Apologies in advance...some of this relates to EASY and some to nightwakings & possibly some to teething.
Our lo is 5.5 months old, she is a touchy / grumpy baby. She was a very unsettled baby but started coming right at 4 months. For the past 2 weeks she has been VERY unsettled / grumpy again and there have been lots of tears.
She is bf. We have tried starting solids but she is not interested yet. We try a little once a day.
She is generally still on a 3 hour EASY. The reason for that is that she usually does 1.5 hours up and 1.5 hours down so if we follow EAS then she is ready to be fed after 3 hours. She seems to feed well each feed. If she does a longer A or S then her E will extend out to 3.5 or 4 hour sometimes. She was extending to almost 2 hours up which meant our EASY was also extending but she has gone backwards in the amount of A time she can handle (see teething q below).
Our day starts at 7 most of the time and she goes to bed at 7pm / 7.30pm daily.
Concerns:
1. EASY
I have tried changing her to a regular 3.5 EASY but it just gets to messy as if she wakes 3 hours since her last feed she will NOT play or cuddle before she is fed. She will also not do EASAS...we've tried many times. Often she will feed 4 hourly once a day which works well. If however she feeds 3 hourly, we run into probs at the end of the day and she ends up feeding after only 2 or 2.5 hours for her last feed. Since forcing her into a longer EASY routine isn't working, can I just wait until her A or S extends naturally? Please see my questions re: teething below too as they relate to the length of her A.
2. Nights
She was sleeping through from her last feed (6.30pm) until 5 or 5.30am, then until 7 or 7.30am. She would feed well at both those feeds. For the past 2 weeks she was woken between 3am and 4am and again at 6. We've tried resettling but she won't. If I feed her she drops back off to sleep as soon as put back to bed. Please see teething question below as it may relate to this change in her night wakings. Last night she fed at 4 and was awake again at 6. She wouldn't resettle and cried and cried until I fed her again at 6.30 but really didn't take a full feed IMO.
3. Teething?
She has been very very unsettled for 2 weeks. A lot of the time a dose of Pamol is the only thing that will calm her down. If I press firmly on her bottom gum I can feel her 2 bottom teeth. Her gums are not red or inflamed. She is dribbling and little and coughing quite a lot (she is definately not unwell though...no cold or temp or anything). She hasn't had red cheeks and if I give her cold things to chew on she isn't interested. She does however chew her fist or my knuckle as much as she can.
Her awake times were extending out to almost 2 hours but the last 2 weeks she has often been inconsolable at only 1 1/4 hours and has barely made it beyond 1.5 hours up.
She settles well for naps generally but we've been having problems in the afternoon for the past 2 weeks...she will be so miserable after 1.5 hours up that we try putting her down and yet she will just continue to cry and cry. If we give her pamol she will usually settle about 20mins later.
So my questions are:
1. How should we deal with EASY? Wait until it starts extending again or force it?
2. Why do you think her nightwakings have changed?
3. Do you think teething could be causing all of the above? If yes, how long could it take as it has already been just over 2 weeks.
Thanks in advance
