and has been on an EASY routine since 8 weeks. His day currently looks like this:

6-6:30am - Wake - talks to himself in crib - sometimes need to pop dummy in
6:30/6:45 - BF
8/8:30 - Breakfast -
9:00 - wind down for nap
9:20 - Nap - (usually 1hr 15 mins)
11:00 - 7oz formula
12:00 Lunch
1:00/1:30 - Nap - usually only 30/45mins, but sometimes surprises me with 1hr +
3:00 - 7oz formula
5:00 - Catnap (30-40 mins)
6:00 - Dinner
6:45 - Bath
7:00 - BF/some formula top up
7:25- Story and Bed (asleep by 7:45)
10:30 - Dreamfeed (BF)

 My issues are as follows:
 :? Wakes between 9:30 and 10:15 before DF - usually able to calm down with soother so that he is asleep when I wake him for the dreamfeed
 :? Seems to have BM in night - not sure when, but in the morning the nappy is full - this maybe the reason for the next issue.
 :? Usually wakes at least once between 2-4:30 requiring soother to calm him down. We try pick up/put down, but he doesn't settle even when you pick him up so we have to resort to the soother (n.b. doesn't need soother to fall asleep)
 :? The early wake up around 6 or 6:30 - not the biggest problem, but 7 would be great!

We have had a couple rough nights this weekend, however he seems to be getting his top two teeth and has a very stuffed up nose which could be the reason.  Also just an aside, he is a very active baby and can already pull himself to standing and regularly does in the crib in the morning! As for solids, we have been slow off the mark on this and he has only had fruit, vegetable, oatmeal and baby rice. I am hoping to progress to protein in the next couple weeks. Also hoping to drop the dreamfeed once protein is introduced, but with all the night wakings at the moment I am terrified to stop it now!  Any suggestions would be great!!
Duffers
London, UK

[szanta]

Hi there, My guess would be the soother - we had exactly the same around 3 month ago, when Mieszko was 7 month old, and once we stop completely giving him the soother, he started sleeping through the night, no wake-ups! And stop using it with the day naps as well - that shouldn't take more than 4 days....N.B. We reassured him all the way thru with patting/shishing Good luck!

[duffers]

Thanks for your reply - in the back of my mind I knew it was the soother. We got him off it at about 4 months as he was dependant on it to fall asleep, but we started to give it to him during the day to extend his calm playtime. That of course degenerated into occasionaly use in the middle of the night or in stroller or car seat. Now of course we reach for it far too easily.  How did you stop using the soother altogether. At the moment when I pick him up he is frantic and just won't stop crying at all - should I just ride it out until he exhausts himself even if it takes 2 hours?

Thanks again!
Duffers

[szanta]

Hi again, as I said, we have had exactly the same story going on! Anyway, we tried to rule it out during the night only - and it didn't work at all, so we decided to stop using it at all one day. And we hide it away to avoid the temptation! When Mieszko started fussying-crying we stayed around, trying to console him ANY other way- during the play time distract his attention or change the environment, during the nap time- we took him for a nice walk (at the time we were on hlidays so we have had nice forest walks within the reach) and either let him to fall asleep in the push chair or take him into his cot when he was very near to sleep. and if he started fussying - patting and shishing - it still works for him any night time. And we wre prepared for a hard ime during the night, but, surprisingly, he jus accept there is no soother around, and after 3 nights he even stopped waking to get it! I hope that will help, best wishes!