Hi. I've got some advice before from the nap forum, now DS is a better napper but his night sleep has got worse!
From about six weeks he was a really good sleeper - he used to only wake once or twice a night for a quick BF then back to sleep, but has gradually gotten worse. Since four months sleep regression he's never been quite the same, but he was usually still sleeping reasonably well at least every other night - by reasonably well I mean waking once per night! Over the past 2-3 weeks it's become much worse as he has been has been waking up quite often at night. He might wake up any number of times between 1 and 5, with 3-4 being most common. If it weren't for the occasional night where he only wakes once I think we'd be going insane.
There doesn't seem to be any particular pattern, although it's most likely to be in the early part of the night (between 9 and 12) it can be any time. Sometimes he goes back to sleep quite easily with a little comforting, sometimes he screams for up to an hour and is completely inconsolable, sometimes a BF is the only thing that works (which is fine if he's hungry, but he'll often be inconsolable without a feed even if it's only been a short time since his last feed. We know he can go 6-7 hours overnight without one, but he usually wants one if he wakes up 2 or more hours since a feed). The only thing you can say with any certainty is whatever he did last night, he won't do tonight.
We know he is capable of self-settling. When we put him down at bedtime, nine times out of ten he goes to sleep entirely on his own without a murmur. His self-settling technique is generally to suck on his fingers - he doesn't have a dummy. He self-settles for naps too (probably seven times out of ten). But when he wakes up at night, he rarely seems to settle himself back down without parental intervention.
When he does wake up, we give it a few minutes to see if he'll calm down on his own (rarely he does). If it's been more than three hours since the last feed Mrs BFL will give him a BF. If it's been less, we try to settle him without a feed in his cot by patting, shushing or giving him something to suck on. Usually picking him up makes him more upset rather than comforting, so we only do it as a last resort if he's getting really agitated. Sometimes it works, more often than not it makes things worse.
We don't think it's teething, as his gums aren't sore, he's very happy during the day, and there's no sign of teeth coming through after 2-3 weeks of this.
His bedtime routine is baby massage, warm bath, feed, bedtime story and lullaby, then put down still awake, and as I said he usually goes to sleep on his own. Bedtime is usually around 6.30-7pm depending on when he woke from his last nap.
Daytime schedule is also changable, as although he's a better napper now his naps vary greatly in length and are quite unpredictable. He usually wakes between 6.30-7am and has a BF, then play. Awake time is usually 2.30-2.45, but he goes down for a nap when he looks tired. Sometimes it's up to 3 hours. Nap might be anything from 30 to 90 minutes, then another BF, and another 2.30-3 hour awake time and play. During this time he'll have a solid feed as well. Second nap might also be anything from 30 to 90 minutes. Then another BF, then play. He usually has a third catnap of 20-30 minutes somewhere around 4-4.30pm, but if his earlier two naps have been longer we might not get that in. Then another BF at around 5pm, play with me when I get home from work (
), then bedtime routine starts around 5.45-6.
It's frustrating given that most of the advice out there says that if a baby can self settle they should sleep well. We can't think of any sleep associations he might still have other than feeding, and as I said, he doesn't need a feed to go to sleep at naptime or bedtime, or even every time he wakes up at night. We're reluctant to drop night feeds as he's small for his age and still seems to need at least one a night, and how do you teach a six month old that he can only have one feed a night? He can't count or tell the time. But we can't work out what could be causing him to wake up so much.
Advice would be very welcome. Thanks in advance!
