Recent night waking

[JennThomas04]

My lo is 8.5 months old.  He was sleeping through the night pretty consistently from about 4 months (8 pm to 7 am or so).  If he did wake up, a flip and a few pats on the back put him back to sleep within 5 minutes. 

For about the past month however, he has started waking at night again.  He's not hungry (I've tried to nurse him and he'll nurse, and then stay awake) and doesn't seem to be in any pain, as he'll stop crying when picked up.  We use PU/PD to get him back to sleep, but about 2 minutes later he's awake again, regardless of if we've continued the patting or not.  Most nights it's been nearly 2 hours to get him back to sleep.  Help! We're getting exhausted.  I know people often ask for the schedule, so here's his:

Wake: around 6:30 or 7 am
Nurse
Breakfast - fruit and oatmeal around 8:30 am
Nap - around 9:30 or 10 am for about 30 minutes
Nurse
Lunch - veggies  and oatmeal around noon
Nap - around 1 pm for 1.5 hours
Nurse
Nap (sometimes) around 5:30 for about 30 minutes
Dinner - veggies and fruit around 7 pm
Nurse
Bedtime - 8 pm (give or take 15 minutes)

Why is he waking at night and not going back to sleep (or go back to sleep only to wake again in a few minutes)?  Help, we're tired!

[meltown]

have you tried extending the morning nap and making it 2 naps?  also when is he waking and how long is he awake on average?

[JennThomas04]

I have tried extending the morning nap, but it generally leads to many tears on his part and lots of frustration on mine. I usually give up after 30 minutes. Sometimes he'll sleep an hour on his own in the morning, and when he does he doesn't take the late afternoon nap. 

He usually wakes around 12:30 and is up until between 2 and 2:30.  Sometime's he'll wake once or twice before that (those are  usually easy to pat back to sleep).  Once the 2 hour awake time is over, he very rarely wakes up again before his normal wake time.

[JennThomas04]

Please?  Anyone have any insight?  LO seems to be transitioning to 2 naps.  For the past 2 days he's taken 2, 1 hour 15 minute naps.  He's still waking at night though.  Last night he was up for 1.5 hours.  Nothing seems to help him.  I'm one tired mama!

[JennThomas04]

Also, a follow up question:  When he's awake for 2 hours at night, should I wake him at his normal wake time or let him sleep?  This morning he woke up at 8 am (normal is around 7).

[meltown]

have you tried doing W2S if it is the same time every night?  this may be a habitual waking.  If he is napping well I would get him up at normal time and watch his ccues and maybe he will have an earlier or longer nap or such.  that's great about the 2 naps!  I think that will help him too.

[momirem]

DD is 8.5 mo too. Our case is pretty much like yours. We always had some problems for naps, but generally she slept all night since she is 4 mo.
Last month, she started to wake up 2-3 times at night, crying. She started to wake up early too, sometimes as early as 4.00.
So, I have modified the routine a little bit. She used to take 3 naps (45 min am nap at 9.00-9.30, 1.5 h pm nap at 1.00, and catnap at 5.00 - she also started to extend the catnap to 1.5 h). I have decided that it was time to move to 2 naps.
I am trying to extend the am nap to 1.5h, still no success(the am nap is back to 9.00). I moved the pm nap to 2.00 so that she wouldn't be overtired until the bed time around 7.30.
She is still waking up 2 times, but goes back to sleep easily with just 5 seconds of shh. The early waking problem is solved so I think that I am on the right track.
I have noticed that DD is getting tired earlier in the mornings. The routine is going better since I put her down for the nap at 9.00 instead of 9.30 or 10.00. Maybe it will work for you too.
Have you tried to sing to your LO when he is awake? Generally it works better than PU.PD for us for the night wakings. When she hears my voice, she starts to self-soothe and goes to sleep. But when I show up for PU.PD, the crying goes worst the moment she sees me.
Please keep posting the results

[JennThomas04]

Thanks for the advice!  We've been doing just the two naps for 4 days now.  Have had to put him back to sleep a couple of times, but it's mostly going well.  It seems to be helping a bit at night.  The past two nights instead of PU/PD, I've been rubbing his back ever so lightly and using his flat giraffe (his lovey) to rub his face.  After a few minutes he starts self-soothing.  It's still 30-45 minutes back to sleep, but at least it's not two hours!  He's been squawking about 15 minutes after going to sleep, but puts himself back to sleep and has been sleeping until wake time.  I can only hope we're on the right track.

Have tried singing to DS at night.  He loves to listen to me sing, the problem is that he'll stay awake to do so.  I'll still be singing 2 hours later.

This morning I got him up at 7, even though he was awake for almost an hour last night.  Will let you know how it goes.