10 month old has been waking at night

[PaulsMom]

I'm not sure what part of the world you live but is it hot or is his room temperature on the warm side?  Just wondering if he's a bit warm so he's waking for the water. 

[bohbizzie]

hey PaulsMom,

Thanks for all your advice so far! Dealing with NWs as a full time working mum can b very draining and sometimes you just don't know what else to try!

we're in Singapore and put our son in an airconditioned room at night but he's been sleeping in an air-conditioned room since birth, plus we put him in a sleeping bag. His nose seems a bit blocked this morning so I might try to turn the temp up tonight to see if that helps (he might be cold and thirsty since air-con can b drying?)

The night before, he woke at 145 (put to bed at 8pm) and I thought to feed him some milk since he didn't take much of his bedtime feed, and he slept till almost 7 from there. Last night he went to bed at 7.30, woke at 1230 and 445 where my husband and I took turns to feed him some water and he went back to sleep within a minute or two, then he woke again at 6.20 when I fed him and put him back down to sleep again.

Sometimes he'll wake and will cry a bit before going back to sleep himself, but if he doesn't fall back to sleep within 1-2 mins himself he will escalate into full out crying so we have to attend to him fairly quickly.

I'm getting very confused with all this and can't really see much of a pattern, except that he will typically first wake up between 6-8 hours from the time he starts bedtime. He has also started waking earlier (about 620-630) quite regularly in the last few weeks when he used to sleep till 7/730 consistently.

We're still on 2 naps a day (between 1-2hrs each), and a bedtime of 715-8 depending on what time I get off work and am able to take him home.

Wonder if you can offer any further advice? Or other things to take note of?

[PaulsMom]

Well the night before last sounds alright ! 

Air conditioning can make the air dry and if he's congested he's more likely to breath through his month when will also give him a dry throat.  I agree with settling the AC to a more moderate temp and see how that goes. 

What is his A time like now?  I take it he's around 7.5 months?  Naps look good but the ew's may mean he needs a bit more A. 

[bohbizzie]

Sorry for the bit of silence here!

His A times are usually anywhere from 2hr45 to 3h15 depending on when he looks tired. I leave him at my mum in law's for the day and she helps to keep a log for me, so past few days when he woke at 6.20/6.30, she'll put him down for his AM nap at 9.30 (3h10 A time). The next A time is usually shorter...about 2h30 to 3h as he'll be put down for a nap by 230/245 so that he doesn't sleep past 4pm.  I'm home with him today so will try to stretch out both A times to more than 3h.

We also have a "new problem" - our baby goes to bed pretty easily once finishing his bottle / nursing. However in the past 2 nights he's been waking about 10-ish screaming, really wailing loudly. When we go in to feed him thinking he might be hungry he doesn't want to drink much but he seems to want comfort so after he drinks maybe 5ml/nurses for a few seconds we'll put him back in his cot with pacifier and he'll go back to sleep. What do you think could be the  issue?

So I would say for the past few nights we've had 2 nw and 1 ew consistently.

[PaulsMom]

I've also had both of my kids cry/ scream out.  I've wondered if it was a bad dream since they just seem to need a cuddle and then they go back to sleep.  Since he's not really eating, that might be the cause?  How long are his naps?

[bohbizzie]

his naps range from 1-2 hrs each. Certain days he'll even take two 2-hr naps, which I thought might be a bit much for him.  Yesterday he took a 2h15min nap followed by a shorter 45min in the afternoon.

He slept a bit later yest (about , and woke at 1030 where I fed him cuz he didn't have much to drink at bedtime, then 3.55 (where he took half an hour to fall back to sleep with water) and just woke up at 6.45am. I tried to ensure his A times were at least 3hr each time yesterday, and his WU is slightly later...will stick with it and hope he gets his WU time back to 7/730 since with the middle of night waking it wld be good if mummy could sleep in a bit more

[PaulsMom]

Fx for you.  Keep us posted on how things go!

[bohbizzie]

well, the past few nights he's managed to sleep from 730 to about 530, and seemed quite awake after...water and patting didnt put him back to sleep so I resorted to nursing him till drowsy before I put him back into bed where he'd sleep till 7ish. I hope I'm not setting up some sort of pattern here....

this morning was especially tough - he was up from 530 to 620 and patting and paci didnt work, so I nursed close to 630 and  was expecting the start of the day but he went back to sleep about 645 and is sleeping now (735am)...I'll prob wake him shortly or his entire day might be a bit messed up!

Hv also noticed his upper teeth pushing through so that might be causing some discomfort? And he's also been desperately trying to crawl in bed (has yet to master the technique!)

