4.5 mo crazy NWs

[roimata9]

HI everyone,
I'm about to go crazy with my LO's night waking. He used to wake once in the night, sometimes twice but now he's all over the place. Last night he woke at 1:15, 3:45, 4:05, 5:30, 6:30 then 7:30. (we've just had daylight savings, so these times would have felt an hour earlier to his body clock.) The night before last he woke at 10:20 (before I got in with the DF), 1, 2:30, 5, 6, 7. The night before that just once at 4am, and the night before that he woke every 20 minutes from 12-3am.
He's 4.5 months and is pretty much on a 3.75 - 4hr easy depending on how long his naps are. This was his routine yesterday:
E:7
A: 1hr 50 mins
S: 8:50 woke screaming at 10
E: 10
A 2 hours
S: 12-1:30
E: 1:45
A: 2 hours
S 3:45- 4:45
E: 4:45
A: 2 hours
E: 6:45
S 7 (we were out so no bedtime routine)
woke 7:45
DF 10
then all the wakings as above. Yesterday was pretty messy, but the day before went better and he still woke up heaps:
E: 7:30
A: 1 hour 50
S: 9:20-11:15
E: 11:15
A 2 hours
S 1:15- 3
E: 3
A: 2 hours
S  5 - 6:15
E 6:15
A: 1 hour 15
S 7:30

I've decided to stretch all his A times to 2 hours to see if that helps. I thought maybe he wasn't tired enough and that caused all the early morning wake ups. We'll see if that helps tonight. He used to go down for naps without any fuss at all, but the last month has started screaming when I put him down and needing lots of support to fall asleep. I wonder if that's contributing to all his wake ups? I've also been extending his naps (he used to be a 45 min napper) by bouncing him gently (he sleeps in a hammock) and I've decided to try and stop doing that because maybe he's relying on the bouncing when he wakes at night to resettle.

Any advice would be gratefully received as I can't cope with the lack of sleep!
TIA

[mmom]

How are you resettling at night?  Does he have any independent sleep or are you APing all sleep?  Have you tried feeding at any of the NWs or just resettling?  Any other signs of discomfort?

This age is so tricky!

[roimata9]

Thanks for your response! At night I usually feed him if it's been around 4 hours since his last feed. He usually falls asleep at the breast at night, but rouses a wee bit when I put him to bed. At other times I've been bouncing him in the hammock. He used to take a dummy, but won't any more. Yesterday we started PU/PD, so I did that when he woke last night. We had a better night, but he seems to wake a lot after a feed. He went to bed at 7:30 after a 7pm feed, then woke at 7:45, back to sleep after 5 mins. DF at 10 and slept until 1:50 so I fed him. He was asleep by 2 but then woke at 2:30 and 3am, each time I did PU/PD and he was calm within 5 mins. Then he woke at 5:30 so I fed him and then he woke at 6 when he cried for ages I finally put him down calm and he talked to himself for 15 mins then cried at 6:30 and woke again at 7:30. He has reflux and is on ranitidine, maybe we need to up that? When he wakes he's screaming and arching his back, so is definitely not waking happy.
As far as independent sleeping goes, he used to go down happily for his naps, would chat and do his mantra cry then fall asleep, then for a while he would scream, so I'd PU once, he'd go back down and go to sleep after that. Now he keeps on crying when I put him down. I used to feed him to sleep at bedtime, but stopped that as I wanted to feed him earlier so he'd take more at the DF.

[josie30]

My DD is 4.5 months as well and has just started waking every 1.5-2 hrs through the night (previosuly slept 7.30-5am then went back off with a soother until 6.30!) going from that to constant wakings is really taking it's toll so you are not alone! She has had a really nasty cold so i think some of it has been waking herself coughing, I don't feed her when she wakes as she hasn't had night feeds for weeks now (she's formula fed and takes a lot of milk during the day) and i know she's not hungry. We are just re-settling her at the moment and going to see how it goes over the next few nights, if you have any success please share as i'm exhausted! Good to hear it's a tricky age though and not just me doing something wrong!

[mmom]

The frequency of the NWs seem like something is up.  Do you think your LO is in any kind of pain?

[roimata9]

He could possibly be in pain, but I'm not sure. I wondered whether going to 4 hour easy was too much for him, as he seems to be vomiting more than he was before which could cause pain, so I've started him on 4hr easy but with 3 hourly feedings, as Tracy describes in one of her interview for when kids are ready for 3 hours of A time with a 5 hr easy but 4 hourly feedings. Also we missed a dose of ranitidine last friday, but his terrible nights started just before that, I've been going dairy free and had some bread with milk powder in it by accident on Thursday morning, and Thursday night was when it all started, so it could be that. I've read that 40% of babies with reflux have dairy allergies.
The last couple of nights he has woken happier, not screaming and arching his back, but still more often than I would like. Last night he woke at 12:30, then 20 mins after he went back to sleep, then 3:30, 5, 5:30, then I woke him at 8 as he was still asleep (as was I!). The other frustrating thing is he won't resettle with DH, he just works himself into a complete state!

Josie30, I've read that babies around 5 months change their sleep cycle and start to wake up fully in between each one, so need to learn to resettle themselves. Lots of my friends have had babies who've woken a lot around this age, so that would make sense. In terms of what we are doing, I looked at Elizabeth Pantley no cry sleep solution and have been following some of her suggestions. We've introduced a comforter which he has taken to brilliantly, I've been tucking it under his arm while I feed him so he would get positive associations with it and now give it to him whenever we want him to sleep. He likes to cover his eyes with its ears (its a rabbit) and suck on its arms. I've also tried to wean him off the bouncing so he doesn't feel like he needs it to go to sleep. We started a sleep mantra (just saying hush, hush, hush, it's sleep time Lachie) that we repeat a few times before he goes off to sleep. We've also started a sleep ritual that I do each time before bed so he gets used to the idea I'm about to put him down. We tried PU/PD but he wouldn't calm down in our arms, so stopped that. He'll calm down by bouncing him, so if he gets upset, I'll say the mantra, and bounce him really gently until he stops crying, then I stop the bouncing straight away. I guess like PU/PD, but the bouncing is our PU part. Since starting all that, I've noticed a marked decrease in his crying time when he goes down or wakes at night.

The other thing I'm doing for my sanity, is going to bed at 8pm myself and getting DH to give him the DF. At least that way I can be assured of a 4 hour stretch of sleep and am not such a zombie in the day time. But fingers crossed he learns soon, I'm going crazy here and don't want to give up my nights for ever!

[roimata9]

We're having success! The last two nights he's only woken around 10:30 and 4am! Last night he woke after his 4am feed and cried a little (but not strong crying) so I stayed in bed and he settled himself back to sleep. Thanks for all the advice.

[mmom]

I was wondering about reflux.  Reflux peaks between 4- 6 months and often LOs need a med increase or med change. The waking after feeds and frequent wakings screams reflux to me.  Would your doc be willing to trial a PPI? (prevacid, nexium, prilosec, etc.)