Hi. Sorry, this is long but our little treasure is a complex one!
Our DS is 6.5 months and a text book baby. He's very happy most of the time but has never been a great sleeper. He tends to wake once for a quick chat then once for food. We've generally coped ok with it, because he will generally get his 11-12hrs sleep by sleeping in a bit in the morning and he was easy to re-settle to sleep on his first wake-up (anything from midnight to 3am). Eventually the 1st wake-up disappeared leaving us with a feed at around 5.30am or full sleep through the night. All in all OK with the odd bad night made bareable by the 2-3 nights per week of good sleep. We put him in his own room 3 weeks ago as he is a very fussy, wriggly sleeper and he kept us awake. As we both work part time this was tough in the workplace. The transition to his own room was OK- he was a bit unsettled for the first couple of nights but coped really well leading to a few STTNs. the times he did wake he was back asleep using his ceiling projector and dummy if he needed it. He'd often wake crying so we did occassionally cuddle him to reassure. Unfortunately, we then took him away for a weekend which was very unsettling. Due to the busy schedule we had away, his routine totally went out of the window. It also co-incided with a bit of a cold. Since we've been home (and his illness has cleared up mostly), he's been very challenging at night.
He often fights bedtime, but is usually asleep by 8pm - 8.30pm. He sleeps soundly until 1.40am (amazing precision with the wake-up!) then starts cooing, flailing, kicking escalating to shouting and eventually crying. He will not resettle (in fact shows no signs, whatsoever of even wanting to go back to sleep) and will tolerate up to an hour of being 'left to it' without any distress. On average he stays awake for 1hr 40mins. The last 40mins punctuated with crying (though not 'hysterical', more like 'hello? I'm here!' crying).When he gets back to sleep he'll go through until morning. We've tried the following things:
Cuddling / rocking
Dummy
Projector with music (used to work a treat, alas he's immune to it now)
Ignoring him
Feeding
The most successful is feeding as he'll go back to sleep within 20-30mins. He won't finish a feed though so I doubt it's hunger that's waking him up. Besides he's now on solids and feeds very well. Unfortunately, if we feed him at 2am, he'll then wake again at the time we'd usually feed him (6am). Although he'll then go back to sleep, it's brutal on us having 2 night feeds. He will also then sleep in the morning making the day start quite late. No good if there are things to do!
It's causing problems now as he's awake for so long in the night. We can live with 2 wake-ups as that's what babies do, but because he's waking for 2hrs sometimes then again early in the morning he's not getting the sleep he needs and subsequently makes it up with a long nap at lunchtime or being very grumpy. This is not like him at all as he's usually very happy. Again, this makes going out hard as if he doesn't have that nap he's OT by bedtime. His routine:
6am bottle
6.30am sleep
8.15am awake, porridge 4-5oz bottle
8.40am - c.10am - play
10am - 11am - nap
11.00- 12.15pm, activity, usually quite energetic as he's full of beans after nap!
12.15 - 12.45pm, Lunch
12.45pm - 1.15pm, Quiet time (he's quite reflux-y still so needs to let food go down)
1.30pm ish - 3pm, nap Length varies from 1hr - 2hrs
3pm - 4pm, play
4pm - 4.20pm, Bottle
4.20 - 5pm, play
5.15pm ish, cat nap. He ALWAYS fights us with this nap, and regularly stays awake until 6pm then sleeps for 20mins. This means bed-time changes. Can be 7.30pm or as late as 8.30pm depending on last nap.
6.30pm, dinner
7pm - 7.30pm quiet time / play (he's often very lively at this time)
7.45 - 8.15pm bedtime routine (quiet time, cuddles, bottle)
We tried to follow the EASY plan, but it didn't work for us in the exact order recommended as he is very energetic straight after a nap. Feeding an hour or so before nap time helps us wind him down and avoid over stimulation. It does vary though. We work on the principle that his awake time is generally: 1h 45 in the morning, 2.25mins thereafter and 2.30mins - 3hrs before bed (this depends on how well he naps and tired signals etc).
I suspect the wake-up in the night is now habitual so we'll try W2S tonight (although last time we had this problem he brought his wake-up forward rather than back!!!). What I don't understand is what he wants at that time of night. Logic suggests it's food as that's what finally settles him, but he's not wanted a feed at that time now since early January right after a growth spurt AND illness.
Any suggestions welcome. Although it's annoying for us, we'll cope, but he's spending a lot more time in his cot than I'm comfortable with as he's needing to catch up all the time.
Thanks
Matt
