4 mo waking 45 minutes after going to sleep at night

[everhopeful]

Hello, I am new here and in desperate need of help!  My 4 mo old has started this habit in the last couple of weeks of waking up 45 minutes after going down for the night and then waking every 10-20 minutes after that for about 1 1/2 -2 hours.

We have tried everything to break this and are finding ourselves moving to Accidental Parenting for sure.  We are picking him up and rocking him more and more each night.   We have tried putting him to bed earlier, putting him to bed later, getting him up earlier, letting him sleep later, letting him sleep more during the day, letting him sleep less during the day.  He can really only stay up for 1 1/2 hours right now before he starts yawning and becoming fussy.  He is a great day time sleeper - long naps, no wake ups.  Just nihgt time sleep is horrible.   He also wakes 1-2 times a night (sometimes 3 if he gets out of the swaddle).

Has anyone ever gone through this and have any ideas of how to end this cycle?

Our schedule looks something like this
7am wake up
Feed
Activity
8:30 - 10:30 Sleep
Feed
Activity
12-1:30/2 Sleep
Feed
Activity
3/3:30-4/4:30 Sleep
6:30/7 Bedtime
Then the wake ups start!

Any help will be so appreciated!

Thank you!

[momofclaire]

I am assuming that there is another feed at bedtime, right? 
Do you feed him overnight? Do you think he might be needing to eat? 

His A time before bed seems to be 2.5 hours which is long if he can only handle 1.5 during the day.  Have you noticed any change at all if he is put down a little earlier? 

In the past two weeks has he been doing anything new, like atttempting to scoot about or roll?  Sometimes milestones can have a big impact on sleep.

Welcome to the boards!  Post back and I will try to help you figure this out.

[everhopeful]

Thank you for your reply. 

Yes, he gets a feed at bedtime!  Sorry I forgot to state that.  We do not do a dream feed though.  We tried it a couple of times and it just woke him up and he took forever to settle back down.  He does feed at least 2 times in the night.  Sometimes 3.  I try to just go in a soothe if his wake up is only 1-4 hours since his last feed.  He is breast fed.

You may be right about the 2 1/2 hour stretch before bedtime.  I should have stated that his evening bedtime is really dependent on when he last gets up.  Usually 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours max after he last woke up.  I try to at least have it be after 6 PM though.  Maybe I should't worry about that.  We have put him down earlier and we have tried later. neither have made an impact. 

No major milestones right now.  We just moved him to his own room, but the problem existed before that.  We moved him to see if it would improve the situation.  It did not!

Thank you again!

[momofclaire]

The 45 minute mark is generally when babies transition through the lighter part of sleep.  I would guess that if he wakes conistantly at 45 minutes then he is having a hard time getting through that.  You could go in about 20-30 minutes after you put him down and try w2s.  Are you familiar with that?  You would go in and stir him just slghtly so that he moves a bit or you notice a sigh or change of breathing.  This sometimes work to altar the pattern and get them past that transition.  It usually takes a few days to work so I woudl do it 3-5 days and then see if it has helped. 

I wouldn't worry about the 6pm thing.  The most important thing is keeping him from becoming overtired.

[everhopeful]

Thank you again for all of your help.  I really appreciate it!  I am going to try Wake to Sleep starting tonight.  Somehow I feel better just having a plan!  The past few weeks not knowing what to do and things not changing have been driving me crazy.  Also, having your support and input is helping me a lot!!!

A very grateful,

everhopeful