So tired. 5.5mo now waking at all hours and poor daytime naps

[Rachelss]

After a period of good naps and reasonable nighttime sleep, we seem to have crept into zombie territory.  He used to go to bed and manage until 6 or 7 am with one waking for a feed ( very happy with that, no problem!)

He now settles well at bedtime but is waking about every two hours during the night and is often very difficult to resettle, even when I APOP with any trick I can think of.  It is driving me insane, especially as my two older girls are always out of bed at about 6.15am so I get little chance of a lie-in.

Tonight is another bad one, so far, not helped because my husband is away on a school trip until tomorrow (not that he deals with any of the NW unless I am totally at the end of my tether, as he is a terrible grouch if he doesn't get a decent night of sleep himself).  My LO was in bed at 7 and so far has woken at 9.50, 10.50 (fed) and 1.20.  An hour+ later and he is still not sleeping!!  He will settle on me but I can't then transfer  him into his cot, but if I try to settle him in the cot he just fidgets around and wants to suck my finger or be cuddled endlessly.   

He is on a 4 hr EASY but we have not had a decent unaided / unbroken nap of more than an hour in days -- I can sometimes resettle him during the day when he wakes too soon, but even this is getting more rare.  He is more than capable of self-settling and has been doing nicely at some naps and bedtimes with this until recently, but is not interested right now.  We started a small amount of solids a short time ago and he now has two small meals after his two first BF feeds of the day.  This is typically one oatmeal- based bowl at breakfast (1-2oz) and then a fruit/veg bowl at lunchtime (similar quantity).  This doesn't seem to be interfering with his milk feeds.

Thoughts.....

I wonder if he is hitting the 3-2 transition?

 I think he is quite OT but without decent naps or night sleep we are getting worse not better. 

I wonder if any of it is digestion-related?

 I also have a nasty feeling that *I* am his new-found prop, but I don't know how to start dealing with this.  Any ideas?

One final thought, if it is of any relevance, part of the reason why I think this is so hard is because both of my girls were determined thumb-suckers from the start, so they were much better at soothing themselves.  My littlest one will suck his fingers and thumb etc, but not in a consistent way.  I have tried introducing a lovey but to be honest I get the feeling that it is more for my benefit than his right now!!!  He holds it and sometimes sucks a corner of the silky fabric but again doesn't stick with it for long enough to calm himself down.  I would love for this to work better....any ideas?

I think that's enough for now...!  Must try to sleep now that he has finally settled (5 tries and 1hr 20mins after waking, ugh)

[Rachelss]

3:25am.  Awake again, will feed him and hope for the best until morning.

[ZacsMumme]

Hugs. It's a rubbish age!
There is a developmental leap at this age which messes with sleep and feeding and mood. It starts around 23 weeks
http://www.thewonderweeks.com/mental-leap-5/
http://booshy.wordpress.com/tag/wonder-week-26/

First rule out pain, then routine issues, then it is easier to know if you are the prop...ill be back ( got to get my boys into bed) x

[becj86]

Hugs xx

It is a tough age with so much going on!

What does your daily routine look like? You say 4hr EASY? By 5.5 months, A times should be more like 2:30-2:45 and probably moving towards the 3-2 transition. Are the naps 45min-1hr in length in the morning and 30min in the afternoon? If so, increasing your A times will almost certainly help.

[Rachelss]

Thanks for the replies. 

BecJ86 I agree about the A times -- we only got to a proper 4 hour cycle when we started solids in the last few weeks, so I'm definitely keen to keep nudging his A time upwards.  That said,  2:30 seems too long at the moment so I think we need to be somewhere in between for a short time until he can cope with a stretch upwards.

Right now, the naps are all over the place.  After a terrible night, he had a 30min nap (yes - clearly OT) but I haven't managed to resettle him in the cot or sling, so he's just schlepping around with me and yawning constantly.   On a more normal day, his longest nap  tends to be in the morning and then things are shorter in the afternoon.

ZacsMumme thanks for the WW link - this seems to be something that wasn't around (or as well-known) when my girls were at this age and it does make sense.  I can totally see that he's very much more aware of me and what in doing than he was a few weeks ago.  He was born 2 weeks early (I developed cholestasis) so technically he shouldn't quite be into the stage 5 stuff et, but maybe he's well on his way....  He has been managing to sit unaided for very short times over the last few days so I wonder if this is all part of a huge physical and mental leap.

I don't get the sense that he's in pain.  Maybe the odd rumble of teeth but nothing major.

Got to go, two noisy girls have appeared!!

[Rachelss]

Well, here's hoping for a better night.  He's slept 3 times today but only for a max of 30 mins each time.  He has only been happy when he's with me or - sometimes - with his biggest sister, who is just great at playing with him.

One thing I noticed today is that he really struggled to get into a deep sleep.  He was clearly exhausted but every time he started to relax, he would jolt repeatedly, about once every 10-15 seconds.  I haven't seen this except in much tinier babies...and he outgrew that sort of thing a long time ago...do you think it is just because he is so tired? 

