Hello everyone. My DH and I are gearing up for PUPD starting next weekend (waiting for DS to finish getting over a cold). But, before we do that, I want to make sure it's necessary and see if you all have any other thoughts on what could be going on here. My DS is 9.5 months old. He was an independent sleeper with swaddle and paci until 7 months. Since then we've been through a rough patch. Had to wean the swaddle b/c it was too hot and he was rolling in it. I used shush-pat, which I had never used before b/c it hadn't been necessary. He goes do great for naps with shush-pat--often less than 5 min and no crying. Bedtimes are still a nightmare, and we're having numerous NWs and EWs. He seems to be able to sleep a longish stretch in the middle of the night, especially if we've had a hard time putting him to bed, but then wakes up every 1.5 hrs after that. I've been BF-ing him at night. He'd been down to 2 by 4 months. During this cold, he was back up to 3. Last night, I had him back down at 2. The thing is, when I try to settle him with shush-pat during the night, he goes crazy. Since we've been postponing sleep training until his cold is over, I end up bouncing him to sleep. Why would it be that shush-pat works for naps but not bedtime and nights? Is PUPD the answer?
Here's our routine:
6:30 Wake, nurse
7 solids
9:30 Nap (actually today was the first day of 3-hr am A time; he's been at 2 hr, 45 min)
11 Wake, nurse
12 solids
2:30 nap
4 Wake
5 Solids
6:15 Bath, PJs, BF, quiet time in room
6:45 bed
7 sleep
That's the theory, anyway. It all goes great until bed time. At that time, DS is really hyper (strange for him b/c he's textbook/angel). We do a long wind-down in his darkened room, but still it's really hard to put him down. It's so different from naps, where he gets sleepy and goes down immediately. DH manages to get him down at bed time with shush-pat, but I often resort to bouncing him. He often wakes after 45 min (although I've been going in and 30 and patting him down before he fully wakes up). Strangely, if it takes a really long time to get him down, he sometimes makes it several hours before waking. Like last night, he didn't wake up until midnight. Then some nights, he has really long NWs--2 hours +. He's not usually crying for these; just awake. I use shush-pat, and he seems to be settling, but as soon as I take my hand off him, he wakes up again.
Could it be that 3 hours isn't enough A time at night? On nights when he's been up longer, he just seems more hyper, but we haven't tried it for a couple of weeks. I don't think this is related to his cold, b/c he's really over it. He's not having any trouble breathing and he only coughs occasionally (like once per night).
I'm fairly certain that shush-pat has become a prop. Sometimes he cries for us, and as soon as we come into the room, he lies back down and looks at us as if to say, "Okay, come on. I'm sleepy; start patting." (Very cute, btw!) This would explain the cyclical wakings. But why does he sometimes make it as long as 4 hours at a stretch? Shouldn't he wake up at every transition if he needs us to go back down?
For his night feeds, he's pretty darn hungry--emptying both breasts. I'm considering working on the gentle removal plan until the weekend just to get down the amount he's taking in, so that when we start PUPD, it will be less of a shock to his system. Or is it a better idea to just make due until the weekend and not start on something, if we plan to go to PUPD? I honestly don't know if DH and I have the patience to stick to the gentle removal plan...we're so sleep deprived that we may need a faster solution. On the other hand, it seems a bit unfair to DS not to try it, since he'll suffer a lot with PUPD.
I'd appreciate any thoughts!
