Night Wakings Heeeelp!!

[mananieto]

Hello, I have a big problem. My Son is 7 months. He started sleeping through the night at 5 months, but for the last 3 weeks he just stopped. It used to be that even if he woke I could just go in and pat him or put his pacifier in, and off to bed. Now he is screaming and I have to do Pu/Pd, as soon as he settles and I think he falls asleep I try to leave the room. Only to hear him scream again 1 minute after. I have resorted to co-sleeping cause I canīt take a whole night. But I donīt want to do it anymore.

My question is: If he knows how to fall asleep on his own  (Which he does for nap time and bed time, it took me a whole month of Pu/Pd). What is going on? I really thought that as soon as he learned to sleep on his own, this would stop. It has only gotten worse as days go by. I know hes not hungry since we havenīt DF since he was 4 months.

Could it be something in my schedule. I have tried. More naps, less naps, more A time, less A tim, but it doesn't seem to have any effect.

Here's our schedule:

6 Wake - Milk
7:30 Sleep (I know very short A time but I canīt seem to make it longer)
9 Wake Milk - Solids
11 Sleep
12 Wake Milk - Solids
2 Sleep
3 Wake - Milk
6- Milk
7-Bed time

* He wont take a catnap at the end of the afternoon even though he is totally tired.

If I ever get him to take a catnap should I wake him up if it goes past 40 min?

Thank you so much!!!!!

[becj86]

I think you need to push that first A time gently. He really should be only having two solid naps by now.

By the sounds of the wakings, they could be related to overtiredness, which I'd imagine could be from the 4hr A time after a 1hr nap...

I will be back later, DS requires some attention.

[mananieto]

Hi thanks for your reply!!! Iīve been trying to make the first A longer so far weīve made it to almost 2 hours. The down side, he seems tired the rest of the day. He is a terrible napper. with 90% of  his naps 40-45 min. But I also believe the problem is in his first A and that sets us up for the rest of the day.

I have another question. If he finishes his last nap at 3 (it happens on many days) should I move his Bed time to an earlier time so he is not so OT?

If he wakes at 40 minute mark in naps, should I try to put him back to sleep?

Thanks!!!

[becj86]

If he wakes at 40 minute mark in naps, should I try to put him back to sleep?

No - he's most likely waking at 40min because he wasn't tired enough to sleep longer anyway, so extending his A times is probably going to be the best thing you can do to fix all these issues.

6 Wake - Milk
7:30 Sleep (I know very short A time but I canīt seem to make it longer) - maybe only needs to go to 2hr - but might be better to push further to ensure LO isn't tacking this nap onto his night.
9 Wake Milk - Solids
11 Sleep
12 Wake Milk - Solids - 1hr nap, indicates undertired at naptime
2 Sleep
3 Wake - Milk  - 1hr nap, indicates undertired at naptime
6- Milk
7-Bed time

A routine to shoot for may be a bit more like this:
6 - wake
8:30 - nap
10 - wake
1:15pm - nap
2:45 - wake
6/6:30 - bedtime

[Sammy2439]

Hello!  I replied to your question re weaning the dummy on my thread!  Your problems sound similar to mine a few weeks ago, definitely getting my lo to stay awake longer (even if i had to hold her for a bit) in the morning helped with her waking up so early! 

I always find the first a time of the day the hardest to do.  I think our babies are similar ages, i increased a time from 2.5 hrs one day to 3hrs the next day (i know this isn't really recommended) but it seemed to do the trick.  I needed to drop the catnap as she just wouldn't have it and she needed to get to 3hr a time ideally so she didn't go 4 hrs til bedtime and end up completely o/t!

sorry if thats no help, just thought id share as had similar issues! :-)

[becj86]

Pushing the A time that drastically is fine provided you are prepared to resettle OT nap wakings for a few days while LO gets used to the new A time. That's what I did with DS because I haven't the patience to deal with little tweaks for weeks on end
Some babies just can't handle it though - those who are particularly sensitive to OT and those who cannot be resettled.