Author Topic: LO night waking driving me crazy  (Read 1282 times)

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Offline Elisabeth#1

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LO night waking driving me crazy
« on: August 13, 2013, 15:24:31 pm »
Hi

My LO is 12 1/2 weeks old and has recently (over the last three weeks or so) started waking up 5 to 7 times in the middle of the night .He used to go 4 to 5 hours even 6 to 8 sometimes and not need any assistance getting back to sleep when he would wake himself up but I would rock him to sleep after eating. go to bed around 830 wake up at 1 and 5 to eat and get up for day at 7 to 730. He would take a 30 min morning nap, a long nap of 2 to 21/2 hrs around 12 to 1 and then another cat nap around 5 0r so. I breastfeed him and originally when he started waking so often I thought he was hungry so I would nurse him every time and he ended up sleeping with me. He was still in his bassinet at that point so he would start out in bassinet and then end up with me.

His schedule has been all over the place and I think he has been over tired so I tried having him just sleep with me the whole night(630 to 615am)  to get him not as over tired and started the next day (yesterday) with the shhh pat routine.  Yesterday his schedule was the following using the shh pat it took a second for him to understand that he wasn't going to get nursed to go to sleep but he eventually got it by his second nap which I thought was fast.

A and E 616
S 8 to 830  30 mins
A 830
E 9
S 1030 to 11
A and E 11
S 1 to 340 ( using shh pat slept for 30 mins then woke up took 30 more mins to shh pay until he was in deep sleep then slept for 1hr and 40 min
A and E 340
S 540 to 6pm
A and E 6pm
bath at 7pm
start putting to bed at 730 not asleep til 820 ( he normally would go down at 830 but I thought he was still overtired and needed the sleep)or so he then wakes up every twenty mins or so until 10 pm and then he slept til 1130 where I fed him. After that he woke up every 15 to 45 mins after. I nursed him again around 230 and finally at 615 I just nursed him in bed with me and let him stay there where he slept til 815 am
He often looked like he was struggling to get out of swaddle so I didn't put his arms in at one point but I couldn't get him to go to sleep without being swaddled. I know the baby whisperer book says to not be swaddling at 12 weeks. I felt like he was getting the hang of it at the naps but night time was a disaster.

I am not sure if I am doing the shh pat routine correctly. What I do is turn on white noise machine, swaddle him and put him on my shoulder and pat and shh him until he calms. I then put him in his crib and continue to shh pat until I don't see any eye movement or he wasn't had a jerk or made a noise for 5 to 7 mins. I also pat him on his side/shoulder instead of back. 
So when he wakes at night and is trying to get out of his swaddle he will sometimes put himself to sleep two times but wake up again within 5 mins or so and then the third time he starts crying which is when I go in and pick him up shh pat him until he stops crying and put him down where I continue the shh pat until he is all the way in deep sleep. I feel like I am doing something wrong.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Elisabeth

Offline PaulsMom

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Re: LO night waking driving me crazy
« Reply #1 on: August 13, 2013, 20:46:35 pm »
Hi there! 

Hugs for the nw's.  I agree that your Lo is likely OT.  His A time is very high for his age.  Most 3 mo olds are awake for 1 hr 20 to 1 hr 30 min whereas it looks like he's up for 2 hrs.  Here are the average a times Average A times- BOOKMARK ME! .  I'd cut his A time right back and see how he does with a shorter A.  Note that since he's OT, it may take several days for him to get used to the new A and to catch up on sleep. 

Wrt your sleep routine/ shh pat, I think it's fine.  What you can do is to stop the shh pat once he's settled in his crib and see if he puts himself to sleep.  If he starts to get upset, start the shh pat again. 

HTH

Offline Elisabeth#1

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Re: LO night waking driving me crazy
« Reply #2 on: August 13, 2013, 21:24:58 pm »
Thank you so much for the response I will start putting him down for naps and bedtime earlier. So what do you suggest for length and frequency of naps? He is taking three naps at this point should I increase it to four or can I make one/both of the thirty min naps earlier. What is the latest he should nap? Also what do you think would be an appropriate bedtime? He was going down at 830 to 9 and waking up at 730 or so but I am assuming that is not long enough.

Also should I hold off on the shh pat routine until he has caught up on his sleep?  At this time the only place he sleeps well is with me. I hate to confuse him more by letting him sleep with me again. When I first put him down he goes really easy but when he wakes up it gets harder to get him back to sleep.

My next question is what level of being awake should I go shh pat? Last question I promise. The Dr. suggested I put him in a lose swaddle so he is not fighting to get his hands out and then waking him up. Is that what you suggest?

