6 mo night wakings - advice needed!

[SoarinGirl]

Hi,

This is my first post but i am a big baby whisperer fan and have used this website frequently for help and advice.

My lo is waking frequently in the night.  We re-plug him with a dummy but he sometimes wakes again after half and hour.  Last night he woke up 10 times.  A couple of nights he has slept right through from the DF at 10.30 until 7ish.

He is 6 months (27 weeks) old and has been on EASY since about 8 weeks old.  He was born at 36 weeks and had prolonged jaudice for about the first 6 weeks of his life which required fairly intensive phototherapy.  He has been diagnosed as having severe reflux and is on Gaviscon, Ranitidine and Domperidone (none of which have actually stoppped the sickness but seem to control the pain).  He also tried various different formulas such as SMA LF, Pepti 1 and Nutragamin AA for suspected Milk protein or lactose intolerance but he is now back on Aptamil as none of these formulas have made any difference.

He started solids at 23 weeks after advice from various medical professionals.  He seems to enjoy the homemade fruit and veg purees and now takes 2 ice cubes 3 times daily as well as 4 milk feeds and a DF of 180ml.  He gets solids first followed by his milk and is then kept upright for 30mins to help with reflux.

Our EASY looks like this:

E - 7am -  Milk feed followed by fruit puree
A - Kept upright for half an hour then nappy change, dressed and time on mini gym/jumperoo
S - 9am - Nap time - usually needs re-plugged once or twice with dummy

E - 11am - Veg puree followed by milk
A - Kept upright then nappy change and activity
S - 1pm - Nap time - again usually needs re-plugged but typically wakes after 1 hr 20-30 mins and varies as to whether he settles again or not

E - 3pm - Veg puree followed by milk
A - Kept upright then nappy change and activity
S - 5pm - Cat Nap time - approx 45 mins

E - 6pm - Bed Time milk
A - Kept upright then bath and story before bed
S - 7.30pm

E - DF @ 10.30pm - Need to wake to DF as need to wind and keep upright due to reflux.

Any advice to help with these night wakings would be gratefully received.  I'm at a loss as to whether these are due to solids, teething, dummy, stage of development or something else entirely.  Pretty sure its not the reflux thats waking him though.

Thanks 

[*happy*]

hey!i'm a novice im afraid, so dont have much advice,but sending you hugs anyway!my LO is almost 6MO & her waking pattern had changed in the past week.have you looked into the wonder weeks?there is one at 26 weeks that made sense with my LO.i tweaked her routine & dropped the CN which helped matters...not sure if any of that would help your LO....sorry...i dont really know enough to be giving advice!!!is he spitting out the dummy before he falls asleep?or waking when he spits it out?

[SoarinGirl]

Hi,

Thanks for the quick response.  So good to know there is a listening ear out there and someone who knows what you are going through.  My lo uses the dummy to get to sleep and it falls out without him waking once he's drowsy.  I think its when he wakes and realises that he doesn't have it to get back to sleep that he cries and gets upset. I've tired leaving him for a minute or two but he doesn't seem able to settle himself.  I swore I wouldn't use a dummy but our early days were pretty hard and it helped to soothe him.  Hope to wean dummy at some point but one step at a time!!!   

[*happy*]

oh stop...i've been SOOOOO glad of this website SOOOOOOOOOOOOO many times!!!!it has literally saved my sanity!!!!it's also become my new best friend & only means of socialising!!!but anyway!!!back to you!!! i was very wary of using hte dummy too tbh,but it was alifesaver in the early days.she weaned herself off it (with a little help from me) a couple of months ago (but i now have a new problem of her sucking her fingers instead-no idea hwo to wean that!!!) i used to have to replug the dummy every couple of hours at night but i realised that no sooner had i replugged, she had it spat out again.i was actually plugging her before she really needed it,IYKWIM?she was actually only shuffling around in her sleep but i was so afraid she'd wake fully that i plonked it in straight away!!!poor child!!!

[SoarinGirl]

Hi Irishmam,

Where on the site can I get information on wonder weeks?  Been searching but drawn a blank!
 
 

[becj86]

http://www.thewonderweeks.com/index.php/about-the-wonder-weeks/your-babys-10-leaps/mental-leap-5

Oh, and since your LO has such nasty reflux, I'd be keeping that dummy for a good long while to come
At this age, you should be able to spend some time playing with the dummy during his A time and teach him how to replug himself, then leave a bunch of them in his cot for him to find while sleeping.

Have you seen this board: http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?board=13.0
Lots of mums who've been there, done that with reflux and heaps of support and advice if you want it.

[*happy*]

wonder weeks are a revelation i think!!!!really makes things easier to figure out!!!

i used to leave a few dummies around the cot (before she had had enough of them!!!) but i found they kept falling on the floor when she was flailing around/trying to get them in/out...they would plonk on the wooden floor & wake her even more!!!not good!!!my sister bought me a special breathable bumper/sheet type thing that went around the bars of teh cot-it was so handy for keeping them in & a safer option than the less-breathable options, IMO.