5 month old night wakings

[louis-mummy]

Hi

I'm afraid i haven't been around on the boards for a while and here i am asking for help  sorry but, i need it!! 

O is 5 months now and his sleep is getting worse, he's never sttn but over past several weeks he's waking more frequently, especially between 1am and 5am.  Its usually 3-4 times.  I try to settle him without feeding after first 2 wakings but usually he won't settle without it. He rarely falls asleep on the breast during the day, its 50/50 during the night. He might have a quick or long feed, more often he can be straight back to sleep and other times not. Sometimes he ends up in our bed around 5am (from my sheer exhaustion) but i don't think he's trying for that. He's EBF and having a small try at solids the past 2 weeks. We don't have a great routine, a good day would be this:

7.30 wake, nurse
9.30-11.30 sleep
2-3/3.30 sleep
5.30-6.30 sleep
7.30-8pm bedtime routine, asleep

a bad day is when i struggle to get him to settle for naps or he wakes early from naps just 'because' or if we have to do school run etc) i don't notice we have better nights depending on daytime routine

Feeding is usually straight after waking (i've been trying to leave it a few mins at least), but has additional feeds too (reading this back - he feeds a lot!!) he's a good weight and always been a good, efficient feeder. We tried DF but it didn't seem to help. He is currently refusing a bottle since we got out of that habit during school holidays.

He likes to be swaddled, white noise and have a dummy, i sometimes need to apply a bit of pressure with my hand to his swaddle if he is OT. Sometimes he wakes early from naps but i don't think its a big problem. I struggle to get him asleep anywhere but his bed or the car.

I'm completely exhausted and struggling knowing that i am the only person who can feed him or get him to sleep....DP can get him to sleep during the day but he is cr@p during the night! please help! even now i think i haven't got time to sit here typing this 

p.s. i also struggled massively with NW's with DS1, though with him we had props and eczema

p.p.s he is drooling and chomping on anything, i tried pain relief but didn't notice any improvement

[jessmum46]

I'm afraid i haven't been around on the boards for a while and here i am asking for help   sorry but, i need it!! 

(((Hugs))) and hi - that's what the boards are here for!

One NF plus a DF would be totally normal at 5 months - so 2 night feeds is completely ok if you don't do a dreamfeed.  That said, I wonder if you might have some UT at play   What is he like when he wakes?  Screaming and clearly upset, or will he play around for a while?  The reason I say possibly UT is that a 'typical' routine for a 5 month old would be two 1.5h-2h naps (which you have on a good day) and then a 30-40 minute catnap.  I wonder if perhaps that 1hr 3rd nap is making him UT at bedtime and so causing those wakings in the early hours. 

How about (if you get two good 1.5h+ naps) limiting the 3rd nap to 45 minutes and going for BT at the same time?  Stick with that for a few days and see if it makes any difference to the NWs?  You may need to cut it further but don't want to do too much all at once.

HTH x

[louis-mummy]

Thankyou 

Good point. he doesn't seem UT during the day, i don't schedule naps and often think he's a bit OT by the time it happens.  During the night he wakes unhappily but there have been some times when he's then gone on to chattering and blowing raspberries  a couple of nights ago he was like this from 4.30-6am but then finally went back off til 8am.

today he's had 1 x 2hr, 1 x 1hr (woken, for school run) so i'll try for 45-1hr catnap?

he's having 3-4 feeds per night, some just a 'nip', i wonder he has got some habit of wanting to feed when he wakes. but, its very often hard to settle him without it even someone other than me trying.

[nona]

hugs laura! does he take a paci?

[louis-mummy]

Yes he does, always takes it for naps and bedtime. Occasionally I can settle him during night with it. Looking at him now, he's got a red cheek. Gonna try ibuprof again tonight.

[jessmum46]

Gonna try ibuprof again tonight.

Sounds like a good idea   Can you sneak in and do dream meds around 2am or give repeat meds when he wakes to see if you can get him through those early morning hours?  We always get EWs with teeth

[louis-mummy]

He sleeps in travel cot next to me so yes, meds it is tonight!
Thanks

[louis-mummy]

Aaaaaaah!!! Terrible night 

He woke every 30-90 mins after 11pm, ended up in bed with us. Nothing but the boob would settle him, not even that sometimes. I had given him ibuprof.

[jessmum46]

Oh no!   Sorry for the rough night.  Sounds very much like discomfort or prop issues to me.........what was the day like?

[louis-mummy]

Day naps were 1 x 2hr, 1 x 1hr, 1 x 45 min

I agree, we could be close to a prop issue with sleeping In our bed during the night although its not really an Issue getting him to sleep in own bed for naps or first bedtime

He's a misery guts today, he did wake himself happily from a 45 min nap earlier but he's shattered now.

Going to try calpol tonight 

Thanks for the support 

[Erin M]

Really sounds like discomfort to me too. 

[louis-mummy]

Really sounds like discomfort to me too. 

you think?
it sounds horrible to say this but i hope thats what it is, we had bad prop issues with DS1 which took forever to resolve (he has severe eczema which made things more difficult) and i was mindful of independant sleeping habits with DS2

thanks for the input

[Erin M]

It just seems too inconsistent (and now too severe) to be a prop issue -- not saying I'm definitely right about this, but from what you say, it seems to go more with discomfort.  I get what you mean though -- at least with teeth, it goes away eventually without you having to do a whole lot!

[louis-mummy]

Ok so he went to bed with ibuprof and a quick bf, drowsy but awake. He just woke after 1hr50ish and is desperate for boob! I think this might be a lot to do with it...
He won't be replugged so I've brought him out of bedroom and hoping to repeat bedtime routine In 10 mins time. I can't remember how best to restrict bf during the night, DP tried to settle him last night without success.

[Erin M]

Well, I'm a big fan of "settle by any means necessary" when not nursing -- other people use more of a pt/shh or PU/pd approach. It's all in what works best for all of you.