We have started to do PU/PD with my 15 week old son together with ditching the paci. Reasons to do that is all kinds of night issues that started to appear during this crazy 4th month:
- He has been waking for a paci re-plug almost every 2 hours and sometimes that didn´t help either.
- He also started to wake up 30 minutes after I put him down at night.
- His night sleep is very restless. Often just whimpers, but doesn´t really cry.
We have also switched to 4 hour routine (We have been on it last 10 days). His daily schedule looks like this:
E: 7am when he wakes up. This is not every day though. Lately he has been waking up as soon as 5:30 and could´n fall back asleep (again, paci stoped helping). So we started the day at 5:30.
A: 1,45 - 2h wake time. He has always been sleepy but we try to stay awake at least 1h45min. Sometimes we would manage to stay up as long as 2 hours
S: 8:40 - 8:50...he has always been falling asleep with a paci. Today is the second day without the paci and although it takes him a little bit longer to fall asleep, he managed to fall asleep without it and without PU/PD (reaaaalllly exited about this, first real success
). In the past even when his paci would come out during daily naps, he didn´t seem to care, just kept on sleeping. So paci was never problem during daily naps. He sleeps for 1,5 -2 hours usually, sometime I even need to wake him up.
E: between 10:30 - 11:00
A: awake for 1,45 - 2 hours
S: anywhere between 12:00 - 13:00. It really depends on when he wakes up in the morning and on his morning nap and how long is he able to stay awake before the 2nd nap. I sometimes have to put him down after 1hour and 30 minutes because he is super fussy and cries. He again sleeps well between 1,5 - 2 hours.
His afternoon catnap is usually only 30 minutes. When we first switched to 4 hour routine and stretching his awake time was a challenge, he would wake up from his second nap as soon as 2pm. Although he woke up after a beautiful 2 hour nap, 2pm still seemed way too early to be done with the naps for the day. The 30 minute catnap then came at about 4 and I would have to start putting him down at 6pm. So between 2 and 6 he only had 30 minute catnap.
I cluster feed right after the 30 minute catnap and then again at bedtime, starting around 6pm until 6:30 at which time he is super tired and usually falls asleep at my breast. I always wonder if he is not getting enough milk at this last "tanking up" feeding because he is so tired. I have to burp him and so he partially wakes up and is going down awake. Last night was a great success as he fell asleep without the paci by himself (yeeey!)
Night issues:
- sometimes waking up 30 minutes after he goes down at night
- he also lately started to wake up 2,5 hours after the last feeding, so about 9 pm. He simply couldn´t wait until the dream feed which I tried to do anywhere between 10-11pm. Last night he hasn´t woken up so it was great. But if he does again, do I PU/PD until the dream feed or do I just feed him at 9 and consider it a dream feed?
- since he has been waking as often as 3 times a night (except the dream feed), I first fed him. He really did seem to go through a growth spurt between week 14 and 15 because he took a full feed every time. But last couple days I am pretty sure it was feeding for comfort. That´s why I decided to do PU/PD. My goal is to feed him at 10pm adn then only at 4am since I think he could do a 6 hour stretch at this age (and he has managed to do it couple times before this crazy 4 month night issues). If he wakes up anywhere in between, I do PU/PD.
Our problem is that when he wakes up in the middle of the night and I am all ready to do PUPD he does not necessarily cry. He whimpers and whines and screams out once at which point I get up to sooth him but then stops again and whines quietly again. I decided not to intervene because it was not a genuine cry but more like a scream out of frustration. When I come to check on him after he screams, his eyes are closed and again he just whines. What do I do? Do I PUPD or just comfort him somehow in the cot? (shush pat never worked for him). Or I don´t do anything? As I said, I decided not to do anything, just went to take a peek. But the whining went on for like and hour or so. After one hour, he finally started to cry and I did PUPD which lasted another half and hour. But I just don´t know what to do when he doesn´t cry but screams ones or twice and whines on and off.
Thank you so much ahead!
