Night wakings

[Malavoy]

It's like clockwork. He goes to bed at 7:30 and is up almost once an hour until I've been pulling him into bed with me exhausted. He is hard to settle and will fall asleep and wake himself back up after a minute or two..... just starting EASY.... he also wakes up after only 25 minute naps..... please help!

[Malavoy]

He'll be 7 months next week.

E 7am Wake/BF
A 7-915
S 930-10 - two weeks ago he could only nurse to sleep so we've made some progress.... he NEVER sleeps more than 25 alone, if i'm there to help the 25 min. jolt then he sleeps 35/40 and then wide awake....
A (depending on his nap falling asleep and length)

E 11 (4 hour schedule now - was every two hours last week!)
A 11-130
S 130-2 - same as above......
A (depending on his nap like before)

E 3
A 3-530
S 530-6
Y

E 7 to settle for the night then puts himself to sleep in the crib (a HUGE accomplishment)
will wake 45-1 after being put down. Between 7-11 is waking twice but settles right back to sleep with sh/pat for 1 minute.

E dreamfeed at 11 then..... will always wake around 3 or 330 to eat and then again at 430. recently it was 330, 350, 425, 445 then i pulled him into my bed to cosleep b/c he sleeps GREAT there (like last night i was exhausted to he coslept with me from 130-630 before he ate at 630.

Any advice?!?!

[LizzieN]

Hey there sweetie,
Huge hugs to you, you must be completely exhausted.....
....ok devils advocate here, well done for weaning him from feeding to sleep that is a huge accomplishment, but it sounds to me like you are still a prop for your LO.  I guess what you need to ask yourself is, do you want to co-sleep?  Is this something you and your partner would be ok with?

If not then I would set up a matress in your LOs room on the floor and I would stop bringing him to your bed, no exceptions, while you are weaning him off you.  I would also be checking for teeth because they completely muck up naps and can cause a LOT of night wakings!! If you suspect their are teeth at play, you may want to try giving him a dose of paracetamol at bed time, it may help him to settle back down on his own when he wakes.  I find our LO when teething (has reflux too but that's another story) sleeps great for about three hours and then when comes into his light sleep phase rouses and cries, then continues to do it every couple of hours or so...he is bringing a lot of molars up though poor darling!!

Hmm my LO if he wakes at 30 minutes on the dot means he is OT, but you say that yours is waking at 25 minutes....does your LO suffer from wind or reflux at all?  The fact that your LO will only sleep for about 40 minutes tends to suggest that he is a bit under tired although the A times look pretty good to me, perhaps you could try extending it by 10 minutes or so and see if that helps keep him down a little longer?  Sounds like he is doing about one sleep cycle then completely rousing rather than settling back down to sleep (hence the wind/reflux question)...Is he self settling for these naps?

I also think I would try cutting out that cat nap in the afternoon and bringing bed time forwards a bit....I'm not an expert, but sometimes the cat nap can really impact on the night sleeping (especially the settling and first half of the night I think)...

How is your LO going on solids?  Do you think he NEEDS a dream feed and a feed during the night, is it habitual waking (same time every night)?  Have you tried just comforting to see if he will go down without feeding?  I breastfed till our LO was 12 months or so (also because of reflux) so I'm not trying to promote weaning or anything, but I'm thinking that having a dream feed AND a feed at 3ish seems rather a lot for this age??

Hmm, sorry I can't be more help.  Sure the mods will give you great advice and I"ll be very interested to read what they have to say, big hugs to you
xx hang in there
Lizzie

[Malavoy]

Ok naps- after winding down he fusses in his crib for 20 min and then falls asleep. What do I do when he wakes up after 30 min? I've done sh/pat and PUPD for an hour a couple of times in the past two weeks and he freaks and he never goes back to sleep.

As for night- we have broken the cosleeping until recently.... The problem is that he really eats at that first feeding around 330 am. Should I cut the dreamfeed or the 3 am feed first? I can't cut ot the last catnap bc he only gets two 30 naps a day as is and he gets exhausted! So today for example he  is sleeping 930-10 and then 1-130 so he really needs the last nap.

Thanks for your help! 

[Malavoy]

Thanks for all the advice! I set a timer and at 20 min come in for naps and wait for him to jerk and then help him through with hopes of continuing naps. That helps him get to 40 min and the. He just wakes up!

Sh/pat works most nigts but it's really me - by 430 and so many wakings Im exhausted and just pull him into my bed bc I know he'll sleep! Tonight is the weekend so we will try tonight again and my husband can take a more active role bc he won't be working.

One more question.... Should I drop the dream feed since he eats less there than the 330 feed?

Mabby

[Malavoy]

Ok so last night I dropped the dreamfeed but he woke up at 12:30 and I sh/pat him to sleep. He woke at 3:30 and ate really well. Then...... he was up at 4:30 and my DH tried for 15 min then I took over for 45. He was up 4:30-5:30 trying so HARD to fall asleep. He'd fall asleep and then after a few minutes wake right back up. Finally he slept 5:30-6:30 and was up again at 6:30. I was utterly exhausted and..... brought him into bed with me. I didnt want to but I was just so tired!

My gut tells me that him being up 4:30-5:30 was him wanting to join me in my bed b/c this is the normal time I'd pull him into my bed in the past. What do you think? I was glad I didn't give in during that hour! We'll try again tonight.... unfortunately we go to Reno, Nevada (I'm in Virginia right now) tomorrow for a week and it's a 3 hour time difference!

Oh yea, fell asleep today for his nap in 10 min. with only ONE fuss! Thanks for all your support! Any advice/ gut instincts for the NW last night?

Mabby

[Malavoy]

Thanks! Funny how AP is so good sometimes! Like on airplanes and vacations! Wl let you know how it goes!

[Malavoy]

 I wanted to tell you that Saturday night he woke for a DF around 11 and then he woke at 4 like normal but he just talked himself to sleep for 10 minutes! It was great! He then woke at 530 to eat and 630 I pulled him into bed for 30 min. SUCH a hard habit to break! Anyway, thanks for all the support. We will see how vacation goes now! So far putting himself to sleep consistently!