6.5 months - EMW

[PuppyLuf]

Hello!  I posted on the other board regarding my LO who was night waking.  His reflux meds are adjusted, he doesn't seem to be in teething pain (although he has popped out 9 teeth, including the beginning of a molar, in 8 weeks).

Since early May, he has been waking up around 5:20. He used to wake when I got him up at 6:30.  I thought it was the light in his room in the morning (I frequently wake at 5:30 from it in my room), so I completely blacked out his room a week or so ago, and sometimes he gets back to sleep, but then it's about 6:15, so I feel bad and let him sleep till 7a.m. and move our routine back half an hour.

I give him Ibuprofen (8 hour) at 10:00 so he shouldn't have too much teething pain in the morning.  On his monitor, I no longer see him chewing on things when he wakes up, so it seems to be working.  He has a humidifier fan on because we live in a condo and the lady upstairs starts walking around at 5:40 or so.

The problem is, unless I wake up and see him on the monitor, I have no idea what time he is waking up, and he frequently gets OT before first nap.

Is he getting too much DTS?  Will it just take a bit to get him back on track since his room is dark now?  Any thoughts on what else I can do? Thank you!

6:30 - get him out of bed / give Prevacid (ideally... he's been waking earlier)
6:45 - 8 oz. baby milk + cereal
8:30-10:00 - nap (but lately it's been 8:15 or sometimes 8:00)
10:30 - 7 oz. baby milk
11:15 - fruit, yogurt, starch
12:45 - 2:15 - nap
2:30 - 7 oz. bottle
3:15 - meat, starch, veggie
4:15-4:45 - nap in stroller during walk
6:00 - Prevacid, bath
6:30 - 8 oz. bottle
7:00 - bed
10:00 - Ibuprofen for teeth

(He eats a lot - he is a very big baby at 22 lbs.  The pediatrician recommended to start weaning at 4.5 months.)

[Skadiver13]

Hi Hun, are you getting advice on the other board for this same issue? Can you link to the other thread and I will lock it so we don't do double duty?

[PuppyLuf]

Not really - the post was about reflux / meds / teething and his waking up at 2:00am screaming each night.  That problem has been resolved for about 3 weeks now when I re-upped his reflux meds which I'd been decreasing.  The EMW have not improved and nothing I do seems to be working.  Reflux is under control (no crying in the morning, just playing in his bed), teething seems to be in between teeth right now, I've shortened naps, made bedtime earlier, later, fed more, darkened room, put sound machine on. He's gone from waking up crying to just playing and practicing crawling in his bed.  Doesn't isrupt me, but is schedule is all wonky since I have no idea when he actually wakes up in the morning.

Thanks.

[Skadiver13]

Hi hun, sounds like you've done quite a bit of tweaking. What is the EASY that you are wanting to do with him? When is he actually waking in the morning? Do you think for a few days (I know it stinks) you can set your alarm and wake up a bit early to see if he's awake? If he's waking early and he's happy when he wakes then it sounds like he may be UT. Does he wake at night or sleep through?

[PuppyLuf]

I don't really have a specific EASY I want him to do, other than I'd like him to wake up at 6:30am and go to bed at 7pm.  He has a tough time staying awake more than 2 1/4 hours at a time.  He does not wake up at night anymore and goes 6:45-6:45 without a feed.  He is quite big and does not seem to be waking early for a feed.  He is to the point where he eats similarly to what I eat and then 30 oz. of formula per day. 

He seems to wake up any time between 5:20 and 6:00.  I wake up around 5:30 and check the monitor.  Some days he is asleep, some days not.  Some days, I wake up again at 6:15 and he's having a crib party.  No set wake time.

Thank you for your help.

[Skadiver13]

Hi hun, I would think at this age he'll probably need at least a 13hr day on his naps?  If he's not waking up at night but he's waking early in the morning because he's UT for the day. Have you tried maybe pushing that first nap maybe 15min? If you want his wake up time to be 6:30 I'm thinking his first nap shouldn't be any earlier than 8:45/9.  If you do his nap earlier than that he is basically treating that first A time as a night waking. So by pushing his nap time it will force him to make up for it and sleep in a bit longer. Also once he starts waking later you can push his BT out. but 7-5:30 on that type of day is normal.

That being said you could also look into starting to push that A time in the AM and starting thinking about dropping the CN in the afternoon.
All about the 3-2 transition- 5/6 months
 

[PuppyLuf]

Well, I found the cause of the EMW.  The lady upstairs and her son stomp around starting at 5:30, right above his room (I thought it was just mine).  They were gone the past few days and LO slept until 7a.m.  His sound maker does nothing to hide the loud stomping.  I'm going to cry...  The lady said LO needs to just, "learn to sleep with noise."  He's currently crying right now as he has been trying to nap and they are stomping around upstairs.  Sigh.  I can't even sleep through it.  I don't know how they expect him to.

[Skadiver13]

Oh that's such a shame. Can you talk to the landlord? Anway to maybe get soundproofing for the ceiling? Eventually he may sleep through it but some lo's are just super sensitive to noise.

[PuppyLuf]

No landlord... we own our units.   Soundproofing is impossible with the way the buildings are built.  This last week, the neighbor has been off work and sleeping late and LO has been sleeping until 7.  It's been blissful.  Of course, she's home to stomp around during the day, so naps are a mess, but you can't win them all! *sigh*

[Skadiver13]

so sorry hun. anyway to have a polite conversation with them? Maybe get a loud fan for his room?

[PuppyLuf]

Ah - there's nothing much that can be done.  I did speak to her and she said he, "needs to learn to be a heavier sleeper."  I'm not sure that's something that's taught...  He has a loud fan, too, and I can't hear trucks or lawnmowers right outside his window with it on, but the ceiling still magnifies all the sounds.  Guess we're out of luck.  Here's hoping he starts to sleep through it.  He does in the evening and middle of the night, but I think his sleep is light in the morning.