Not sure if you have any pointers but just wanted to update cuz I think things are getting slightly better

[PaulsMom]

Yay!  7:30 to 5:30 is really good.  I know 5:30 isn't the greatest but he is likely hungry. 

For developmental milestones, give lots of practice time during the day.  With gross motor skills I find that my Los got "physically" tired which meant that they slept better!

For teething, if you know that his teeth are cutting, you can try pain meds if you feel comfortable with that.  The first set of teeth, especially the top teeth can be really uncomfortable for them.  Some moms use the amber necklaces as well. 

[bohbizzie]

Hi PaulsMom, I've been silent for a bit but just wanted to update that things have improved!
He generally sleeps from 730/745 - 7...Rem how I told you that he'd wake to drink water? We leave bottle of water at the same spot at the corner of his crib and when he does wake up in the middle of the night generally he'll reach for the bottle and drink some water to put himself back to sleep. Sometimes he flings the bottle too far and can't reach it and cries for help, so we'll still go in to help but it's definitely an improvement.

Past few mornings though he's woken at 6.15am (after about 10-10.5 hours of sleep) and it's been hard to get him back to sleep. I've just nursed him then cuz I figure he's hungry but after that he's ready to play! Should I not nurse him when he wakes early...thinking it might instill a habit of EW, or perhaps should I let him play till later and put him to sleep an hour later in the hope he wakes later?

He's currently on 2 naps a day - usually 1-1h30mins in the AM (10-1130), and another 1-1h30 mins (230-4)in the afternoon. His A time is about 3-3h15mins (can be more if we're out and then he usually crashes in the car seat otw home). He's on 3 meals a day and milk 3 or 4 times a day. Oh, one more thing, he has also started refusing his bedtime feed but will take water so we've resorted to feeding him water at night. Sometimes he's drift off to sleep while being fed, other times he'll toss and then with the bottle in his hands until he falls asleep (can take 10-20 mins).

[bohbizzie]

also, he has cut 3 more teeth since! We let him wear the amber necklace during the day (think it helps!) and feed him some pain meds when he's extra cranky.

[PaulsMom]

Awesome update!  I think it's fine for him to have a bottle of water at night that he can get himself.

Wrt the 6 am wu, I'm wondering if he needs a routine tweak.  Perhaps a bit more A.  I'm assuming that he's approaching 9mo so he may need an extra 15 min or so. His feeding schedule looks good.  If he's eating a good amount at his meals, his milk intake will gradually decrease. 

Good plan for the teething.  Teething can also disrupt things a lot and this is quite individual for each Lo.

[bohbizzie]

thanks!

We've been extending his A the past few days (3h 15 mins - 3h 30 mins between naps) and so far, this has sort of solved the EW problem, except for the last few nights he's been waking at 4/430 instead and requiring assistance with finding the bottle of water but once we pop it into his mouth, he goes to sleep till 7-ish. Because of the increased A between naps, his 2nd nap of the day sometimes extends to beyond 4pm so I've been pushing back his BT by about 15-30 mins to make at least 3 hours between his last nap and BT.

In addition to the 4/430, he's also been waking at 11-ish PM and tonight in particular he needed a fair bit of coaxing to fall back asleep.

I'm not sure if this is a sign that he's not ready for the increased A time and whether I should move it back to 3 hrs?  He's not teething at this point in time, and nothing "new" seems to be happening.

Thanks in advance!

[PaulsMom]

How long are his naps?  Is he fussing or partying at 11 pm? 

If he just wants to be up, then he may be getting too much daytime sleep so you might need to cap one nap.  But if he's OT, then I agree the A is too long and I'd go back to 3:15 for a bit longer.

[bohbizzie]

Hi PaulsMom

So we had a few weeks of pretty good sleep whichever was great! We basically pushed his naptime back to about 745/8 and since he was going 11hrs of sleep at night instead of 12, he'd be up 6plus/7 which worked for us

but then the flu kicked in and we experienced 1-2 night wakings. The past 3 nights, though, we've had about 4-5 night wakings and everytime he'd just want to be cuddled to sleep. Previously the bottle of water would pacify him, and a few minutes after putting him down asleep he'd wake up crying again. Last night he got up close to 10 times...the last 4-5 times within a 1.5 hour period. Do you think this is separation anxiety and what should I do to address his needs while trying not to fall into bad habits. His schedule remains largely the same as what I posted previously. Id also add that he coughs a bit in his sleep so that could be causing some discomfort, and we has to lower his crib because he has learnt to pull himself to standing and I'm not sure if that is causing some disorientation also.

Thanks in advance!