8 month old---frequent night wakings and short naps

[Bex09]

Sorry to hear you had such a rough night hun. Such frequent waking really does sound like pain to me, either teething or reflux maybe. How is she when she wakes? Is she crying as if for a feed or really screaming?

How was your EASY yesterday? Were naps ok or still short?

[*Holly*]

UPDATE:  Things have been rough lately.....

Last night she went down later than normal due to an unexpected late nap...but then woke up at 11, 1:15, 2, 2:45, 3:30, 5, 5;30 and then finally at 6.  I just don't know what to do.....she did eat at 11 and 2 and then 5....So it appears she eats every 3 hours during the night. When I nurse her, she often needs a diaper change. She seems to pee a lot at night.  When she wakes up she isn't hard core screaming.

The previous 2 other nights were also rough.  I guess I am just discouraged because many of my friends who have babies the same age talk about how they sleep through the night and I want that so bad.

I tried following another BW's responses about propping up her crib and she just ended up with her head lower and that made her mad, tried it for 3-4 days and she seemed to wake up more often and that was really hard on me and her.

It doesn't help that she now can sit up in her crib  and does it every time she wakes up. Arg

Regarding her A time, it has been cut back to 2 hrs 40 min. And if she has had a short nap, I cut her A time a little more.

She doesn't appear to be teething right now although I thought she was. 

So this message is all over the place but I am so tired!

[Bex09]

Oh hugs hun, I know it is so hard when other people say their babies STTN and yours doesn't. Believe me I know, as we still now get NW when DD is teething or has digestive issues. I often wonder how may people just say that anyway, no baby STTN EVERY single night.

Sorry if you have already told me this but how do you deal with the NW? So what do you do when she cries and how do you settle her again?

To me the frequent NW could either be discomfort (reflux maybe? this could be why she is wanting to feed so frequently too) or some kind of prop. That is why I asked how you re-settle her.

[*Holly*]

Well when she cries....I give her a few minutes to see if she can settle herself back down. She normally doesn't and I go in and pat her.  That seems to make her more mad and I figure I should check her diaper.  It is often wet so I change her and then if it's been between 3 hours since last feed, I nurse her.  Everyone's said that a baby doesn't need some many NF but she does eat quite a bit.  Then I put her in her crib and she goes right back to sleep.

I don't want to deprive her of NF when she seems to be legitimately hungry.

She does have a pacifier but she can plug it back in if it falls out.  Regarding reflux, she is on medication and it seems to help but I maybe that's what is causing her to wake up.

Many friends/doctors just say to let her CIO and I don't like that

[Bex09]

I am so glad that you are not listening to others and that you are standing up for your DD and not wanting to let her CIO. Can't believe docs are advising it!!! Our paed told us never to leave a reflux baby to cry (not that I would ever consider it) because you never know if they are in genuine pain and that is why they are crying.

I totally agree that if your DD is really hungry in the night then I would feed her too. I am wondering if she is in discomfort though and the nursing is helping with that, often reflux babies feed to stop the pain. She is on meds though so it would seem controlled, what do you think? Does she seem in pain, such as when you lie her down, etc?

Do you want us to take a look at your EASY for the past couple of days and see if that helps?

[*Holly*]

Here's another quick thing too:
She sleeps well in her car seat. Like sometimes I am running errands and she falls asleep in her carseat and then often when I get back home...she's still asleep so I just leave her in her car seat and put her in her room where it's dark and she often will sleep longer.  Normally naps like this are like 1h 15 m to 1 h 35 m ....which is great cause then she wakes up happier and it just makes for a better day

Which makes me wonder if it's the actual soothing of the car or if it's being more upright that helps. ....which could lend itself to dealing with reflux ....right?

[Bex09]

Yes if she sleeps and settles much easier when propped up in the carseat it could well be that her reflux is still bothering her. What do you think? Because usually mama's gut instinct is right. Maybe another trip to the docs to see what they think might help?

[*Holly*]

Here are some of my thoughts?!?  My doctor believes in CIO and I don't! And she is already on the highest dose of medicine (Lansaprazole) and another medicine to help push things through her digestive tract faster which could help reduce spitup/reflux! Um the last couple nights have been so rough for me and I love my hubby but he gets frustrated easily and just wants her to sleep.  I do too but I do believe something is wrong....she shouldn't just cry like that and wake up that often.

EASY SCHEDULE
Yesterday
Woke up 6:15
E: BF shortly after waking up and baby oatmeal at 8:35
A: Played, got ready for church etc
S: from 8:55 to 9:50 or so (during 1st meeting of church)

E: ate around 10:20 BF
A: playing at home with toys
S: from 12:30 to 1:15

E: BF shortly but wouldn't eat any solids
A: played again
S: 4:00 to 4:40
A: played again
E: BF shortly
A played and bedtime routine
S: in bed at 7pm and asleep by 7:10

NIGHT: It started out well
NW: around 10, around 1, then 2:15, 3:15, 4, and from 4:45-5:30 awake and crying, woke up at 6

I am just really overwhelmed and tired and frustrated at the situation, not my baby but the situation

Part of me wants to have her sleep in her carseat because it seems to yield better results aka longer naps and what seems better quality sleep. But I don't want that to become a prop either

What do I do about my doctor? I don't want him to think that I am just over analyzing or over exaggerating....I just want my baby to sleep better!

And here's another thought, the lack of sleep is definitely affecting me (obviously) and affected my marriage a little
Sleep deprivation is definitely frustrating!

*I don't remember if I mentioned this but during her NW, after I change her diaper (which is often wet) and NF, I put her right in her crib and she goes right to sleep.  The NW at 4:45, I didn't NF her and maybe that caused that long waking?!?!

Again this is my first baby and I just feel lost and confused!

[Bex09]

Hi hun, more HUGS. Do you find that she wakes more after you have fed her in the night? Or does she settle for a long stretch after a NF? Do you hold her upright after a NF for the reflux?

Also now that you have reduced her A times down she may be over her stretch of OT so those A times might need increasing again. The 40/45 min naps could be UT due to a shorter A time. Have you seen the sample routines here... http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=164030.0 It may give you some ideas.

[*Holly*]

Thanks for the hugs. I haven't been on BW for a while so sorry I hadn't gotten back to you!  I don't see a pattern of her waking more after I feed her at night.  She doesn't settle for a long stretch after NF although for a little bit a few months ago....she did!  I used to hold her upright for 30 minutes after eating but that was  before she was on medication but normally after I NF her she wants to go back in her crib and she settles down and goes right to sleep. The problem is that she only sleeps for 1.5-2 hours at a time and it's hard!

Her A time has stretched out to 2 hr 50 min to 3 hr 5 min depending on her previous nap and/or the night before!

[Bex09]

So how are her naps now then? Are they still short or have they extended with the longer A times?

I also think your DD could probably do with dropping the CN, this usually happens around the 6 month mark. But it is difficult to do if naps and therefore A times are shorter than average.

[*Holly*]

Naps the past few days have been tops of 30 minutes.  For a few days last week her naps were 45 minutes -1 hour long and it was so nice!

I have tried dropping the CN but then she has like a long A time (more than 3 hours 30 min) between her afternoon nap and bedtime. 

What do you think?

[Bex09]

Yes that is exactly what I meant about how hard it is to drop the CN with short naps because the last A time becomes too long.

Ok, so what was DD's A time last week when you were getting 1 hr naps and what is it now? 30 min naps are usually OT so it could be that the increase in A is too much or has been too sudden maybe. Does she ever wake from her naps as early as 10 or 20 mins into them? If so, again that would indicate pain or discomfort going on.

We will get to the bottom of this hunnie.