4.5 month old and night wakings

[smctagga]

Hello;

I have had my son on EASY since he was 2 weeks old, and at first it was going marvelously. He learned to sleep for 1.5 hours and only needed a quick pat to go down for his naps- at most a bit of white noise. As he approached the 4 month mark his naps started to get shorter and we started to get more night wakings (he was only needing a feed around 4-5 am, with 1-2 brief wakings in the night). I felt that given his age, these were signs to switch him to a 4 hourly routine. It has taken a few weeks, where some days he had no problems going 2 hours, then others where we were back to a three hourly routine. It was his exhaustion that was driving the routine, never his hunger. Now I think that we are pretty much at a 4 hourly consistently. He sleeps for 1.5 hours, wakes, and I put my hand on his back to soothe him back to sleep for the extra 30 minutes. Sometimes this can take up to 20 minutes to get him to go back down, but I then let him sleep for the 30 minutes- perhaps this is a mistake? Since the change to the 4 hourly routine he have had increasing night wakings that are, quite frankly, driving me batty. He gets a dream feed at 11 (I have also tried 10 and 10:30 with no difference), and I will feed him once more-but only after four hours. He always takes a full feed. But in the meantime, he will wake around 2, (lat night was 1), and then pretty much every hour or 1.5 hours until he gets fed again between 6:30 and 7:15 (depending on when he fed in the night and my levels of patience).

Here is a standard day:

E 7am wake and feed (used to be one side- now he always has a good portion of the second side as well)
A 7:30-9 (generally watching his toddler brother and father getting ready for nursery/work and us eating breakfast)
S 9-1030
10:30-10:45 soothing back to sleep
S 10:45-11:15
E 11:15 wake for feed
A 11:30-1:30 (playing with gym, out for walk, watching fishtank....)
S 1:30-3:00
3:00-3:15 soothing back to sleep
S 3:15-3:45
E 3:45-4:00
A 4:00-??? During this A time I am going to nursery with buggy to pick up older brother. Sometimes he drifts off for 20 minutes, sometimes there is NO catnap.
S see above- if no catnap in buggy, then we come home as soon as possible (5:30) and I try to get him to nap in his cot for 30 minutes.
E 6:30- If no catnap or seems very tired
E 7 or 7:15 if has had catnap
S between 6:45 and 7:30 depending on what has happened in the late afternoon and depending on how tired he seems. He falls asleep for bed without any help whatsoever.

He used to be swaddled, but I have stopped since he used to put himself to sleep by sticking his finger in his mouth.
He doesn't use a paci, and doesn't use the lovie in his bed.

I would appreciate any insight into these night wakings, since I am getting to the end of my rope!

Many thanks,

Seanna
   

[Colin Macs Mom]

When he wakes after the 1.5 hours is he happy? Or fussy?

If he's happy, I would try just getting him up and going about the day.  It's possible that he's getting too much daytime sleep and therefore it's robbing from night sleep.

[Tweakster]

Hi there, just to add, 1.5 hours is a good restorative nap for most LO's.  Finn has only ever slept 2 hours after swimming or during a growth spurt (once during teething too I think).  His naps are pretty much 1.5 on the nose (when he's not short-napping of course hehe).

I think your LO is probably looking for more A time. 

[smctagga]

OK Ladies, I will certainly give the 1.5 hour naps a try! This means that he will be up for 2.5 hours at a time, correct? This should help in getting him to take his wee catnap in the evenings .

Many thanks, and I'll let you know how it goes,

Seanna

[Tweakster]

Hi there, here's what you are looking at:

A time is like so:
4 months  1 hour and 45 - 2 hours
5 months 2 hours - 2.25 hours

So given your routine above, I don't think I would really mess with the morning nap.  A lot of LO's like their morning A to be a bit shorter.  We weren't able to push Finn's morning until after he had better nights.

If it were me, here's what I would aim for:
E 7am wake and feed
A
S 9-1030
E 11
Then try your next nap at around 12:30 or 12:45 (you will need to follow his cues for a few days to see where his middle A lies - he may not be ready for 2 hrs just yet)
S 12:30 - 2 or 12:45 - 2:15
E 3
then CN between 4 - 5 (you want to try to get a 45 min CN)
Bedtime - asleep by 7

The CN is the important piece because it takes him to bedtime without OT.  You may have to work it in where you can given that you have to go out at that time.  Then adjust bedtime accordingly.  I think extending the bedtime beyond the 12 hours i.e. to 7:30 even with the CN and/or not always getting the CN is probably causing some residual OT.

[Colin Macs Mom]

Ditto!

[smctagga]

Well, you ladies are magic! Yesterday, we woke at 7:15,  he had the 2 hour nap in the morning- but sort of on and off since I had a Drs appointment, so he was in the buggy with lots of jiggling to keep him calm. Then, his afternoon nap was only 1.5 hours, and he ate really well at 3, which he normally isn't too bothered about, then NO catnap , but resting in buggy when collecting brother. Happy and cheerful at dinnertime, then bath at 6:30 and started feed at 6:50. He was sound asleep at the breast after 15 minutes. Gave him a dream feed at 10:30 and he went through until 4:30!!!! I feel amazing! Thank you so much, it looks like you were totally right in that he was UT. So much for my baby whispering skills that thought that he was UT due to short or no CN. I think that without the initial long nap in the morning, he will take the CN much more easily. The timing is a bit tough, but we just have to work with it. I'll keep you posted...
Seanna

[Tweakster]

Yay!  Sleep does a body good.  And resting throughout the day is good for LO, even if it is not as restorative as a nap it still helps keep the OT at bay.

You are the one working the magic though...responding to what your LO needs.  You'll get there...and remember the CN will eventually disappear and things get way better after that.

Keep it up and let us know if things go wonky again.