I need more eyes Please, Desperate here!!

[Mama_Mia]

I cannot for the life of me figure out whats going on. DGS wakes every single night anywhere from 3-5 times. And this has been going on for quite some time now. He is getting worse, when he wakes if I dont feed him he screams bloody murder and nothing I do will calm him. I thought we had a really great daytime schedule but now I'm wondering if I am doing something during the day to create these NW's I have posted on the easy board but for some reason the only help I'm finding is encouragement from other mums going through the same thing. I REALLY need some eyes and suggestions please. I have given meds in case of teething but I really dont think he is, he is always very happy during the day. I'll post yesterday and todays easy ....

Saturday

Woke 7:am
solids 8:30
bottle 10:15 (he feeds to sleep a lot because its the ONLY time and way he will eat, but he also will eat and go down awake)
Sleep 10:30 (I wake him from this after 1.5 hrs he was doing 2 hours)
Awake 12:00
Solids 2:00
Bottle 3:00
Sleep 3:30 (I capped this nap at 1.5 thinking not to make BT too late, but he was grumpy until BT)
Awake 5:00
Solids 5:30
Bottle 6:30
Sleep 7:00 (went down awake and put himself to sleep)
Awake 10:30 fed and back to sleep
Awake 1:00 rocked him back to sleep without feeding he wouldnt calm down without rocking
Awake 2:00 Fed and back to sleep
Awake 5:00 Fed but he wouldnt go back to sleep at all

Sunday

Finally got him up at 6:40
Solids 8:30
Bottle 10:15
Sleep 10:30
Awake 12:00
Solids 12:30
Bottle 3:15
Sleep 3:30 (put himself to sleep here)
Awake 5:30 (I let him sleep 2 hours hoping he wouldnt be grumpy again until BT)
Solids 6:00
Bottle 7:15
Bottle 8:15
Sleep 8:30
Awake 11:00 (screaming bloody murder,couldnt calm him so Fed and put him down somewhat awake. 10 minutes later he started screaming again, couldnt calm him so gave motrin just in case and rocked and sh'd quite loudly almost in his ear, he finally calmed and I put him down at 12:00.

If you managed to make it through that and understand it all, the differences in BT were for a reason. On Saturday he went down after a 2hr awake because he was grumpy since I woke him and he was acting very tired. Tonight I let him have the 2 hr pm nap so he was happy and alert longer. He started showing tired signs about 2.5hr after he woke from his nap so I got him ready for bed and had him down at the 3hr mark.

I should also mention, his room is pitch black and he has white noise playing constantly. Sometimes I have to play it louder so he'll sleep. Sorry this is so long, but I really really need some advice, anyone that can think of anything at all please post it. I'm desperate and need any and all thoughts thank you for reading.

[Natural_Mama]

I am sorry. I have been going through the same. My DS is a self-soother, 7.5 months and at around 6.5 months his NW went from 1 NF to 6 or more. We were medicating, just waiting for a tooth and 5 weeks later, still nothing. I reduced his solid intake to the am feed of prunes only, b/c he was majorly constipated. He got caught up on BM and now I only have 1 solid feed a day. He is sleeping much better. A lot of moms posted that it might be gas b/c of the solids. Maybe this helps. Good Luck.

[Mama_Mia]

Thank you natural. He has been on solids for 2 months so I really dont think thats the problem. But just in case I did cut his dinner solids.

No one else has any opinions ??

[Marie-O]

Hello! I'm not an expert here, but maybe he's ready to drop a nap and he's waking at night because he's UT??

You could try reducing his AM nap let's say 45min, and keep the 2h afternoon nap since he gets grumpier in the afternoon.

It's just a guess though....some Lo's at 7month are ready to increase A time. My DD can't manage more than 3h A time in the morning, but she can easily go up to 4h in the afternoon before BT....every Lo is different.

I hope someone that had overcame this can help you better with.

Good luck and keep us posted

[Mama_Mia]

Thanks mariaeodon, I dont "think" he is ready for cutting a nap just because I always have to wake him from his AM nap. He used to sleep 2 hrs in the AM and 30 in the PM but still had a ton of NW's So then I capped his AM nap to 1.5 hrs and let him sleep 2 hrs in the pm.

[Melsy]

Is he crawling or trying to pull up or anything yet??  That caused us some NW's.  Otherwise I would have just suggested teeth, but you didn't think that was it (altho the teeth do seem to hurt more at night and more when lying down for some reason).

I'll keep thinking......!

Mel

[Mama_Mia]

he hasnt learned to crawl or pull up yet. I sit here and watch him on the monitor until I go to bed and he just wakes up and cries, there doesnt seem to be a reason. I medicated again tonight just in case, but I just dont think thats the problem as this has been going on for over a month now. I think it has something to do with his schedule but I cant imagine what it could be. I hate medicating every night just in case because last I spoke to the doc they said I could give motrin for 7 days then go 5-7 days without it so it doesnt hurt his kidneys.

