5 months old waking 3 times a night to feed + extra wakings

[bug_blues70]

thanks again Megan, up in A is the way to go then

I hope so... I'd feel really bad if you try it and things get worse instead of better!!  Let me know how it works out.

[Edesanja]

thanks again Megan, up in A is the way to go then 

So what are you going to do exactly Eloise?

[EloysH]

the last  week or so been doing 2 hrs 15, and then falls asleep by 2 hrs 30 mins.  Except the morning is more like 2hr - 2hr 15. Lets hope its not too much too soon.

[sherry lynn]

I hope it goes better for you, than it is for me in regards to upping the A time. I am having the opposite problem. Everytime I increase I have to do pu/pd because he is OT

I just wanted to let you know that I am having a TON of success with pu/pd, maybe you find that as a little bit of incourgement. I was actually going to post a thing on FB about it, I still might I did pu/pd at 1:15 this morning I was so proud of myself for not giving in and just feeding him.

[bug_blues70]

I was so proud of myself for not giving in and just feeding him.

Good for you!! That's the hardest time - the middle of the night!!!

Eloys - has it been working at all? Are your naps getting any longer?

[EloysH]

Sherry you are a stronger woman than me,  I am sure that DH will be sent to PU/PD for the middle of the night    I would cave for sure! 

Let me know everything about it, what is your strategy, how many nights feeds do you have now?




Since Kai put on a whopping 300g this week  we are not worried so much about feeding. We are working ourselves up to do some form of PU/PD shh pat  so he falls asleep the last bit in the cot not in our arms.  And them lets hope the nights get better, if not, then we will do some PU/PD at night (outside feed times) too.   Just need to decide what feed times are allowed at night, he would like to feed 3-4 hourly still - 3 night feeds     

The little mite woke every 2 hours last night , I was not impressed!  I do have to say though that this A time of 2 hrs 15  - 2 hrs 30 for the day is still working well (for past 4 days or so), he is now doing two longer naps (1.5 hours) and one shorter nap (45 mins).  He is falling asleep pretty quickly in our arms because he is soo tired, lets hope that this doesn't backfire with OT in a few days!      I have to wait a bit though, as he had his shots 4 days ago so he may have just been a sleepy little guy. 

Wait and see!!!!

[sherry lynn]

Eloys - that is great news!!!! I think we are teething here. Showing a ton of signs and still hovering at 2h-2h15m A time, with resulting in good naps.

We still have two night feeds!!!!! He geniunely seems hungry though, and the thought had crossed my mind last night to not feed him at the 11 o'clock, but he was already extremely irritated that it had taken me as long as it had to get to his room and he was acting like he was starving.

so usually he wakes between 10:45-11:45 and then again anywhere from 3-5. So bettween 4 and 5 hourly. We got down to one night feed and then I went to 4 hourly during the day and then that feed came back

What has been working here is pick him up, and do whatever it takes to get him to stop crying. This can take a few minutes because he quickly realizes he's not getting fed (or in the case of naps, not let up to play) Usually it's loud shhhing, sometiems jiggling, walking around the room, etc. When he stops crying I cuddle him for just a few seconds. Then I put him down. He is usually crying before his head even hits the mattress. I put him all the way back down. Wait a few seconds, then pick him back up.
Shoot, he just woke.
BBL

[bug_blues70]

The little mite woke every 2 hours last night , I was not impressed!  I do have to say though that this A time of 2 hrs 15  - 2 hrs 30 for the day is still working well (for past 4 days or so), he is now doing two longer naps (1.5 hours) and one shorter nap (45 mins).  He is falling asleep pretty quickly in our arms because he is soo tired, lets hope that this doesn't backfire with OT in a few days!

Yay!!! That's great news!! I too hope it doesn't mean OT in a few days. Also remember if/when those long naps start to shrink, you might try adding 10-15 min to the atime but not until they shrink all the way back down to 45 or you might get OT. Woohoo!! Sounds like things are going great... weight gain and longer naps!!

