9.5 month old STILL NW every night!

[mnicol05]

Hi, this is my 2nd post on this topic. But it seemed best to start a new one as the situation has changed a little. My son had been waking at random times between 12-4am for the last 3 months. The past couple of weeks it has been pretty consistent at 1-2am. I had tried p/d and patting to get him back to sleep in the past. But always resorted to sleeping with him in the little twin bed in his room. Now I don't even try that anymore. He wakes up crying (standing and bouncing in his crib) and I just get him and we go to sleep in the bed. However the last week or so he has been fighting me.  He normally would just go to sleep and we would wake at 6:30 (I set an alarm). But now he squirms and wiggles around for an hour or goes to sleep and wakes up an hour later to squirm and wiggle.  So now my last resort to get sleep is not really working.

2 weeks ago we made some progress and he slept until 4. But then we left to go on a trip to see my parents and we are back to square 1.  I have tried W2S at 12 and 12:30.  He still wakes up at 1:30 or 2. He is teething right now. He already has 6 teeth and he has 2 more coming in on the bottom.  He is crawling, pulling up and cruising around furniture now and gets plenty of practice during the day. I have really been trying to work on his routine over the past month. I just need some advice on what to do to get him back to sleeping all night. Or at least if he is going to wake, let me be able to put him back to sleep without co-sleeping. I miss sleeping in my bed with my husband.

Here is yesterdays EASY

6/7/2010
Bedtime previous night: 6:50pm
Woke 1am co-slept until 6am (he woke before the alarm I let him play a bit before first feeding)
 
E 6:48-6:54 bf
E 7:45 breakfast (oatmeal/fruit)
A 2hr40
S 8:40-10:25

E 10:51-10:58 bf
E 12 lunch (veggie/fruit)
A 3hr20
S 1:45-2:15 woke up so I laid down with him until 3:25

E 3:37-3:33 bf
E 5:40 Dinner
A 3hr45
S 715 (tried to get him to bed at 6:30, but he fought me)
----------------------

EASY for today so far

6/8/2010
Woke at 1:30 (even after trying W2S at 12:30)
Co-slept until 6:30 (but only about 3.5 hours of that was spent asleep)

E 658-703 bf
E 825 breakfast (oatmeal/fruit)
A 2hr35
S 9:05-10:35

E 10:52-11 bf
E
A
S

I will try to put him down for nap 2 around 1:45 at the 3hr15 A time.

What do you suggest I try for his night wakings? Or should I just give up until his teeth come through? This is so hard!

Thanks in advance,

Mandy

[mnicol05]

Just wanted to update with the rest of our EASY for today.

6/8/2010
Woke at 1:30 (even after trying W2S at 12:30)
Co-slept until 6:30 (but only about 3.5 hours of that was spent asleep)

E 658-703 bf
E 825 breakfast (oatmeal/fruit)
A 2hr35
S 9:05-10:35

E 10:52-11 bf
E 12:15 lunch veg/fruit
A 3hr10
S 1:45-2:45

E 3:06-3:10 bf
E 5:15 dinner meat/veg and fruit
A 3hr45
S 6:30

He seemed really tired tonight so I went ahead and put him to bed early. I normally would have went for 7pm. He hasn't been too interested in nursing before bed the last few nights. I'm not sure if it's because his gums are sore or what. So I have been giving him his pacifier and rocking about 10 minutes. Then I switch to nursing and he nurses until almost asleep and I put him in his crib and pat him. I will set my alarm for 12:30 and try W2S again.  Who knows, maybe it will work this time. Maybe I'm just not waking him enough to interrupt the sleep cycle. Cross your fingers for me!

Any additional advice would be much appreciated!

[Tweakster]

Hi there, teething is really hard!  Are you medicating for the pain at night?  I think the small nursing strike is an indicator that he's having some pain for sure.

The other thing that stands out is that his morning A time is really short for his age.  Most 9.5 mth olds are doing 3 - 3.25 hr A times, some are on more.  But his final A to bed is long which is probably also compounding his OT.

The other tricky thing is that this is the age that separation anxiety starts to develop, they start to understand object permanence and know that you exist even when you aren't in the room.  So the co-sleeping may actually be the thing he is looking for.  Have you tried settling him just in the crib without removing him?

[mnicol05]

Last night I tried the W2S at 12:30. No dice, he was up at 1:30 on the dot. We got into bed and he went to sleep, but at about 3:30 he started squirming and fussing for about half an hour. So I thought maybe he was hungry since he didn't nurse well before bed. I nursed him and then thought, maybe I could get him back to sleep and put him in the crib. I gave him his pacifier and blankie and rocked (barely) for a bit. He was out so I put him in the crib, fully expecting him to open his eyes immediately and fuss. HE DIDN'T! I stood there for about 10 minutes and couldn't believe it.  Now I know I went about it all wrong.  But still I was able to go back to MY bed at 4:45 and he slept until 6:30 in HIS bed! This has not happened in a long time!!!

I think tonight I will go into his room at 1am and just wait for him to stir and try patting him back to sleep (before he can stand up and bounce). I have no idea why I hadn't thought of this before!

Thoughts/advice still much appreciated. 


 

[mnicol05]

Thanks for your reply Wendy.

I have been giving him infant Motrin before bed since it lasts longer than tylenol.

I know what you mean about his first A time. Since I have been working on his routine, I have tried to increase it. It used to be anywhere from 2 to 2.5 hours. 2 hours and 40 minutes has been the A time that has consistently given the longest naps. But, I am working to gradually increase it. I will probably just add 5 minutes to start. As far as the last A time, I'm not sure what to do. He won't go to bed any earlier than 6:30 (that is difficult enough). What are your thoughts on that?

He is definitely having some SA. He freaks out if I try to give to anyone else. And he will only go to someone after they have been playing (while I'm holding him) for a few minutes. I know the co-sleeping was definitely a bad habit to start, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. LOL I'm sure you are right about him wanting that. But as I mentioned lately even that doesn't get him to sleep. Ahhhhh!

I just posted what happened last night.  What do you think? 

[Tweakster]

Hi there, I think if you increase A time you might even start with 10 mins at this age.  2 hr 30/40 is a 6 mth old A time.  So typically they can handle a bit of a jump at nearly 10 mths.  How's it going now?  What have your last 2 days looked like?

I do think SA rears around now and be quite complicated to work through. 
Some good reading here may assist you with some tips:
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=84719.0
and
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=62612.0

I think going in is fine, settling in the crib as much as you can, and if you can try W2S at any habitual wakings, it may help.

[mnicol05]

Thanks Wendy.  I will look at the SA links.

The last few nights have been a little better, as in he woke up later than 1:30am (but still woke up). I went in on Wednesday night at about 1:20am and stayed until he stirred. I patted him back to sleep. But, he woke up at 3:30am. I went ahead and nursed him since he still isn't eating well at his bedtime feeding. I thought I would be able to get him back to sleep in his crib as I did the night before, but that didn't work. So we co-slept again.

Then last night I slept through my alarm at 1:20am, he whined a little at 1:40, but went back to sleep. Then he woke at 2:50am. I didn't nurse him, just rocked him and tried to put him back in his crib at 4:30 and he screamed so again we co-slept. Ugh!

I know I'm being inconsistent, but it is so hard to try p/d when he can stand up and bounce and grab onto me. And it seems to get him that much more worked up. What do you recommend?