To feed or not to feed for NW that is the question..

[Archies mummy]

Hey mimi! Tried the 90 min this morning and sure enough he settled well and slept for 40 mins (thats good for him!) I've bought the book based on this success! Ha! So do I put him to bed 90 mins after he wakes regardless of how long he slept for? And how does feeding fit into this plan cos obviously I don't need to feed every time he wakes up do I? Or do I? Thanks for the advice!

[mimi1017]

I'm happy to hear that, now you have to help him get through that 40 min. jolt, whether you use pu/pd or shush pat.  It took me about a week to get her to get through that jolt by giving her pacifier (because she loves to suck-that's her touchy side :-) ) and putting my hand on her chest so she feels my presence.  It was trial and error to figure out what worked for her.  Shush pat didn't work too well with her.  I also tried rubbing lightly between her eyebrows, rubbing her tummy, and rubbing her legs.  What works now with her is making sure she has her pacifier in at the 30 min. mark when she starts coming out of deep sleep.  She's getting better at holding it throughout her nap so I don't really have to replug it much, just on rare occasions.  Don't feed him until he is due to eat according to your routine.  So if you put him down to nap and he wakes up, work with him to get him back to sleep until his next feed.  After that 40 minute that he wakes up, you have about 10-15 mins. before his alertness cycle begins.  So let's say that you can't get him back to sleep, make sure you feed him a bit before his alertness time ends, change his diaper and put him back to bed, because you don't want him to eat and sleep right away, even if that means that your routine changes to 3.5 hours from the time he ate.  It'll take some time, but hang in there, it really helped me a lot.  Let me know how it goes.

[Archies mummy]

Ok thanks

[gemtreacle]

My little girl is 17 weeks and is waking at 4-5am. I give her a paci and sometimes she goes another 30mins and then she's wanting a feed. I hear her belly rumble. She takes her whole bottle quickly so she must need it. She goes back to sleep straight away. She goes from 8pm to 4am so its a good 8 hours.
Naps are a problem too as she is not used to sleeping in her cot, i swaddle her and give her paci. Im dreading getting her off it too. Im worried that the swaddling during the day is going to upset her in night. Should i put her in her sleeping bag during the day??

[Archies mummy]

Hey gemtreacle, My ds is the same age and if he sleeps that long I feed him cos that's a pretty long time. Do you dream feed? I have mine swaddled during the day cos he struggles to stay asleep but in a sleeping bag at night to keep him warm cos he doesn't seem to jerk himself awake the same - don't ask me why! Why don't you start a post on what people put their babies in to sleep I'm sure you'll get lots of opinions

[gemtreacle]

no i dont dream feed. i find it wierd that i have to swaddle her for her naps and not night time. she used to sleep in her rocker chair but trying to get her out that habit. this mum larky is hard. its hard to get her to nap when we out too.

[Archies mummy]

You really need to try dream feeding honestly it's magic! Do you bottle or breast feed? It works either way. If you fed before you go to bed (say between 10 and 11) you may find she sleeps till a more reasonable time. I was skeptical at first and desperate not to wake my lo but it doesn't wake him and he nearly always takes a full feed. If yours can do 8 hours from df instead of bed time that'd be great!

It's weird you struggle to get a nap when out I'm the opposite (falling asleep in car or pram at strange times is a sign of OT) and my lad is OT most days. Maybe there's too much going on so she doesn't want to sleep? Be thank full she sleeps well at home, it could be worse!

[mimi1017]

Apparently day time sleep is different from night time sleep, like my dd can sleep at night without a paci from 7pm till around 4am when she wakes and has a hard time resettling.  During the naps she does need it though to get through the 45 mins. jolts.  Update on the NW, well I ruled out hunger because she won't take a full feed at 7am wake up and hardly during the middle of the night, so I tried w2s for one night and she has waken around 5 instead of 4, so I guess it's pushing it an hour.  At that time, I reswaddle her because she seems to be bursting out of it somehow in the middle of the night, put the paci in and tell her "good night, love you", which is exactly what I do when I put her down at bedtime, seems to be working so far that she wakes now until around 6:30-7am.  Hope it gets better.

[Archies mummy]

Thats pretty good hey mimi? Mine slept thri till 6 this morning which I'm pleased about. It seems he sleeps through every 2 or 3 nights at the min. Haven't tried wts as he doesn't wake at a predictable time!

[rianne]

hi, its funny my lo is doing exactly the same wakes up around 4/5 am, most night he will go back to sleep with a dummy but lest night wouldn't settle so i gave him a bottle, he took 5 oz but didn't wake up until 8 and then didn't finish his bottle only took about 5 oz again were usual he will take 6 or 7 oz, i was thinking could it be the 4 month growtspurt? will see what happends tonight, like you i don't want it to be come a habit. my lo is 16 weeks now and has been sttn.

[mimi1017]

Archiesmum that's great, I would kill for a 6am wake up, but I think we're getting there..someday  .  This past weekend she was a little weird with her naps, but I think it was a growth spurt because she ate up to 34 oz. Monday and was having a hard time soothing herself even with her paci, but we're getting back to normal now.  As for the NW, I am convinced it's not hunger because I tried feeding her the night before and she only took 2 oz., she just wanted to get back to sleep, and eventually did after I gave her a paci.  Then for two nights now she has managed to get one arm out to start trying to suck her fist around 5am, but I just watch her to see if she'll soothe herself, but no luck, she gets frustrated and I go in reswaddle, paci and then she goes back to sleep until 6:45 to 7am (that I wake her), not bad I guess.  Last night I tried w2s at 3am to get rid of the 4 ish wake up and it worked, that she woke around 5 ish to play with her fist, so there's some progress I guess, I'll keep trying w2s two more nights to get rid of the 4ish wake up, and then once that's gone, I'll try it for the 5ish and pray it works because I'll be going back to work in a week.

[Archies mummy]

Yeah spoke too soon on the 6am wake up, haven't had one since! NWs have gone through the roof the last few nights. I've got rid of his dummy cos I think he was getting dependent on it to get through sleep cycles. But nights were much better with it. I'm not sure it's been worth the tears tbh but I'll give it another week and reassess. I read that book by the way, makes a lot of sense and he does fall asleep easily at 1.5hrs so will keep that going for a bit. Thanks for the advice.

I'm pleased wts seems to have worked for you and I agree you should def try it for 5am wake up soon.