4.5 months, NWs getting more numerous

[MomofCharlie]

Hi,
My 4.5 month old used to wake up every night at 4 am, I'd replace his pacifier, then he'd go right back to sleep. Now he's waking up about 6 times a night, I replace his paci, and sometimes barely get back into bed before he's crying again. I've been using sh-pat to put him back to sleep, which works wonderfully, except he re-wakes. Here are my answers to the standard questions you suggest I answer in order to get some help. I know I need to get rid of the paci, but not sure how/when to begin. We've been very lucky, as our LO has slept thru the night since 5 weeks of age, and with my DH's schedule (full time work and studying at school), I'll feel bad to turn nights into a cry-fest...

How old is your child?  4 months and 2 weeks
What’s his/her daily routine?
Our routine is
wake & eat: 7 am
A: til 8
S: til 10
wake & eat: 10
A: til 11:30
S: til 1
wake and eat: 1
A: til 2:45
S: til 3:45
wake and eat: 4
A: til 6
S: til 7:30
wake and eat: 7:30
A: very minimal, maybe 15 minutes
sleeps til dreamfeed, around 10 pm

What’s nap routine? as above

How long are naps? first two morning naps, 1.5 to 2 hours; others are about an hour each

What's bedtime routine? Time? bedtime and naptime routines involve diaper change, saying bye bye to Mr. Sunshine (closing the blind), lying on our bed for one short book and one song, back to his room to say nighty-night to his sailboats, into his crib, swaddle him, sh-pat for about 2 minutes, and he goes to sleep.

Do you bottle or breastfed?? EBF

How much? or how long? 10 minutes each breast per feeding

How many wakes per night? used to be one, at 4 am. last night was 8, beginning at 12:15 with the last one at 4:30. I gave up and brought him into our spare bedroom with me, where he went to sleep immediately and slept thru til 7:30.

What’s your LO like when waking at night? How long is he/she up? He kind of squawks til I put his paci back in his mouth. Normally awake for under 5 minutes.

When you go to him/her is she fussing or crying? Or is it a mantra cry? He's fussing, borderline crying. I can't seem to figure out what everyone means by mantra cry.

What have you tried to settle?? sh-pat and replacing paci.

What do you do for A time and how long is it? A time includes playing with toys, some music/singing for the first part, then walking around together and/or snuggling toward the end. In the afternoons every second day, we use his A time to do an errand or 2. We always come home in time for wind-down.

Are there developmental issues such as teething or milestones? The very beginnings of teething, on and off some days.
Have you introduced cereal? Not yet.
Do they have a prop? If so what is it? Pacifier (my bad).
Do they have a lovie? Not sure what this is, but he hasn't got anything else. Does love a particular toy, though (Sophie the Giraffe). Should I put him to bed with her instead of paci??

Thanks in advance...

[momofclaire]

It looks like he is still on a 3 hour easy. Have you considered transitioning to a four hour routine? 
I think the paci may be starting to be a problem but I am not sure.  Do you find that he can't sleep without it and cries to have it replaced?
The mantra cry is a cry that is more fussy in nature. It isn't the "I need you cry,"  it is more just a bit of fussing and grumbling.  Often the mantra cry is a babies way of self soothing. Have you listened to see if he might go back to sleep on his own?  Often times moms of young babies (I did this myself) run in at the first sound and don't give the baby the chance to go back to sleep on its own.

I think transitioning to a four hour routine would be a good idea.  I would check out the easy forum for tips on how to go about it.
Hope that helps
Myia

[gleek]

i agree. it's possible that he's getting too much daytime sleep for his age and that transitioning to a 4-hour EASY may help with his NWings. if, once on the 4-hour program, he's still waking a lot during the night, it's probably a pacifier issue.

[MomofCharlie]

Thanks, Myia and gleek. I'll try moving to a 4-hour EASY. I'd actually been wondering whether we should move to that, as my LO doesn't seem as hungry at the 3-hour mark, but he's awake, and I hate to stretch his A time too much, as we'd had overstimulation issues a few weeks ago...
To answer your questions, Myia, he does cry to have his paci replaced, and I haven't tried putting him to sleep without it for a number of weeks.
I think I am indeed guilty of "rescuing" him, as my DH is under so much pressure from work & school that I try to preserve his sleep as much as possible. Although DH knows what's going on with our LO, and is supportive of any changes I make, even if it means some sleepless nights to make the transition.

Allison

[momofclaire]

Allison,
You can transition slowly to a four hour routine. I would increase A time by 5-10 minutes at a time so you can easily spot overtiredness and correct it.  I would work on a routine change and try to not use the paci when you don't have to. If you want to wean it you should take a look at the props board. They have a ton of advice about pacis over there.

[MJMom]

Allison,
You can transition slowly to a four hour routine. I would increase A time by 5-10 minutes at a time so you can easily spot overtiredness and correct it.  I would work on a routine change and try to not use the paci when you don't have to. If you want to wean it you should take a look at the props board. They have a ton of advice about pacis over there.

Or have an overzealous nanny do it for you in 2 days.     I don't necessarily recommend that route though it worked out.   
Our LO had night waking issues from her 3 mo gs to her 4 mo gs.  As soon as she was on the 4-hr EASY, her NW's stopped about 2 days later.  her need for the paci stopped as well as she was not over tired.  I would transition him to the 4 hr EASY before making any changes with the paci.  He may just drop it afterwards.  I'm not so sure the paci is necessarily a prop at this point.

[MomofCharlie]

Thanks, ladies! I'm doing the 3 days of observing first, then will begin to transition to 4-hour EASY. If the paci doesn't go on its own, I'll tackle that next. I figure I should do one thing at a time. Keep your fingers crossed for us!
Allison

[~*~Little Miss Sunshine~*~]

Hope all is going well Allison!  You've gotten some great advice from these ladies.  Please let us know how things are going!

[MomofCharlie]

Hi, Roman's Mom,
Already kind of rocky. My LO's naps are getting shorter and shorter, so I'm kind of at a loss about what to do with him in that weird time after he wakes but before it's time to feed him... any suggestions? I haven't even tried extending his A time yet :-(

[gleek]

if my LO wakes early, i always give her some awake quiet time under her mobile. she loves it! so maybe something similar.

[~*~Little Miss Sunshine~*~]

gleek - that's a good idea :-)  I too give my ds some low key activity if he wakes early (which is most of the time LOL)

Sorry to hear things are so rocky already!  What have you tried so far?

[MomofCharlie]

Thanks... will try low-key stuff. Haven't tried anything yet, I'm just doing our old regular EASY (3-hour) to see exactly what our routine is, before I try to add in 15 minutes to my LO's A time, to try and solve his NWs.

Some days it feels as though as soon as I get onto the perfect EASY, something comes along and messes things up (visitors, appointments, that sort of thing). I feel awful for my LO when such thing put him off. That's life, I guess.

Will observe our EASY again tomorrow, then start adding the 15 minutes to his A times, see where that gets us. Wish us luck.
Allison

[~*~Little Miss Sunshine~*~]

I completely understand about trying to get EASY right all the time and it is impossible so don't stress too much over it.  Good luck  with the switch!

[MomofCharlie]

Thanks. Today started off rocky, but is getting better. Caught him between sleep cycles and prevented a super-short nap. But of course, now I have to wake him to feed him... so that I can get to my massage on time, and he's due for his feeding in 5 minutes anyway. Hopefully tonight will be good.

[~*~Little Miss Sunshine~*~]

Glad to hear you're having a good day!  Here's hoping we both have good nights