need help!

[Sarah, Mom of 4]

My DD, 4 months old, has been waking up about every hour or two the past few nights.  For four days before that it was just 2 times a night.  And the week before that she was only getting up once to nurse.  AND before that she was using the binkie as a prop and waking up just as she is now!  I took the binkie away cold turkey two weeks ago.  Thought that we were getting somewhere and making great progress for that one week... but now I do not know what to do!.  I use shh pat and I think that I am doing it properly.  When it is time for nap or night time sleep, I go in to her room with her, holding her over my shoulder and tell her it is time to sleep and do shh pat until she begins to relax or if she is fussing and seems uncomfortable I lay her down and use shh pat.  Once she is laid down I will continue shh pat and she is normally good after about 5 minutes.  During the past few nights she has been waking up about every hour and I do not feed her until she is showing signs of hunger and will not go back to sleep with shh pat.   And typically once I nurse her she has a very hard time settling back into a deep sleep in her crib.  She falls asleep while nursing and nurses very well, I will burp her, and then lay her down and continue to pat her.  BUT,  she will then cry and typically arch her back like she has a burp.  So, I will pick her up and burp her and she will begin to fall asleep immediately again.  Lay her down, pat her, and then she will stir and wake up and cry again!  This can go on for about an hour to 2 hours.  The past 2 nights I have just given in and brought her to bed with me, this is something that I typically will not do.  But, i needed sleep and was about to cry because I was soooo tired.   But, I am at a lose as to what to do with her.  To me, she seems to be  using me as her prop to go to sleep.  Not sure why this all of a sudden started since she was sleeping so well at night on her own, it was only for a week but it was nice.  I have tried to let her cry for a few minutes to see if she could put herself back to sleep but it does not work.  But, when I pick her up she normally just relaxes and falls back to sleep immediately.  Please help me...I am getting desperate!  She is my 4th child and I have never had sleep issues like this before.  I am also starting her on a 4 hour schedule as she has not been nursing very well with a 3 hour schedule.  Hoping that that will help her nurse better during the day.  Please help and feel free to ask any questions for more information!

Thanks,
Sarah

[Sarah, Mom of 4]

The past few days have looked like this:
6:30 wake
6:45 eat
8:45 sleep
9:30 wake and shh pat her back to sleep if she will go back to sleep
10:15 wake
10:20 eat
12  sleep
1 wake & shh pat back to sleep
2:40 wake
2:45  eat and fell asleep while nursing (today, normally does not do that during the day anymore) but woke her and had her finish nursing
4:40 sleep
5:15 wake
5:30 eat
6:30 bath
7 eat
7:30 sleep
This is what she did last night:
8:30 wake, shh pat back to sleep
9:30 wake, shh pat back to sleep
11:30 wake, tried shh pat but she would have none of it, nursed and she fell asleep, burp, and then proceeded for the next hour or so shh pat and me go back to bed.  During that hour or so she would be asleep when I leave and then 5 to 10 minutes later she would be up crying.  At around 1 I finally gave in and just brought her to bed.
She woke at 4 am, nursed her to sleep. 
6:30 wake

I am pretty sure that it is not her pain cry.  I would say that it is her 'I don't like what you are doing Mom pick me up  and cuddle me' cry.  Today I really tried to shh pat through her crying when it was time to sleep but that did not always work.  She does spit up, some days are worse than others.  She is not bothered by it, she does not cry or complain in anyway when she burps (and she has some big burps) or spits up.  It is only during the night feed that she complains and scrunches her body up (brings her legs up to her belly).  Which on a good night I can pick her up and burp her and then she will be good to go. 

What really has me confused is that for an entire week she was sleeping sooooooo well.  Only waking up once during the night.  I feel like I am starting all over again.  Before she definitely was using the binkie as a prop.  I have even given her a lovey, which she seems to not care for or about.  Occasionally in the past few days she has liked her lovely right next to her face and has gone to sleep easily with the shh pat and it. 

I try my best to keep her routine consistent BUT  I am very busy with the other children and their schedules that sometimes her feed or sleep gets prolonged.  I have to take DS to preschool at 8:15 and pick him up at 11.  Plus any other running around for other various errands I have to do on any given day. 