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

Offline PaulsMom

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Re: LO night waking driving me crazy
« Reply #3 on: August 14, 2013, 03:14:36 am »
Here's the typical amounts of day and night time sleep Typical Amounts of Day and Night Sleep. Usually at this age, babies are having three proper naps plus a cat nap.  Wrt bt, a lot of moms aim for a bt of 7 to 7:30.  I have to admit that I didn't really manage this with either of my babies mostly because they wanted to cluster feed so much and usually had a witching hour in the evening.  If you can aim for a bt of 7 or so, that would be fab but don't stress too much about it. 

I would do the shh pat even when he's catching up with sleep.  I'm hoping with a shorter A that his naps may lengthen on their own.  I would do shh pat until he's drowsy (heavy eye lids and very calm).  See
how he does. 

Wrt swaddling, what type of swaddle are you using?  Is he waking because his hands are free?  At this age, I was swaddling both of my babies but used a swaddle wrap so they were less likely to break free.

Offline Elisabeth#1

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Re: LO night waking driving me crazy
« Reply #4 on: August 14, 2013, 12:09:25 pm »
Ok well I didn't get your post until this morning and I let him sleep with me last night to get caught up on sleep. We both slept from 730 to 730. He did wake up and around 445 or so and have a hard time getting back to sleep but he eventually did. I think that might have been gas though. The good thing is he didn't expect to breastfeed to get to sleep again so I guess that is a plus. I would put him on my shoulder and shh pat him and then just let him lay with me. I plan to put him down more frequently for naps today so hopefully he will stay caught up. 

I am swaddling him pretty tight, he doesn't get out so much as he fights it to try and get out. Do you think if I got one of the miracle blankets it would be better? At what point do you not swaddle anymore? I thought I read that  Tracy didn't suggest swaddling for this age but I may be wrong. I was thinking about trying with one arm out.

Offline PaulsMom

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Re: LO night waking driving me crazy
« Reply #5 on: August 14, 2013, 14:34:22 pm »
Last night sounded alright :).  Keep us posted on how the naps go.

Wrt swaddling, its up to you but I know a lot of moms keep their babies swaddled for much longer than 3 to 4 months.  As long as he's not rolling, its alright.   I do think that the swaddle wraps or woombies work much better than blankets.  I used the swaddle me wraps.  I know lots of moms swear by the woombies although they are more pricey.  What kind of temperment is your lo?  Angel and textbook bubs usually can be weaned from their swaddles without too many issues.  Spirited and touchy bubs may need to stay swaddled a bit longer.

Offline Elisabeth#1

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Re: LO night waking driving me crazy
« Reply #6 on: August 14, 2013, 17:51:31 pm »
Well naps have been more of a struggle today. He has so far taken two 30 mins naps. It was very easy to put him down initially but when he woke up at 30 mins I tried to get him back to sleep because he was obviously still tired however he never would go down after 30 mins more of picking him up when crying and then shh patting. He would start crying as soon as I put him down so I would pick him back up until he stopped crying which was almost immediately after I picked him up. When I put him right back down he would start crying again. So eventually I held him a little longer where his eyes were closed and really tired and then put him down he started to drift off but then work right back up after about 3 mins.

Do the swaddle me swaddles prevent him from moving his arms at all? Because he doesn't get out of the swaddle more just moves his arms up to a point where they can't go any further.

Also, at what point do I pick him up/go into to shh pat when he awakes?

Offline PaulsMom

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Re: LO night waking driving me crazy
« Reply #7 on: August 15, 2013, 01:01:32 am »
Boo for the short naps.  Around this age, a lot of babies have difficulties transitioning between sleep cycles, even if they are tired.  I had to APOP a longer nap with my dd (eg. Transition her to a chair or swing or go out).  I did try to nap extend which was usually was more successful if I shh'ed her before she woke.  So if your Lo is waking at 30 min, try going in at 25 min and observe and start to shh him if he is starting to wake.  I know some moms would lay their hands on them to prevent any movements from waking them up.  I would try this for may be 10 min (20 min tops) and if she woke up, I'd go to plan B (ie. swing or chair or we would go out in the car).  By 4.5 months or so, she learned to transition between sleep cycles on her own. 

Wrt the swaddle me wraps, my DS could move his arms a bit.  My dd didn't really fight the swaddle. 

Offline Elisabeth#1

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Re: LO night waking driving me crazy
« Reply #8 on: August 15, 2013, 18:00:17 pm »
Thanks for the information. So since he is still not sleeping longer at night either should I have him sleep in swing then to?

Offline PaulsMom

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Re: LO night waking driving me crazy
« Reply #9 on: August 15, 2013, 22:38:13 pm »
No, I wouldn't use the swing at night for a few reasons.... 
1. Your baby should get used to sleeping in a crib so it's best to do this as soon as possible
2.  Depending on the angle of the seat, some swings may make breathing difficult for the baby so short duration use is alright but longer durations may cause problems. 

At this age, I'd aim to get one good nap per day.  So I'd try to extend the first nap in the crib and if that failed, I'd have a back up plan.  So grocery shopping, walk outside, or swing etc so I'd be assured of a longer nap.  Does that make sense?