Was Sleeping good, now not so much

[jledhead]

we have a 5.5 month old little boy and are having some difficulties with sleep.  prior to about 3 weeks ago we were doing a 3 hour schedule, eas.  he was napping good thru the day with predictable nap lengths and sleeping thru the night for anywhere between 8-10 hours a night.  we were rocking him though  and it was getting exhausting.  at the suggestion of this forum we transitioned to a 4 hour schedule about 3 weeks ago and that went very smooth.  we also started swaddling for naps and continued swaddling at bedtime.  naptime was much better with actual 2 hour naps and he was still sleeping thru the night.  we have been feeding solids one time a day for about a month.  around the same time we transitioned to a 4 hour easy we upped the solids to 3 of the 4 meals per day.  we started experiencing night wakings 1-2 times per night, nothing major, just a paci and then knock right back out.  the lo then got an ear infection and has just gotten over that and is sleep is completely ruined.  the night wakings have gotten progressively worse and the last 2 nights he woke almost every hour.  ugghhh.  tired isn't even half the story.  and to top that off all the sudden today he is constipated.

so our plan as of now is to back off on the solids and feed only one time a day.  for the night wakings we are not going to be paci patrol anymore.  night wakings will be treated with some ignoring because usually he wakes and just kicks around and bobs his head looking for his paci, so unless there is some crying it will get ignored.  crying will get pat/shhh.

I don't know if this is a solid plan but we don't really know what else to try except start from zero.

we would appreciate any help or advice that can be offered.

   hoping for help.

[~Alexa~]

I do think that those NW may be caused by the solid introduction.  Could it be that he is gassy?? Did the NW begin when you introduced the solids?
or if not,
Could you post your EASY routine so we can take a look at it and see if it needs some tweaking?

Hang in there.  I know how exhausting this can be, but IT WILL GET BETTER.
You are not alone!!

xxx,
Alexa

[jledhead]

we were talking today about how we don't know exactly when things happen and maybe we should start logging some things just so we know when we switched or started this or that.

we have been feeding rice for sometime and he was sleeping just fine.  his eczema started flairing up and we wanted to see if oatmeal would improve that.  thinking back now I think the switch to oatmeal is about when the night time problems started

so our solid tomorrow will be rice and hopefully things will start to get better.

if solids are the problem, then did we introduce solids wrong?  and how do we go about feeding more solids?  I ask because obviously we want to continue feeding solids, but he also is really liking solids and has since we started.

so we want to continue feeding solids, but do want to sleep

our easy schedule is as so for thoroughness, tomorrow will be the same minus all the solid feedings
7:30am-8am - wake and take a bottle, then some solids
play and hang out for 1.5-2hours
naptime - 1.5-2 hours
12pm - 2nd feeding of bottle and then some solids
play and hang out for 1.5-2 hours
naptime - this afternoon nap has been consistently shorter, 45mins-1.5 hours
4pm - 3rd feeding of bottle and then some solids
play and hang out for 1.5 hour
7-7:30 - 4th feeding of only a bottle.  this feeding has started becoming less and less, 4-6 oz
we have been aiming for bedtime by 9

any advice is welcome and thanks for advice already offered.

[~Alexa~]

I would definitely try feeding only rice and see what happens!! It is a matter of trial and error.  It is very typical to experience NW when you introduce solids, this is due to gas. 

Does your DS get a nap after his 3rd feeding?? If so, at what time does he nap and how long is this nap? He might be OT by bedtime.  Usually, OT causes NW. 

It is easier if you post your routine like this:
E.7.30 a.m bottle and solids
A. 7.30 a.m. - ?
S. 9:30 a.m. - ?

I think that your bedtime is way too late.  Remember that we are aiming at a 12 hour day and 12 hour night cycle.  So, if he is waking around 7:30 a.m. I think he is ready for bed around 7:30 p.m. 

[Karen:)]

Hi.

Sounds like your LO was sleeping well, this change sure seem to be some kind of discomfort.  My pedi said that at this age, LO's main diet is still milk.  They are still developing their digestive system.  Once a day solid may be tolerated, but three times a day may be too much.  When my daughter started rice cereal once a day, she was okay.  However, when we increased it to twice a day, she woke up crying every 1-2 hour.  I found out that rice cereal could cause gas pain and constipation, so I cut cereal back to once a day and switched to oatmeal.  She is doing just fine again.  Though some babies may be allergic to oatmeal, in general, it causes less constipation.  You might also want to try some prune to help with constipation.

[jledhead]

here is our easy routine

E.7:30-8 - bf + solids
A. 8 -9:30(or 10)
S. 9:30 (or 10) - 11 or 11:30
E. 11:30 -12 -bf
A. 12ish to 1:30 or 2
S. 1:30ish to 3:30ish
E. 3:30ish - bf
A. 4 - 5:30
S. 5:30 -6:30ish
E. 7(or 7:30)
S. 8-8:30, whenever we can get him calmed down, no playtime here

so there is our schedule.  if there is a place to tweak it let us know.  We are only giving one solid now and have switched back to rice for now.  we are also giving amoxicilin for the ear infection and today is the last day.  I read that a rare side affect of it is sleeplessness or insomnia.  anyone every experienced anything similar?

its now not every hour but he still is having way to many nw's.  will that subside, what can we do?

a new problem is he goes to bed fairly easily all day, at night is another story though, its flip out time for going to bed.

what are we doing wrong?

We appreciate any help offered.  thanks.

[~Alexa~]

Your EASY looks fine, but have you tried an earlier bedtime? If he is awake at 7:30 a.m, he may be ready for bed at around 7:30 p.m.  Try putting him to bed earlier and see what happens.  He might battle bedtime because he may be overstimulted, so try having very low key activities during that last A time.  Do you have a bedtime routine?? If so, what's your routine?

I experienced NW when my LO was taking tylenol, and the ped told me that it was a possible side effect of this med, so it could be the meds!

So if you had a better night with only one solid, that could be the problem.  He might be uncomfortable because of the solids. 

One more thing, I also had a lot of NW during two nights, and then I realized my LO was cold, so just check on this to see if this could be the reason. 

xxx,
Alexa