Don't know where to start with night wakings...

[EsMum]

Hi, I could really use some help.

I am having problems with just about every aspect of my LOs sleep.  We just got back from a trip to Australia and I think her little system is all out of whack from jetlag - on top of that she has hit several milestones. 

Before our trip she was pretty good about putting herself to sleep and sleeping at night, going down at 7pm and waking at around midnight and 4am for food, before waking for the day at about 6:30am.  Things started to slide on our trip because she had a hard time going to sleep (strange place?) and I had to nurse her before bed to get her to sleep.  We have now been back for one week, she rarely puts herself to sleep without nursing (my fault, I know), she wakes up about 10 times throughout the night, and for several nights she has woken between 9pm and 10pm to play and hasn't gone back to sleep until midnight - 1am.  When she wakes at night she will only go back to sleep if I feed her.  Could this be a case of bad timing with jetlag and all her milestones coming at once?  Any suggestions on how to fix it?  She doesn't use a pacifier.

I am confident that I can remind her how to put herself to sleep using shh/pat, however I don't know where to start with the nightwakings.

How old is your child? Nearly 7 months
What’s his/her daily routine? Varies daily with the length of her naps.  On a perfect day we start with BF upon waking, followed by solids an hour later, then a nap 1 hour after that.
What’s nap routine? Routine varies with the length of her naps (some only go for 30 mins, some for 2 hours)
How long are naps? 30 minutes to 2 hours
What's bedtime routine? Time? Bath at 6:30, cuddles, bed at 7pm
Do you bottle or breastfed?? BF
How much? or how long? Most of the time she will eat for 10 minutes, sometimes her last feeding goes about 20 mins.
If breastfed.. one side or both?? (at each feed) One side.
How many wakes per night? Right now about 10
What’s your LO like when waking at night? How long is he/she up? She doesn't seem to fully wake, acts desperate for food, is back in bed in 5 - 10 mins.
When you go to him/her is she fussing or crying? Or is it a mantra cry?  Probably a mantra cry - kind of "eh eh eh eh eh eh"
What have you tried to settle?? Feeding mostly.  Shh/pat starts her crying.
What do you do for A time and how long is it? A time is usually 2.5 - 3 hrs.  It varies between activities (exersaucer, play mat etc), walk in the pram, tummy time, quiet time in her bouncer.
Are there developmental issues such as teething or milestones? Teething, sitting up on her own, rolling over, eating solids.
Have you introduced cereal? Why, how much, and how many times a day? (for LO’s under 6 months)  Yes, once a day at breakfast, usually 3-5 teaspoons.
Do they have a prop? If so what is it?  Me.
Do they have a lovie? No.

Any help I can get is appreciated...

[Springbaby]

I feel for you! I don't have much advice, sorry, hopefully someone will post you advice soon. I know when my ds started sitting up and standing and crawling sleep was/is very hard for us too. Try to be consistant. that is the biggest trick as I'm sure you know. Try not to get into nursing to sleep all the time, although I know, you still feed during the night!  I know that when you introduce solids sleep is usually affected too. Are you giving her more than just cereal? At 7 months we were up to 3 meals a day with a variety of food, although I started my ds on solids at 5 months too...Well, I would say teething and nursing to sleep while you were away are the biggest culprits. stay consistant and I am sure things will get better. Maybe expent her last A time a bit? is she napping 3 times a day still? We went down to 2 naps around 7 months...Can't think of anything else at the moment, sorry, good luck

[Colin Macs Mom]

Sounds to me like you already know what your problems are    Travel and milestones are both brutal on sleep. The feeding to sleep and feeding so often and night need to stop, since it seems she's developed a suck/feed to sleep association. PU/PD instead is a good tool, or if you would prefer you could wean the feeds instead but it sounds like she's not taking much each time to begin with.

When you go to him/her is she fussing or crying? Or is it a mantra cry?  Probably a mantra cry - kind of "eh eh eh eh eh eh"

If this is what she's doing it's important to leave her be, as annoying as it can be to listen to. If you go in you interfere with her ability to self-settle and sleep independently.

[magda1461]

you sound like i did a week ago.
i bit the bullet and first stopped the night feeds. your LO can go without! i offered her water when she woke for the first 2 nights but she only drank 1oz! then went back to sleep. then on the 3rd night i started PUPD..a great tool that really works. now Bella sleeps from 7.30 till 2am, stirs for 5mins but puts herself back to sleep and sleeps till 7.am.

[EsMum]

Thanks for the suggestions.  I decided to concentrate on naps first and worry about the night waking once the naps were under control, so yesterday I took out the before bedtime feedings and started again with shh/pat and we had a great day.  For her first nap she cried for 5 mins then she dropped off to sleep for 1.5 hrs (yay!).  She dropped off quickly for her second nap, and bedtime was easy too.  All of this seems to have helped her night wakings because between 7pm and 11pm she only woke twice (this is progress compared to the past week!).  She woke more after midnight but I was able to use shh/pat to get her back to sleep once, and another time I went in I told her it was sleep time and let her go.  After that she woke twice more and my husband went in.

I'll definately give PUPD a try - I don't know why I didn't think of it to use for night wakings.

Springbaby: She does have more than cereal - she has fruit and veggies at lunch.  She was having veggies at dinner but I stopped because doing anything other than BF before bed means she wakes up an hour after she goes down.  How many naps each day depends on how long they go for - if she naps for 1.5 to 2 hours then she'll have 2 naps; if she only naps for 45 mins at a time I give her 3.

So thanks, yesterday was a MUCH better day and I feel like we can fix this and maybe I'll get a full night's sleep!

[Springbaby]

That's great! Glad that the naps went so well! Hopefully nights will continue to get better too! I was where you are two weeks ago and are now down to 2-3 wakings a night!  Unbelievable really! You should go into the pu/pd forum and read up on it, very helpful I sure notice with my ds that sometimes when I do shhh he actually gets more worked up, although your lo is probably used to it and mine wasn't. Anyways, my lo is getting into everything so I have to run, keep up the good work!

[Colin Macs Mom]

That's definitely great improvement! YAY!! You're right to concentrate on the naps first - good day sleep leads to good night sleep, so that's the place to start. Keep us posted.

[EsMum]

Thanks everyone, we are doing much better!  We are back on our EASY schedule, Ella is falling asleep on her own and her naps are getting longer - and if she wakes at 45mins we just leave her and she goes back to sleep on her own.  I love that my LO is so adaptable...

Her night wakings have improved a lot - last night she only woke twice.  We have been trying to let her be when she wakes (not crying) and most of the times she puts herself back to sleep.  If she starts crying I will go in and feed her, but will continue working on eliminating that as well.

So thanks, we appreciate all the help!

[Colin Macs Mom]

good for you!

[Springbaby]

That is great to hear! Keep up the good work (both of you!) here's hoping for a full nights sleep soon for you!