Frequent waking after 2 a.m.

[ChelseaMoms]

My 8 week old is normally a good sleeper, but wakes frequently after 2 a.m. Sometimes can put herself back to sleep, but not always. Here is our typical schedule:

6 a.m. Eat
7:30 Sleep (sometimes shorter nap in car seat when driving older brother to day care)
9 Wake and eat
10:15 Sleep
12 Wake and eat
1:15 Sleep
3 Eat
3:50 (40 minute drive to pick up brother at day care - in and out of sleep)
5:15 begins to fuss but will not nap
5:30 Eat
6 p.m. bath or cuddle
6:20 top up and sleep

She wakes up hungry between 10 and 11 p.m. Then again between 1:30 and 3:00. Then often wakes two more times before I wake her between 6 and 6:30. I try feeding her during these night wakings, but does not take very much.

Where do I begin getting things on track? My first followed EASY, but seems to be more difficult with second. Help.

[Tweakster]

Hi there, to be honest it is really hard to follow EASY perfectly in the first 3 months.  It's more about keeping things in a predictable order for your LO rather than a schedule.  There are so many things going on for these LO's...growth spurts for one.  There is a growth spurt every couple of weeks and they wake to eat more.  Secondly, the witching hour as it is known is the early evening period where babies just fuss, cry, have colic, whatever you want to call it.  It's very common and lasts until about 12 or more weeks, peaking at just about 8 weeks.  So you are still at the height of it just now.  What techniques are you using to calm her during the fussy times?  Have you read or heard of Happiest Baby on the Block?  How does she get to sleep?  Is she swaddled, take a paci, are you using white noise?  Where does she sleep?  Are you BFing or bottle feeding?

At her age A times are around 1 hr 15 mins - 1 hr 20 mins creeping to 1 hr 30 mins around 3 months.  So her A times are on the higher end.  She has a long stretch at the end of the day where she has not napped and the OT starts building.  This causes OT and can also cause NW.  You have another DC so it makes it more difficult to have perfectly timed naps.  But she needs ideally 3x 1.5 hour naps + CN to take her to bedtime. 

Here are a few links to help you and plan a routine for your LO:
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=10384.0
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=68057.0
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=65842.0

[ChelseaMoms]

Thanks. The links are helpful and it is good to be reminded that we are still in the early days and still finding our groove.

DD is EBF. She is swaddled for sleep in her crib, no paci. To help her get to sleep or extend a nap, we use shh-pat or just hold her arms down if she is already calm. The cat nap is tricky because of drive to day care and spending time with DS before supper. If she rests in the car, she still has 1.5 hour before bedtime. I'm reluctant to put her to bed any sooner. We also don't wake her for dream feed, as she seems to wake up naturally between 10 and 11 anyway.

Last night, she ate at 2 a.m. then awake again at 4. Did not eat very much but still in and out of sleep until DS woke at 6:30. After a few attempts of ssh-pat, I lay down next to her in her room at 5:30 and she slept until we got up.

I will try to resolve the OT and see if it helps with night wakings.

[Tweakster]

Hi there, keep us posted.  I really think it's just OT because of the naps.  We never did a DF either so sounds like you know what works best for your LO.  It really is still very very early days and will get so much better!

[ChelseaMoms]

Hi there.
I'm afraid the OT has created havoc with day time sleep. I've posted in Nap forum (http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=161518.0). Hoping someone can help.
Thanks.