6m nights wakings every hour-HELP PLEASE

[Functoriality]

How old is your child?
My dd is 6m 2w old.

What’s his/her daily routine?

On a good day:

7:00 A (Not interested in eating)
8:00 Solids (only a few tsp)
9:30 Sleep (1 hr 15, after I extend by patting her at 45 min stirring)

11:00 E (EBM -4oz)
12:30 Solids (only a few tsp)
1:30 Sleep (1 hr 15, after I extend by patting her at 45 min stirring)

3:00 E (EBM -4oz)
4:30 Solids (only a few tsp)
5:30 Catnap (she has started dropping this nap)

6:30 Bath
7:00 E (EBM -6oz)
7:30 Sleep (Everything moved back an hour if catnap dropped)

She then wakes up every 45 mins or 1hr 30 mins through the night.  I have to pat her back to sleep.

10:00 DF
2:00 E
5:00 E

What’s nap routine?
She goes down very easily if not OT. If OT, I calm carry for about 5 mins singing twinkle twinkle... I put her in the sleeping bag, and lie on the bed beside her cot patting her back for a few minutes. Quite often I leave when she is drowsy and not asleep.

How long are naps?
1h 15m to 1h 30m. I almost always have to extend the nap beyond the 45 min mark.

What's bedtime routine? Time?
Massage - Bath - Feed - Story - Bed

Do you bottle or breastfed??
(EBM) Bottle in the day, and breastfeed at night.

How much? or how long?
Night feeding can be 10min to 30min.

If breastfed.. one side or both?? (at each feed)
Only one side.

How many wakes per night?
Uncountably many!

What’s your LO like when waking at night? How long is he/she up?
She wakes up on her back crying. Most times all i have to do is put her on her side and pat her a few times. Around 12:30 and around 4 it takes longer to put her back to sleep, sometimes more than an hour.

When you go to him/her is she fussing or crying? Or is it a mantra cry?
It starts as fussing. If I don't go to her, it escalates to full on crying.

What have you tried to settle??
PUPD - initially, to get rid of pacifier, swaddle and stop co-sleeping. Then realised she likes patting without the shh! Shh drives her mad!

What do you do for A time and how long is it?
I let her play on her back for a while. Then I sit her up and she plays. Then either jumparoo or we go out to the park.

Are there developmental issues such as teething or milestones?
It could be wonder week 26. However this has been going on for over 4 weeks now.

Do they have a prop? If so what is it?
Me. Patting her to sleep.

Do they have a lovie?
Not really. Though she seems to have adopted a rolled up blanket that I used to use to make her sleep on her side

Extra information:
She is allergic to milk, soy and eggs (excluded from my diet). It took 2 months for her reflux to come under control, however it flared up every time she had her shots. So we did a lot of AP till about 4.5 months. I also had a lot of issues with milk supply and let down, and had to resort to pumping. I started sleep training when she was about 5 months. We used PUPD to get rid of co-sleeping, swaddle and paci in that order. I was waking up a dozen times a night to put her paci back in her mouth. Now I am waking up to pat her to sleep. I seem to have replaced one prop with another :-(. I feel completely useless as a parent!

Someone please please help me! The lack of sleep is killing me. I have to go back to work and dd starts nursery in a month. I am desperate.

[PaulsMom]

Hugs Hun for the nw's.  that sounds really rough for both of you.  This number of nw's is almost always due to discomfort especially if a bub can sleep independentlly.  So, a few questions....  Is she teething? h bow much foods is she eating?  Is she on meds for her reflux? 

Wrt her routine, I might bump her As up a bit to three hours especially of she naps well.  This will help with dropping the CN (as well as the early bt that you are already doing). 

Wrt developmental milestones, is she rolling in both directions? I would be inclined to give her floor time over the jumperoo if possible.  Lots of day time practice will reduce the nt practice and hopefully less nw's. 

HTH

[Functoriality]

Thanks for replying Paulsmom. Dd is not on any medication now. I don't think it's reflux as all her symptoms have disappeared-sour breath, spit ups, nasal congestion, mucous in stools, etc. She seems a happy healthy baby. She enjoys eating root veg and fruit purees. Her dietician has also prescribed something called Neocate spoon as a replacement for cereal which she loves. She doesn't take much solids, just a few tsp.

She is teething and wants to chew everything in sight, but again doesn't seem in pain. I tried giving her pain meds for 3 nights and it made no difference.

I don't think she can sleep independently. She wants me to to pat her to sleep. When she wakes up, she cries for me but almost always stops crying when she sees me, or when I turn her on her side and pat her.

As regards milestones, she rolled from back to stomach by accident twice. That is all. She doesn't like tummy time for too long, and is not rolling :-(. She enjoys standing a lot and loves her jumparoo. Gets all excited in it.

I'll increase floor time. I have been trying to increase A time, but its so hard to get it right. If she gets OT, her naps are disturbed.

How do I train her to sleep independently? How do I withdraw the patting?

[Functoriality]

P.S.: I am also wondering if bf at night is causing the nw. I know I love it. Can she be waking for it too? Should I start getting dh to give bottle as DF and NF?

[PaulsMom]

If the patting is a prop, then I would start to pat her for less time.  So just until she's drowsy and then let her drift off on her own.  It will take a few days that might be hard but you need to be consistent with not patting until she's asleep. 

Wrt feeding in the MOTN, it's common for babies to be fed once or twice per night at this age.  I had to feed my dd twice per night which I felt was habit but she dropped on her own.  You could ask your DH to give a bottle or two for the nf's and that way you could get more sleep.  I'll leave this up to you. 

[Functoriality]

Today I put her down for all naps awake. She put herself to sleep.  Yea!

However it did not work at bedtime. I did not pat her. Just lay down on the bed beside her crib and she was happy and drifted off to sleep. She did not wake at the 45 min mark, which is good.

Hopefully she learns to sleep independently and can go back to sleep when she wakes at night.
 
In re nf, i think she needs them for now. But I was wondering if she wakes up thinking mummy will feed me now all through the night, and whether giving her a bottle will make it about the feed.

[PaulsMom]

Yay for the self settling!  That's great! 

Wrt nf's, at this age, you can set up some rules so you are not feeding her all the time at night.  So if she's going 4 hrs during the day, I wouldn't feed her if she was fed in the previous 4 hrs.  Try to settle her without the feed.  The only catch to this is she does need to get her self to sleep rather than just having a long nw until it is 4 hrs since her previous feed, iykwim.  During the nw's when you don't feed, could your DH settle her?