my 4mth old wakes every hour through the night

[pinkbec]

Can anyone help me. My husband and I are at our wits end. The babe wakes every hour every night from 7pm til 6 in the morning. He is on formula. 240mls every 4 hours from 6am and last feed at 10pm ( dream feed).  He is wrapped tight in cot sheet and has his cot elevated as he has silent reflux and is on infant gaviscon and zantac but im not sure this is the problem. I have a great bedtime routine 6pm feed then bath read book and bed with dummy.  I dont rock and he puts himself to sleep usually in 10 mins. Then an hour later he wakes up crying ( the dummy is not in his mouth and sometimes it is). He is still asleep when he comes out of his sleep cycle and you can see he wants to be asleep but something is bothering him and my husband and I have to put the dummy back in if its out or say 'shhhhh' calmly to him or pick him up so he can calm down and resettle.  He has 3 x day sleeps usually between 1hr - 2hrs. Im exhausted. Im taking him to a chiropractor today...does anyone have suggestions or has this problem too. last night i was just over getting out of bed every hour and picked him and put him in my bed thinking he wants the company but it made no difference - the only thing is that i could just lay there comforting him....I would love some advice pleaseeeeeeee!!

[gpmom]

pinkbec, sorry your going throught that.  We are having issues here too same age.  Can you post your routine so we can see if anyting stands out.

[pinkbec]

Thanks for replying. Babe wakes at
6am and feed then play
8am - 10am sleep
10am - feed then play
12pm - 1.15 sleep
2pm - feed then play
4pm - 45 min nap
play till 6pm
6pm - feed then bath then book
7pm bed
10 pm dream feed...but from 6pm he will wake nearly every hour till morning

1 week ago he started solids (2tspn of farex and pureed apple) but i did this cos his weight started to not increase and i thought maybe he needed it to help him sleep but has made no difference...im soooo lost!

[gpmom]

Wish I could be more help on the solids but we have not tried yet, hoping to hold off until 6 months but we will see.  Your routine does look good,
are there teeth growing in?
Is he starting to do some things he did not do before developmentaly?
Did you change formulas or anything else you can thing of?
I am no pro but it seems like there is somehting changingin his world, let me know...

[Bryony]

Pinkbec - hello and welcome to the boards!

I have three thoughts:

- what is your last A time (time between waking up and being back in bed)?  If this is after just a 45 min nap it needs to be quite short - eg 1.5hrs.  I am wondering if he might be overtired if this is too long - your description of him wanting to be asleep sounds a  bit like this

- when did the NWs start in relation to starting solids?  He has started very early - and a tummy full of milk contains more calories than a lot of solids.  I am wondering if he may be hungry or whether the apple may be disagreeing with him. What is farex?

- the dummy - is he dependent on it to go to sleep?

Babies come into a light sleep every hour, and if they are not comfortable, are overtired, or don't know how to get back to sleep on thier own, they do wake up...

Bryony

[pinkbec]

hi bry..

from the time he has his last nap which is usually 45mins he is in bed 1.5 hours or a little less 7pm.
farex is rice cereal - im in Aust. His NW has been for 31 days and I onlystarted solids last week.  There is research in oz saying that you can now start solids anytime between 4 and 6 months.  so when i say solids its only 2 teaspoons of rice cereal mixed with formula a day with a tiny bit of pureed apple......

Last night was a nightmare again.  I think he is dependent on the dummy. everytime he comes out of his sleep cycle he wakes and i think panics the dummy is not there.  last night between 7 and midnight I went to his room 12 times and then put him in the bed with me again cos im exhausted.  what can i do. I think he is smart and has learnt from somewhere that when he cries we will come!

do you think he is too young for controlled crying - it will kill me but we cant go on like this........ thanks for replying

[gpmom]

HUGS  Just think that thing HAVE to get better!
I thought that sometimes his dummy was in and sometimes it was out?  If thats the case maybe itme to get rid of it or let him find his fingers/  I say this but my dd wakes for her as well.  I am working at getting rid of the swaddle.  Do you have someone who can help you?  I think you need a good sleep so you can try to fight this.

[Bryony]

Pinkbec - sounds like the dummy to me!  It seems to be quite common to get problems around this age - in which case you either have to ride it out until he is old enough to put it back in himself, or get rid of it.  In terms of getting rid of it, there is a link to a gradual withdrawal method on the props board (I'm on holiday at the moment so don't have it to hand in my "favourite links" but let me know if you can't find it and I will find it for you) or you can use PU/PD if you think he's ready for it - there is lots of info on the PU/PD board.

In terms of controlled crying - Baby Whisperer methods do not support it at any age - Tracey believed that it damages the trust between parent and child.  PU/PD is a much kinder method - as I say, there is lots of info about it on the PU/PD board if you haven't seen it yet.

Bryony 

[pinkbec]

thank you all for your helpful advice -its wonderful there is so much support out there