Please please help! NWs getting too frequent!

[beckygatt]

My DD2 is going to be 5 months in a week. She sleeps independently, sucking her thumb but tends to have short naps mostly. Until a few weeks ago she was waking once or twice a night and doing one stretch of 5/6hrs and a second of about 4. She even did a few longer ones. Over the last few weeks though she has been waking every 3-4hrs and sometimes even after 2! She cries and doesn't settle till I feed her. She did have a cold for about a week and I thought maybe that was the cause but things haven't improved. Yesterday she woke (and fed) at 10, 1, 3 and 6.30 after bedtime. Tonight I fed at 8pm before bed and she just woke now, at 10.30 crying, and is now feeding.

I'm actually not sure if I should be posting here or in breastfeeding (she's EBF). I think its been too long to be a GS, plus day feeds are every 3-4hrs. I don't think there's anything else going on that should cause all these NWs... I really need some ideas though cos it seems to be getting worse!

[krisfred6]

Hey Beckygatt, I totally understand as I have just posted about the same thing.  I don't have any answers for you, as I can't answer them for myself  , but just wanted you to know that you weren't alone. 

[Buntybear]

Hi,

Could you post your EASY please? Sometimes NWs can be over or under tiredness.

Thanks

[beckygatt]

This is today's. She tends to have short naps. Maybe will have 1 long one in a day but not always. This is from last night:
E-6.45pm
S-7.30 (bedtime)
E-10.45
E-2am
E-5
A-8.30
E-9
S-10.30 (in buggy)
A-11.15
E-12.15pm
S-1
A-3
E-3.30
S-4.45
A-5.30
E-7.15
S-7.30 (bedtime)

Any ideas? Thanks!

[beckygatt]

She generally wakes up at 7-7.30am. She settled herself to sleep independently by sucking her thumb; I always put her down and leave the room awake. I aim for around 1hr45mind A but go more woth the signs. She'll usually start fussing when she's tired.

[beckygatt]

Actually today she did manage more A time. Do you think this could be disrupting nights? She seems hungry when she wakes...

[beckygatt]

Ok thanks, I'll try that!

[worriermum]

Hiya,
My bub is around the same age (5.5mths) & was alot like your bub. was doing 1 night feed/NW then went to 2-3 NWs.
I would feed at each. but sometimes he would wake after 5-6hrs from bedtime & not feed 'good' & then wake a few hours later & not feed good either. then have average to ok feeds during the day & they were 3hrly OR he would go 4.5hrs if we were out & about.

After talking to friends & ready a few books & websites, I realised that because he was feeding a few times at night he wasnt as hungry during the day so kinda snack feed, so my bub was stuck in a cycle of getting his feeds over the 24hrs rather then the ideal 12hr daytime. I realised the only way to break that cycle was to start  weaning the night feeds & stretching out his day feeds to 3.5-4hourly so that he was hungry enough to get a goooooddd feed in.

I went with a gentle approach to weaning & we've made some great progress!! has taken nearly a week BUT it wasnt very stressful or time consuming & very little tears thank goodness.
He is now feeding every 3.5-4hrly having 3 breastfeeds then a bottle before bed (4 feeds) plus solids 3 times a day.

Let me know if you would like to know what I did for the weaning. but here is our routine give or take 30min either side of the times:

E- 6.30am both sides
A-
E- 7.30 breaky
A-
S- 8.30ish, depends if he's been awake from 5ish or if he's woken & gone back to sleep. (sleep is 1-1.5hr)
E- 10.30am both sides
A-
E- 11.30 lunch
A-
E- top up from one breast
S- 12 (1.5-2hr)
E- 2-2.30 both sides
A
E- 4-4.15ish top up from one breast or 100ml bottle (I do this because an hour later he has his dinner)
S- 4.30ish catnap
E- 5-5.15 Dinner
A- @ 6pm bath etc
E- 6.30 220ml bottle
S- 7pm bedtime.

He could probably do with a longer A time to get longer naps BUT because we have a kindy run this works for us until he's ready to drop the evening catnap where we'll push out that last nap. its hard with kindy run as the longest that lastnap can go to is 2.30pm.

Hope this can help you in some way?? its so hard when they take a backwards step. wish Id gotten on to it sooner.

good luck

[beckygatt]

Thanks worriermom! How did you wean the night feeds? She does usually feed both sides at night so seems to be hungry, but maybe its habit too. Don't know what to think really!! I've noticed the last few days that the daytime feeds seem shorter and not always both sides and I wonder if she's getting distracted. But the frequent night feeds were happening before this

[worriermum]

Hiya,

my bub was the same, good feeds at night & short feeds during the day. He too would take both breasts if offered. And he was also VERY easily distracted. which is now not that bad & now feeds at least 5min solid on each side at every feed.
What I did was:
I chose to offer a bottle rather then breast to wean as some had said its easier to cut short a bottle feed then it is a breastfed, it can be hard to stop a bub whose feeding so good. BUT you could try just offer one side instead of both & take bub off as soon as the feeding slows?? however I got nowhere when I did this.
I also did bottle as he has had that bedtime bottle for awhile & because I wanted to cut night feeds out anyway.

1st night - was offer a 100ml bottle put back to bed, he grizzled a wee bit bit went back to sleep.
if bub wakes again then offer a small feed 50-100ml depending on how close it is to the start of the day. you dont want them having too much as you want a good feed at the '1st' feed of the day.
-He took a great 1st feed & because I was quite full from no night feeds there was plenty there for him to take. Also stretched feeds out to as close to 4hrly as I could, again had good amount of milk & he feed better. Think because he was hungrier he wasnt so easily distracted when feeding.
2nd night - the same as the night before.
-again better day feeds. obviously was getting more during the day.
3rd night - offered 100ml water in a bottle, DS isnt a fan of water. he had about 50ml but took a bit of work, he went back to bed ok, woke again a few hours later so I offered water again. again didnt have much so back to bed & he went down ok.
-again great day feeds
4th night - only woke once, offered water & back to sleep til morn. this made me realise he def can go all night without an actual milk feed.
-again great day feeds & solids were def 3 times a day.
5th night - decided I would do controlled crying only. he actually slept 9hrs this night. so I waited until he started grizzling to start settling. took 30min of him chatting before he decided to cry out.
If its inconsistent wait 10-15min, if consistent wait 3-5 or water you're comfy with. go in & shh pat for 30-60sec then leave room. wait 8-10m for Inconsist. 1-3 for consistent. go in & shh pat for 1-3min leave room. wait same wait times as before, go in & you can either resettle until they go to sleep or do 3min & leave room for 10-15min then go back in. I found bub responded on the 3rd attempt. took 15min for him to go back to sleep.
-again great day feeds! less distracted! (oh I was doing day feeds in his bedroom during this time too)
6th night - again 9hr sleep, did settling as above. took about 20-25min but they often put up a fight on night 2-3.
7th night- slept 10hrs, woke chatting etc so I left, he went back to sleep for a bit then woke 6.30am.

Hoping the same happens tonight. however now he will only be settled back to sleep as he has gone 4nights with no milk feeds & 2 nights with no feeds at all. although if its a growth spurt then I'll feed, however I was told that if its a growth spurt feed that first night, then offer extra feeds during the day so that bubs gets those extra calories during day time rather then night time.

fingers crossed I havent jinxed myself by sharing this lol usually when I tell people the good stuff it goes haywire lol