Night wakings and fitful sleep...

[msfee]

I'm hoping someone can help my husband and I.  Our son is almost 11 months old.  We have been dealing with nightwakings for the past few months now and we are at our wits end!  We are up 5 or 6 times a night.  When our son wakes up at night, he's standing in his crib or sitting and just crying.  We used to be able to just go in and give him his pacifier and lay him down, but now, he just continues to cry and sometimes, we are up with him for a half hour or longer.  I just don't know what the problem is.  He had a hard time sleeping through the night when he was really little (which is how I came across Tracy's book), once I got him on Easy with the dreamfeed, it was wonderful. He would go down at 8:00, dreamfeed at 11:00 and sleep until 8:00 the next morning. He started sleeping wonderfully.  Now, it's horrible.
His routine:
7:30- wake and 6 oz formula
8:30-breakfast
10:00 to 11:00-nap.
12:30-lunch
2:00- 6 oz of formula then nap
3:30-wake and snack.
6:00-dinner
7:30-bath
9:00-8 oz formula-bed.

From what I've been able to read on the boards so far, our issue could be the afternoon and him being overtired.  He used to go down at 8:00 with the dreamfeed at 11:00.  When we cut out the dreamfeed, I stretched his bedtime to 9:00, probably a mistake, huh?
We also have an issue that he moves around sooo much in his sleep.  When we go in when he's waking up at night, he is usually in a corner of his crib or up against the rail and can't move.  I've sat in his room after he's gone to sleep and watched him and even in his sleep, he's constantly moving, it's like he can't settle down.  Does that make sense?
I just don't know how to fix this so that my baby (and us) get a better night sleep.  I don't know how to go about moving up his bedtime, if that is the problem, do I just start putting him to bed at the new desired time?
Any help would be wonderful!
Melanie

[claires mum]

Hi Melanie

Here's my opinion only for what it's worth.

1)  He's been a great sleeper in the past...so you should be able to get back on track by adjusting the routine a little

2)  At 11 months, the average A time is starting to creep up to 3.5-4 hours.  They are also starting to transition from 2 naps to 1 .... just starting the process most likely.

3)  I notice that his first A time is 2.5 hours, second A time is 3 hours, and the final A time is a whopping 5.5 hours.  This is a problem I think.

I would try and extend the first A time to 3 hours and keep the nap limited to 1 hour.  Then second A time might be 3.5/4 hours depending on how he handles it.  Last A time should also be only 3.5 or 4 hours....so much earlier bedtime is required.  This is my routine and Claire is also 11 months (almost)

6.00 am wake and BF.  Solids 30 mins later
9.00 am nap for 1 hour (I wake her up)
10.00  BF and snack
12.00  Lunch
1.30/2.00 Nap for 1.5 hours
3.00/3.30 BF and snack
5.00 solids
7.00 BF and bed

What do you think?  If you are going to change the routine..then just increment A time by 15 minutes initially and see how he handles it.  Early to bed though...

[msfee]

Thank you so much for your input!    I have a hard time keeping him up past 10:00 am for his morning nap, he used to really want to go down at 9:30, after only being up since 7:30.  I think that's mainly due to him not getting a good night sleep or enough sleep during the night.

I totally understand what you're saying about the bedtime and how long he's up in the late afternoon.

Do you think this could be the reason behind his night wakings?  I guess only one way to really find out, by putting him to bed earlier and see what happens.

I think my mistake from the beginning was when I cut out the dream feed, instead of putting him to bed at the time he usually went (which was 8:00 and then we woke him up at 11:00) I pushed his bedtime back an hour to 9:00.

So do you recommend just moving his bed time up in 15 minute increments every few days or should I just go ahead and start trying to put him to bed at the desired time?

I really appreciate your response! 

[claires mum]

Hi again

I would start with the earlier bedtime immediately.  Then start to increment the A time by 15 minutes every 3 days.

Let me know how it goes.

         
 

[msfee]

Claire's Mum~Just wanted to let you know that last night, he did pretty good!  I gave him his bath at 7:30 and after his bath, he got his bottle at about 7:50.  I read him his book and it took about 1/2 hour to finally get him to sleep.  He was resisting.  So he didn't actually go to sleep until about 8:30, but with just that little bit of an earlier bedtime, he only woke up once!!

He woke up at 3:30am and instead of me going right in to his room, I just waited it out.  He cried out, talked, cried out some more, but after about 10 minutes (and never getting into a real cry) he got himself back to sleep and I went in and woke him up at 7:30 this morning (to get him on his schedule).

I'm excited that the earlier bedtime seemed to help last night.  I'm being cautiously optimistic and know that it might not go the same way tonight, but it's a small step in the right direction.

I think I'm going to try to start the bedtime routine 7:15 tonight with his bath and aim for getting him into bed by 8:00.
Thanks so much for your help and guidance!
Melanie

[claires mum]

That's great Melanie..and thank you so much for keeping me posted...I learn more from the feedback that you know! 

Stick with it for at least 3-5 days and expect a little regression .... but I think it's all sounding very positive.  So happy for you!