[huntersmummyinoz]

yay for the longer naps

with the night feeds, when we had LOADS of nw we started with a do not feed before 3hrs, then when he had been on 4hrly feeding during the day for a few weeks we started not before 4hrs at night too. that still left us with 3 night feeds and he was showing zero signs of dropping one himself. so when he'd been on solids for 4 weeks with 3 meals a day we dropped the second night feed. so df around 10pm, then he would wake at 1 or 2am so DH would resettle and i'd feed again at the next waking. next waking moved a nudge earlier for a while (around 3am) but lately has been around 4/5am. when we get back from holidays we are going to tackle that second night feed as he isnt always really hungry in the morning and also wants to drop to 3 day feeds which i'm not prepared to do until he's on only one night feed. just worried that he will be
up for the day before 6am when we do this... we actually really need to tackle it now but are about to go on holidays.

pick a time when you and DH can commit to the PU/PD but definitely agree that you need to find the sweet spot for those A times first.

sherry, you've encouraged me to try dropping that night feed once we are back from hols as was thinking of waiting til DH is back from his work trip at the end of the month, hope i can stick it out too! (just hope he doesnt wake up ds1, sigh...) cant actually believe i am having to PU/PD to get rid of night feeds, ds1 did it all by himself by 3mths. health nurse said often littlies with dummies drop night feeds sooner as parents always offer the dummy at first waking and then feed when they wake again or dont resettle so the feed is always being pushed later and later. wonder if that is why we are having probs as our guys dont take dummies??does emory still not take one?

[EloysH]

thanks Kirry 

Have a great trip. You guys have come so far with Nw's and everything!  We stopped the solids, going to wait a few more weeks to start up again, the little mite is still feeding 3 times a night though.  Best of luck with dropping that last feed!

The last few nights he has been waking around 4 time a night with 3 feedings.

We had one straight 45 min nap day this week ugh,  today was looking the same then he pulled off a 3 hour nap for the afternoon nap     I really think this "light" feed is working for us, it seems when ever I give an extra feed 20 mins or so before sleep more often than not he sleeps past 45 mins.

Kai still wants to feed 3-3.5 hourly in the day.  We have had the added issue that I have been doing food challenges in my ED, so he has bene unsettled and taking smaller feeds, thus really needing the light feed.  Just trying to work with that at the moment.   

DH and I agreed that we would restart some form of PU/PD or shh pat within the next two weeks, basically as soon as he settles from this food challenge that I completed.   I do agree with ther sweet spot.  At the moment is being more like 2.5 hours by the time he's asleep, I think that we'll stick with that, of course put him down earlier if showing signs of tiredness.

His tired signs seem to be getting subtler now, and harder to read.  He just has an overall "tireed look" he will stioll smile and play. I guess that's because he's not OT? Or because he's learngin to handle his new A time?   Do you guys find the tired signs keep changing, or getting subtler?

[bug_blues70]

Eloys - I find Ellen's tired signs are harder to read. Also, she will act tired before her magic atime too but unless there are extenuating circumstances (like today she's sick) I push her as close to the magic time as possible b/c otherwise I invariably get a UT nap and it throws my whole day. Can't quite figure out why she'll rub her eyes or otherwise act tired before it's time, but it'll usually clear up quickly and she'll go back to playing. Not saying you should push your LO if it doesn't work for him, but that's what I've had to do with Ellen in order to keep naps on track.

[sherry lynn]

Kirry - You will have to be the one to give me encouragement when you get back. We are also still at 2 nights feeds
And Emory is constantly waking Lyle up. That is what is preventing me from trying to make him drop another feed because he kicks up much much more fuss if it is close to 4 hours since he has eaten.

Eloys - I do have to say. DH had to do PU/PD first, and had to gave a good few successes before Emory would even consider entertaining the idea from me first. He would not stop crying!!! Thus, making it really hard to do PU/PD. The first success I had were with nap time. That built my confidence up. What happens sometimes is I was going to put Emory down at nap time, and he would fuss and fuss. Whether OT or UT, depended on the time. So, in the "old days" if he fussed long enough, and then cried etc, when I went in I would pop in the swing.
So instead of doing that, if he fusses, now I do pu/pd, and it has been working really well.

Not, foul proof for us for sure though.
The other night, he woke at 10:45. Then he woke at 2:15. I was shocked at this. I really wasn't expecting it. So I sent DH in, and Emory was acting like DH was killing him. Seriously, the scream that was coming out of that child. It was horrible. And yes, he woke Lyle, and then yes. I went in and fed him. Ugggg. And then he still woke at 6 to eat. Not sure what was going on with that.

[bug_blues70]

Hugs Sherry Lynn!!!

[sherry lynn]

Thanks Megan
Shots today and very odd feeding, so curious to see how the night will go. I hope everybody had a great weekend.

[bug_blues70]

Hey Eloise!!

Haven't been on the 4-6 mo board... just wanted to see how things are going for you? Still better, I hope!!