HELP! my 10 mo old still wakes 5-10x/nite with PU/PD!

[karli]

please help!  my 10 mo. old has never slept through the night.  Granted i was a terrible accidental parent with rocking and singing and bouncing to put my LO to sleep.  I even resorted to co-sleeping for about 1 month because i had a surgery and couldn't lift her.  My LO is breastfed but stopped breastfeeding at night at 8 mo and has never fallen asleep nursing since 6 mo.  Naps are difficult - she only sleeps 30-40 min. 2x/day.  She is on a schedule very similar to EASY (even though i had never heard of it until reading the book).
I recently read Tracey's book and began PU/PD approximately 2 weeks ago.  It has been VERY successful in helping my LO actually sleep in her crib instead of with me.  It only takes minutes to get her to sleep at naps and bedtime... but my BIG problem is she STILL wakes 5-10 times/nite crying.  I do PU/PD or really PD (since she is 10mo) over and over and over and over - every nite.  I haven't strayed from the plan once but it is not helping.  I thought i would see some improvement by now - but it actually seems to be getting worse.  I don't think there is any physical problem - she has woken numerous times per night since birth.  is there any help for me??  I don't think i can do this much longer - at least when she slept with me i didn't have to GET UP 5-10 times like i do now.  please please someone give me some suggestions as to where to go from here.

[Evgenia]

hi karli, welcome to BW. So sorry u  r having such a hard time {big hugs}

I don't know much about sleep for a 10m old, my dd is only 7, but as far as I know at around 10m los should be having 2 naps during the day 1.5 hours each and 11-12 hours a night. Since ur lo is only sleeping 30-40 mins twice a day maybe u could work on extending her naps first. I wonder if the lack of sleep during the day leads to her being OT? Good sleep during the day will have a positive influence on her night sleep.

Do u have a wind down routine for naps and bedtime? Does she fall asleep herself?

Can u post what ur routine looks like in the following format:
E what time
A how long
S what time and how long
This will help the girls here get better idea of whats going on and see if ur routine needs to be tweaked.

Hope this helps

[karli]

thank you for your response.  I did PU/PD to try to extend naps as suggested in the book. I did it every day for every nap for 10 days and never once did she actually go back to sleep before time to eat again.  so, sadly i gave up on that.  I'm so tired from the nights that it is hard to spend hours a day trying to extend naps.  She does go to sleep by herself after a wind down of diaper, dark room, singing, sitting still for 5 min. then lying down in bed - usually asleep within 5-10 min of lying down.  I do have to stay in the room with her still but i don't have to be touching her anymore.  she actually does strangely and extremely well with this.
here is her day:
7:00 am - wake up/nurse (only nurses 5-10min ea. time)
7:30 am - breakfast
9:30ish - nap - can't keep her awake any longer without being OT
10:30 - nurse
11:30 - lunch
1:00 - nap
2:00 nurse
4:30 nurse
5:30 dinner
7:30 nurse
8:00 bed
wakes every hour  or sometimes every 30min. at night.
naps have NEVER been longer than 1 hour in her life - usually 40 min.

i know her schedule is not exactly EASY but she needs to nurse 5x/day per MD as she nurses so quickly and is quite small for her age.

any suggestions are appreciated - i'm willing to try anything !

[Evgenia]

I would leave the morning nap at 9.30 as it is, as the morning nap is supposed to be the shortest nap and u do say thats the longest she can do without being OT.

Though I would try putting her down slightly earlier for her bed time as she ends up with 6 hours of A time after 1 hour nap.

Or u could try and extend her second nap so she is rested enough to have 6 hours of A time.

Check out sample routines for 10m olds to see if u can get any ideas for ur routine.

u said that she settles for naps, but u need to be in the room with her. I wonder if ur presense is a prop? That could explain her frequent waking at night, when she goes from one sleep cycle to the next she wakes up, but u r gone and she has no idea where u went and doesn't know how to settle herself without u being there.

Could u try getting her to fall asleep on her own for her naps and see how she gets on from there?  Check out the props boards u will find some info there.

[karli]

thank you so much for your advise and i will check out the sample routines.  I absolutely agree that i am her prop and i am really working on that with GW...but what i don't understand is why she wakes up at all.  I can understand that she may want or need me in the room to go back to sleep when she wakes, but what makes her wake up sooo many times.  i would think 1-3x would be more normal.  I don't expect her to sleep through the night - i just wish she would sleep more than an hour at a time.
I guess i'm just tired and frustrated. 
I will try putting her to bed slightly earlier tonight and see what happens.
thank you again!

[Evgenia]

All babies (and adults) wake up or come to semi consciousness when they transition from one sleep cycle to the next. Adults just turn in bed ang go back to sleep, while los can find it hard to go back to sleep. her waking up so many times a night is not ur fault! And there is nothing wrong with her its jus how she sleeps, I'm sure once she learns how to fall asleep herself u'll see an improvment in her night sleep too.

[anitad67]

i am in similar boat since my girl is 10 month as well and only has short naps.  i often ended up giving her 3 naps since each time if she has too long A time in the afternoon the night will be a nightmare with her waking up every hour or so.  trying to extend her nap using PU/PD never worked.  sometimes i do use AP to get her nap longer, meaning if she wakes up 30 mins or so i will pick her up and take her to our bed and try to settle her.  it seems to me that if she sleeps more (not too much of course) there will be less NWs.

[happyflower]

Just wanted to give you some {{{HUGS}}} and let you know that I totally understand what you're going through.

We did PUPD (well, just the PD part) with my 8mo for an entire month. We had limited success. He now falls asleep on his own in his crib for his two naps and naps for at least 1hr. He also falls asleep easily in his crib at bedtime. But, like your LO, he still wakes up every hour and it gets progressively harder for him to fall back asleep as the night goes on. (The only difference in my case is that I still nurse him at every NW as our doctor doesn't want me to actively wean any feeds yet because of his weight.)  After a month of me staying awake to talk him through 30-60min of screaming every hour from midnight on and not seeing any improvement I eventually gave up and went back to co-sleeping after the second NW. Wish I had some advice to give you but I will be following this thread to see if you find something that works.

One question for you though, when you were still co-sleeping did she still wake up every hour? Just curious...

Hope things improve for you so that you get some sleep soon!

[karli]

Well...I have an update and a PRAISE GOD!  FOr the first time in her little life my baby has slept through the night!!!! and she has done it twice in a row!!!  I truly have no idea why or what i did different or right but she has slept 10hr in a row for the past 2 nights.  I know i may be prematurely excited as 2 nights isn't that long but it was truly an answer to prayer and even if it never happens again - it was blissful.  I have forgotten what it is like to sleep an entire night (well - i actually got up twice to make sure she was alive!) and I've got to say it's as good as i remember it.
thank you all for your support and encouragement and advice.  we tried a little tweaking of everything. 
oh - and BTW my LO has been asleep for a nap now for 63 min...an all time record since we've started PU/PD.  what a blessing.
thanks again gals!

[Evgenia]

Thats brilliant! Congrats! Hope it keeps on getting better!