Well, I know this is long but I hope that it helps.

[*Jo*]

I agree with Jane about being a bit OT, also it sounds like she is having alot of wind issues, i see you are breastfeeding? have you eaten anything new lately that could be giving her gas, we had major gas issues with Caleb and sometimes his nights were like what you described. now with solids if we give him anything that gives him gas hes up every couple of ours doing the same thing.

Can you go to the pharmacy and get some wind drops, something like infacol or gripe water to give her to help move the wind? also try raising the head of the mattress, this could help some what.

have you checked out this: http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=654.0

[Sarah, Mom of 4]

I definitely agree that she is OT!  My only hesitation with a 6:30 bedtime would be that she would want to be up at 5:30 for the morning.  She seems to run an 11 hour night schedule. 

I am breastfeeding and that has been I guess you could say a struggle ever since the beginning.  When my milk came in at the hospital I got sooo engorged and the hospital failed to give me a pump soon enough that DD caused some major damage to one of my nipples.  So, bad that it was raw and opened for 6 weeks before I could get anywhere with 2 different lactation consultants. They kept telling me that it was a latch problem!   We finally diagnosed it as thrush.  It healed right up at using the medicine for that.  I could barely stand to nurse on that side for more than a few minutes because it had been sooo painful.  I do believe that that breast does not produce enough milk now.  When I do pump I can get an ounce or two from that side and a good 4 ounces from the other side.  She is also a very quick eater.  But, recently she has been biting, pulling away really hard, and complaining while nursing.  I have tried laying down to nurse her and that seems to help some but I am not always able to do that.

Last night was really difficult.  She was extremely OT come bedtime but went down rather quickly.  I stayed with her the whole 20 minutes and she slept for 3 hours.  My husband thought that he heard her let out a cry about every hour but I did not.  But, when she woke after sleeping those 3 hours and I went in to her she was crying her I am not very happy and I need something cry.  She initially did not want to nurse but gave in after a few tries.  I really do not think she needed to eat at that point.  She would not settle after that and was still crying that cry SO I brought her to  bed.  That normally works to get her to sleep better than what she would in her crib.  BUT not last night,  She was still up and crying about every hour, that same cry.  So,  for this morning nap....doing to same cry...I gave in and gave her back her binkie after not having it for 2 weeks.  She went right to sleep in her crib.  Is it possible for a baby to really need the binkie that much???  I have not experience with babies and binkies, none of my other children ever took one.  She has loved it ever since she was born!  If so, how do I use it without it becoming a prop?

As with the reflux, I don't think she has a bad case of reflux.  She can and will lay flat on her back and be happy.  she shows no sign of discomfort when spitting up.  I have raised her crib mattress BUT during our one week of glorious sleep it was flat.  I have since raised it again thinking it might help her...  NO change in her current sleep pattern.

The only other thing that I have done is the following:  When she was sleeping soooo well.  On day 7 she put herself to sleep in her crib on her own.  I was putting her to sleep like always and needed to tend to something downstairs with the other children and while with them, only a few minutes, she let out a couple of cries and was quiet.  I went and checked on her after a few minutes and she was asleep.  She did the same the following day.  She only did this once a day for 3 days.  But, I followed her cues with it.  If she was seemed to not want me shh pating her I would try to let her do it on her own.  But, did not let her CIO.  And day 3 is when the nights got really tough again.  During those 3 days she only got up 2 times but each day was a little longer and harder to resettle her during the night. 

I have her 4 month check up with doctor this coming Monday and am going to talk with her about it.

I have given her mylicon gas drops when she seems extra gassy.  At night, she will normally settle right back down, but I give it to her once all else has failed so it either helps or she just gave in to sleep again. 

Thanks.

Sarah

[*Jo*]

Hi again Sarah,

Im wondering if she is teething?? have you tried giving her pain meds? i know Caleb was weaned from the paci but needed it a couple of times when teething to help him sleep

as for the early bedtime meaning an early waking, im not sure that always happens, she def needs the sleep so its a bit unfair to keep her up when she really needs it, if she does wake early the next day you can always fit in another nap there and go back to what you were doing before, sometimes just making a day only 12 hours long can make a big difference to our LO's