separation anxiety or nightmares awake every 40 minutes

[Carolyn R]

Help! 

My 7 1/2 month old son is waking every night from 11pm to 7am every 40 minutes. He sleeps in his crib in his room. I go in to him if he cries more than 30 seconds - 1 minute. I do not talk or pick him up. He stops crying the moment I am by his crib. He instantly goes back to sleep - until another 40 minutes and then it starts again. This has been happening for 7 nights now.

No strange events or new things are happening. No new changes to life or routine.
We have followed the EASY routine since 3 months old.


Here is his daily schedule.

7:30 or 8:00  breast feed - both sides
8:00         activity- play pen or exersaucer or floor time on belly
9:00 or 9:30 breakfast - cereal and fruit
9:45 or 10  sleep  (1.5 to 2 hours) I can lay him in crib and he will go to sleep by self.
11:30 or 12 breast feed - both sides
12          activity- same as above - different combination
1:00       lunch (protein veggies fruit)
1:20      Activity
2:30 or 3  sleep (45 minutes to 1.5 hours) I will lay him in crib and he falls asleep by self.
3:30 or 4  breast feed - both sides
4  activity
5:30  supper (protein veggies fruit)
6  bath, book, cuddle time
7:30 feed - both sides
8:00 bed

10:15 dream feed - both sides - we are weaning this now according to book (15 minutes every 3 days)

Am  I doing something wrong? Am I setting myself up to be a prop without knowing it?

Should I keep going in to him every cry?

Thank you so much for your help!!

[teezee]

ok well there is mantra crying and there is the 'i need you now mommy' cry - if it is just a mantra cry - let lo go and maybe he will put himself / is trying to put himself back to sleep.

it may very well be time to cut out the df. tracy suggest that 7 months is the approx age that lo's may have more wakings from the df rather than it being helpful.

it does seem that your lo is up for a long amount of time before bedtime and this too could contribute to night wakings. have you tried an earlier bedtime - say 7ish?

does your lo have a lovey or a blanket? have you slept with it to get your smell on it? if not, i think in the situation it may help also.

let me know what you think.

[teezee]

btw - it does to me sound like an overtired problem that needs to be solved more than anything but i also think that df maybe making matters worse.

[Carolyn R]

Thank you so much for your help!

I have been reading others posts and saw the common idea of dropping the df - which I am doing. I am also going to try an earlier bed time. There is a large span of time from last nap to bed time.

How much time would you have as awake time from afternoon nap to bedtime?

My lo would also have the mini 40 minute sleep around 5-6pm as in the book, but he has dropped that sleep - or he doesn't go to sleep at 7:30 or 8. This started about a month or so ago.


He does have a lovey, but I never thought of having my scent on it - I will cuddle my lo and lovey tomorrow.

Once again thank you so much!

The cry isn't a mantra cry. If I leave him for a minute or 2 it becomes full screams with sobbing and losing breath. Then I have to settle him before he will go back to sleep. He does the mantra cry in the afternoon nap- but I am aware of that one.

[teezee]

i think it would also help to somehow get the longer nap in the afternon rather than in the am. the reason i say this is b/c the am nap is seen as an extension at night sleep, therefore doesn't NEED to be as long. for some it works this way and for others it doesn't. but, your lo doesn't necessarily need that much sleep in the am as he is well rested from the night, if you could cut this nap down to say 'about' an hour or so (shorter than the pm), then lo will be able to sleep longer in the pm and therefore be more rested to make it through a longer period to bedtime (still think 4 hrs is a bit long for a lo this age...) kwim?
try cutting the A time to about 3 hrs and see if you have any improvements...after a few days if still there are problems try 15 more min...it's all a balancing act and lo's are different - you have to find what works for your lo through pretty much trial and error once you have an idea of what you want/need to do - let me know how things are in the next few days.