[Melsy]

Hugs hun - its been a little while since I have had a 7month old (my youngest is almost 2) but at that age we had a 1.5hr or so morning and afternoon nap.  Which is what you guys have now right??  There's no cat nap in there so I really can't image what the issue could be?!  The only thing I would suggest would be shifting it forward a little bit so that the 2nd nap ends no later than 4pm so there is a good 3 hours before a 7pm bedtime - and try and run him around the backyard to wear him out between 2nd nap and bedtime!  So I would suggest a 9.30/10am nap and a 2pm nap or something like that.  Lots of exercise and a big splash in the tub before bed to wear him out.  :-/ Really not sure what else to advise!!  Solids aren't causing him lots of wind or anything??  I'm just clutching at straws now!  I hope an EASY tweek is all that's needed.

Much love hun, keep us posted.

Mel

[Mama_Mia]

he doesnt get up until 7am so how would I give him a nap before 10:30? There just doesnt seem to be enough hours in the day with his 3.5 hour awake time. He gets 1.5 hour nap in the am and a 2hr nap in the pm. I tried waking him after a 1.5hr nap in the pm but it just made him grumpy

[Jen114]

My ds is 8 months

He up at 7
8 solids
930 he is more than ready for a nap till 1030

Then the next nap is 1330-300 which gives ole fly of time to get tired before 7 pm bed time.


I always give milk before solids . And don't run to him the moment he sqwaks I wait a min or two

All I can do is lend support and tell u what worked for me

[Jen114]

Try no dairy that causes gas so lf formula.

Only carrots, sweet potato...

What solids are u giving him just curious maybe can help

[~Sara~]

Hi there!  Just popping on with a couple of suggestions:

1) Similar to somethign Jen suggested: do you think you AND the feeding might be a prop at night?  When he's crying, even if it sounds like a hard cry, is it his mantra cry or 100% an "I need you!!" cry?  Some LOs have a very loud mantra cry.  Also, he's probably OK not eating at night if he's formula fed AND gets solids...he might need 1 MOTN feed or the DF, but I can't see him waking up that frequently due to hunger, kwim?

2) Possible prop issue aside, have you checked his gums for teeth?  Those little buggers can cause a lot of havoc long before they break through the gums.

3) If not discomfort that's waking him, I'm thinking maybe a bit of OT at bedtime...but I really don't see anything that is so glaringly, obviously off.  I don't think it's time to start capping a nap yet.

How has today gone?

[Mama_Mia]

Thank you all for your input...

I changed his dinner from cereal with veggies to just some pureed fruit and his nights changed drastically. The 1st night he woke at 2:30 guzzled a bottle and went back to sleep until 6:45. Last night was a little bit of a mess. He woke at 3:00, 5:00,6:00 and got up at 7:00. I think last nights mess was constipation related.


Jen114. He would never be ready for a nap after only 2.5 hours. His A time has been over 3 hrs since he was 6 months old and he gets all purees except meat, he cant stand the texture of the meat. I tried normal foods but he gags and vomits when it hits the back of his tongue.

~Sara~ I was giving him watered down formula at night trying to break the night feeds but he didnt seem to care if it was just water. He wanted it anyway. It was definitely a "I need you" cry. I never run to him right away. I learned that with my first 4. I always give him a few minutes. I did check for teeth I think his 2nd bottom one is starting to move,but I dont think its causing discomfort. As the last 2 nights he has done much better.

So, if I can keep things as they are right now we may make it through this. Yesterday he had a short nap so I put him to bed a bit early to make up for it and I hope thats not going to become the norm now that he slept better at night. Do you think once he's sleeping good at night I might need to increase his A time?

[~Sara~]

I changed his dinner from cereal with veggies to just some pureed fruit and his nights changed drastically. The 1st night he woke at 2:30 guzzled a bottle and went back to sleep until 6:45. Last night was a little bit of a mess. He woke at 3:00, 5:00,6:00 and got up at 7:00. I think last nights mess was constipation related.

I'm glad you could notice a difference!  I hope this is the beginning of the end of these rascally NWs   (Sorry, I just love good news!)

So, if I can keep things as they are right now we may make it through this. Yesterday he had a short nap so I put him to bed a bit early to make up for it and I hope thats not going to become the norm now that he slept better at night. Do you think once he's sleeping good at night I might need to increase his A time?

The short PM nap probably isn't related to how well he sleeps at night vs needing an A time tweak right before it.  I think you could work on that plus the nights at the same time.

[Mama_Mia]

Well he still slept pretty good , but instead of sleeping 2 hours he only slept 1hr15min and that was after a 3.5hr awake time. I cant imagine him needing longer that that for an A time, but I suppose anything is possible. I will see how this afternoon goes and go from there, I just hate to mess with too much at once and have the NW's continue.