On a positive note, he has just done an enormous poo before bedtime so hopefully his whole system feels more comfortable now...!

If he has a better night, I'll try extending his A times tomorrow.  If not, I guess we're in for another day of random rubbish.  Wish me luck, not sure I can do another night like the last few.

[ZacsMumme]

T does that when he is in pain   you could try medicating before a nap to see if it helps. Maybe a virus, or teeth coming up? Or sore tum from solids?
Great on e poo front that could contribute too the poor naps too.

Do you have a carrier/front pack? I find it great when T wants to be 'on me'

Good luck tonight x

[Rachelss]

Phew, a significantly better night last night - not quite 'normal' but close.  I'm hoping that whatever was going on is now finished for the moment.  Am going to try to extend the A times today and see whether we get better naps.....

In the meantime, I am reassured by the number of posts about 5.5mo babies who all seem to have a tricky time at this stage...at least I am not alone!

[ZacsMumme]

Oh it's totally the pits age wise!
Glad you had a good night good luck today

[Rachelss]

Ha, so much for that plan!  He's had nothing more than 30 min naps all day (4 of them - cot x 2, car x 1 and sling x 1) and even those have been seriously hard work, although he did stretch his A times as he took a while to settle for some naps.    The routine was out of the window although he wasn't really upset except while I was trying to settle him for naps.  In overview, the day went something like this:

W 6.15am (not immediately hungry, fed at 3am)
E 7.15am, but not interested in breakfast (baby oatmeal) a little later
A
S 9.45 (attempted from 8.45  ) 30 mins in cot, tried to resettle but no success
A10.15
E 10.45 followed by small bowl of mashed banana
A
S  12.30 (many jerks and jolts, every 10-15 seconds, v hard to settle).  30 mins in cot
A 13.00
S 14.00 in car seat, dozed off during school pickup for about 20 mins
A
E 15.15
A
S 17.00 in sling, again 30 mins (woken by tea time noise...!)
A 17.30
....bath, story with big sisters etc from 18.10...he was even treated to a "magic show"!
E 18.45
S from 19.10, settled immediately into cot after feed, totally zonked!


I am still noticing the repeated jolts when he's napping in his cot (but not during his night sleep).  I am v familiar with the usual newborn jolting as they transition to a deeper sleep but this just seems to keep on happening so he can't settle.  I haven't noticed this before these past couple of days and it certainly wasn't happening when i was getting good 1.5hr+ naps a short while ago.  Do you think this is linked to OT or could there be something else going on?

He did manage longer between some naps today, even with such short sleep times, but some of this was because he took so long to settle each time.  He didn't self-settle at all and just seems to want to suck my finger to relax...this is something I have been reducing until now but today it was the only way to get him calm enough to sleep.

I am still struggling to see what's going on here.  I guess as long as we get a good-ish night (as last night) then I will just keep things steady, cross my fingers and try to get towards a 2.5hr A time with better naps. 

Can anyone spot anything else that might be significant?

Thanks!

[ZacsMumme]

We had wicked jolts with my first LO. 4-6 months were terrible. You need to HTTJ through light sleep really so at least 20 mins. It sounds like he is jolting out of deep sleep Into light before the sleep cycle is over.

For the first A do you think e fighting was UT then became OT or OT to start with? Try shaving 10 mins off or adding 10 and see how he is maybe?

Remember developmentally it's a terrible age. We are getting some amazing days, and some horrendous - ones, even with the same routine

Any teething? X

[Rachelss]

Thanks again.  We've had a better night and also a better day today with a decent nap at lunchtime plus a nice catnap (but still a 30 min wake-up earlier in the day).  In the end, I've gone back to full swaddling when he's in his cot during the day as it is the only thing I can think of to stop him waking himself as he jolts. He hasn't been fully swaddled for a while (and he doesn't need it overnight at all, on a normal night).  This worked over lunchtime so I think I will try it again for a few days, then gradually 'release' him again.

Also, I think that the early comments about needing to push the A times upwards were exactly right.  I'll hold at about 2:30 (possibly a little less for the first A) and see where we end up for the rest if this week.

Thanks again for the support ... You'd think I'd have it sussed for baby#3 but it seems that he has a different personality to his big sisters!

[Rachelss]

....and what a difference a day makes!  After an ok night (except for 1.5 hour waking in the middle -- I think he has a cold emerging), I tried a 2.15 A time this morning, which worked like a charm and produced a 2 hour nap!! (Our first in a while      which also means that my younger daughter has loads of time with me to make an amazing Easter hat for nursery tomorrow) and he's just managed a 2:40 A time and has gone down v easily again.  It seems that he has suddenly taken a giant leap in terms of A times as there is just no way that he could have coped with anything like that a week ago.

Thanks again for all the support

Rachel

[ZacsMumme]

Glad things are improving Hun.
They are such enigmas...my good sleeper has turned bad this week

R the swaddling. I had to do this for my ds1!