Author Topic: figuring out cause of night wakings  (Read 1000 times)

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Offline Henna20

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figuring out cause of night wakings
« on: November 11, 2009, 13:24:26 pm »
My 6 mo son wakes up every 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hrs. How do i figure out if he's waking up so much because of hunger or because his easy routine needs some tweaking or because somethings bothering him (teething, etc)?

Offline Tweakster

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Re: figuring out cause of night wakings
« Reply #1 on: November 11, 2009, 14:00:30 pm »
Hi there, can you please post your routine - we'll have a look :-)  Is he teething just now and if so do you give pain meds before bedtime?  What happens when he wakes, is he crying and do you need to attend to him?  Is he using a paci/dummy?
The tweaking never stops!

Offline Henna20

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Re: figuring out cause of night wakings
« Reply #2 on: November 19, 2009, 11:32:38 am »
Here is how yesterday looked:

8:00 am wake up
11:00 am sleep (i wasn't here, he was with babysitter so not exactly sure)
1;30pm-wake up
4:15 pm-sleep
5:00 pm-wake up
7:30-sleep for the night

then he kept waking up the whole night. i nurse him and he will be sleeping. then 5 min later just as i am getting settled back to sleep he start crying. i rock him for 10 min put him back down. again just as i am falling back asleep he wakes up again cuz his paci fell out and again i need to rock him or pat him. over and over and over and over. i DREAD the nights. i barely sleep and even when i am sleeping i am sleeping with one eye open cuz i know he's going to wake up again.  he woke up 6 am to nurse and then he kept waking up every 5 minutes. i had no patience anymore so i just took him out of the room and unswaddled him. he was definitely not finished sleeping yet but i have no patience anymore. i really can't do this anymore. i totally loose it in middle of the night.

at 3.5 months i taught him to fall asleep by himself but we went on a trip in the beg of October and his schedule got messed up so we resorted to rocking him and have been ever since. when its sleep time. after winddown i swaddle him up, put a dark blanket over him, blast white noise from the computer and he is usually asleep within 5 min. i thought maybe he would sleep better if he knew how to put himself to sleep so last friday i started sleep training him again. as long as a do a proper winddown and i catch him at EXACTLY the right time he generally can fall asleep by himself. the problem is that if its not EXACTLY the right time then it takes forever. the other big problem is that i also have a toddler (2.5 yr old) and she is not patient at all while i put him down. she comes into the room and wants me to come play and makes a lot of noise. i have tried setting her up with things before i start putting him down but she always just wants me. also he usually wakes up at least once during every nap and i am usually desperate for him to sleep longer (especially if its a nap that my older one is also taking a nap-he is impossible to keep happy when she is not around for entertainment) so i resort to the rocking, swaddling, white noise.  also at bedtime i am by myself so depending when he needs to go to sleep i am not always able to put the older one down first but then i don't have 45 min to help him fall asleep by himself (pick up/put down, patting, paci).  Because i am inconsistent with the pick up/put down, i feel like its not fair to do it with him.

URGH!!! thats my whole sob story. please i desperately need help

oh also i am nursing him and giving him solids 2 or 3 times a day. the last time we went to the dr, he said his weight was not worrisome but on the low end so thats when we started him on solids. next dr appt is next thur so i'm not sure how the weight is going.

thank you!

Offline Tweakster

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Re: figuring out cause of night wakings
« Reply #3 on: November 20, 2009, 19:02:03 pm »
Hi there, his A times are really on the higher end for his age, have a look:
Late 5 months/early 6 months  2.25-2.5 hours
6.5 - 7 months 2.75-3 hours. Some are getting more.

So that's eyes open to eyes closed which includes E time as well.

Also a lot of LO's like their morning A to be the shortest.  My son is still at 2.75 hours and he's 8 mths lol (we're working on it!)  Most 6 mth olds are also still doing the CN or just starting to drop it.

Average sleep for his age is 14 - 16 hours with 2x 1.5 hour naps, 1x 30 or 45 min CN and then 11 - 12 hours at night.

I think he sounds OT.  Usually when they are hard to get to bed and wake frequently in the early part of the night they are overtired.

It also sounds like some props and APOP may also be causing an issue...like the paci and rocking.  In order to sleep train these will need to go - as you say keep consistency to be fair to him...and also to succeed. Since you have already done it once he might just need 'reminding'.

Big big hugs, sleep deprivation takes a toll - I am all too familiar with that - and you have a lot on your plate with worrying about his weight and dealing with a toddler as well.   Is there any way you can get some help in while you sleep train him and wean the props? 
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