20 week old-wakes every 1.5-3hrs a night!!

[krista12]

20 wk old daughter

Exclusively Breast Fed (quite an efficient feeder, feeds on one side for approx 10mins...I have a relatively fast flow... and delatches when full...I generally relatch her once or twice if I think she was just distracted and delatched early but that rarely happens)

Swaddled (loosely as she still startles herself so the swaddle helps not wake her, but she rolls around a lot so I'm worried she'll suffocate if her arms are tied too tight and she can't get them out. as well loosely swaddling allows her to get her arms out in the middle of the night/nap and possibly self soothe when the need be)

Soother-used to get her to sleep (naps and at night)...she generally spits it out after she begins sleeping

Currently teething- had her 2 lower middle teeth cut through at 2 mths of age!!! (luckily I'm a dental hygienist so I knew how to care for them)

General Routine- wakes at 8am, feeds, 1-1.5hrs of awake time and then 1-2hr nap. then the rest of the day follows with approx 1.5-2hrs of awake time and 45-1.5hr naps. Her shortest nap is her last nap and then bedtime is 8-830pm.

Our "Night Waking" problem:
At around 3 mths she began waking every 2hrs at night...at this time she had a cold so we attributed the waking to this....which may have been the case but now at almost 5 months she has gotten into a habit of waking every approx 2hrs at night! I breastfeed her back to sleep each time but usually only 2 of those feedings she actually has a good feed (as in she is actually hungry) the others she takes a couple gulps and then suckles herself back to sleep. I know I shouldnt run to her and BF each time but I'm sooo tired and i know it works so I do it. After reading the BabyWhisperer book I realized I had become my daughters little soother (lol) and was doing Accidental Parenting. Last night was the first night my husband and I changed her routine and she wasn't impressed!!! I only fed her twice last night and that was only when it had been 3.5-4hrs after her last feeding. The other times my husband went to her and soothed her back to sleep by shhh-pat and soother and her luluaby music. *Problem*- she was soooo upset that I didn't come that it took my husband 1hr each time to calm her back to sleep!!!! How can we fix this?!?!?!?

Thanks!

[mmom]

((HUGS)) It can take a few nights to break the habit of eating.  She is used to that. 

I know you posted a general routine, but after 45 minute naps, what are her A times?  What is her last A to bed like?

How is your DH trying to get her back to sleep at night?

[krista12]

after a 45min nap her awake time is much shorter...usually 1hr or so.
Her last awake time before bed varies approx 1.5hrs. Right now we are still trying to get a bedtime that works best for her. Usually we have her in bed by 8pm but recently she has started to get fussy and we've had to put her in bed by 7:30pm.

DH puts her back to sleep with luluaby music and shhing with his hand resting on her chest (she likes the comfort of light pressure on her chest but also it helps her stop squirming around everywhere).

Last night was better....BF and asleep by 8:30pm. woke crying at 10pm-DH gave soother and turned on luluaby music and she was asleep within 5 mins. then woke midnight -BF and went back to sleep. then woke 4am BF and back to sleep. awake and started day at 8:15am. BF. awake for 1hr and then back to nap for 1.5hrs....etc.
Hopefully last night wasn't a fluke...we'll see how tonight goes....I reallllly want to get her to one BF at night with a bedtime of 7pm and starting her day at 8am.

[krista12]

Last night: (night 3 of trying to break her habit of numerous night waking)

BF and asleep by 7:30pm (she would not go down for her 5pm ish nap so we had to up her bedtime)
Woke at 10pm crying! DH gave soother and played luluaby music and she went back to sleep within 20mins
Woke at 1am- BF and back to sleep right away
Woke at 2:30m- DH went in, gave soother, played luluaby music and had to shhh pat and lightly have arm on chest and had to reswaddled cuz she squirmed out of it....took approx 45mins to get her back to sleep.
Woke 5am-BF and back to sleep right away
Woke 7:30am to start her day.

I know it's only day 3 but it doesn't seem like we're making any progress??? We try not to go to her right away but she never calms herself back to sleep...we give her a few mins but she just escalades so we go to her. I'm worried that with my DH going to her when it's not time to eat we have broken her habit of feeling she needs to eat at those times but now she has replaced it with needing her soother.

Thoughts? Suggestions??

[mmom]

When we had to deal with re-plugging, we ditched the soother. but that is up to you.

The 10 pm waking seems OT.  Can you post your day in EAS format?

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=69369.0  Here is some info about routines at this age.

I am also wondering if you should move to PU/PD. http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=121330.0

I would worry about the music and re-plugging.  Can you put a fan or something on for continuous white noise?

How about teething?  Any swollen gums?

[krista12]

Thank you soooo much for the link to "starting EASY at 4 months"!  I have been having her on a 3hr cycle...I'm going to try and gradually convert her to 4hr.
Yes she is teething
Hopefully tonight will be better.

[krista12]

So last night went better....
BF and asleep by 8pm
woke at midnight -DH gave soother and played luluaby music and she went back to sleep within 15mins
woke at 230-BF and back to sleep
woke 6:30 because she pooped  BF and back to sleep
started day 8:15am
E: BF 9:10am (I tried to have her wait longer but she was getting very fussy as she is use to being fed when she wakes in the morning)
S: nap 10-11:40am
E: BF 12:35pm
***here's where it went bad!!***
S: 145-215pm (tried to shhh/pat back to sleep and tried to leave her so she could put herself back to sleep but was wide awake and would not sleep)
E: BF 330pm
S: 4:10pm-4:30pm (would not go back to sleep again but this time when I tried she was screaming!! i tried PU/PD but she was mad!)  Then we tried putting her in her carseat and taking her for a drive...still no sleeping until 6pm and she's napped  for 15mins only!!!
She was then wide awake again...a little fussy but not too bad. She seemed content to be awake?!?!?
Bedtime: BF and asleep by 8pm!!!!! FINALLY!!!

I did try to feed every 4 hrs but since she's use to 3 she was not impressed...i'm sure it'll take a few days to get her use to it.

could changing her nightsleep sched be effecting her daytime napping??? I will continue to teach her to sleep thru the night and hopefully her day time naps will get better.
thoughts??