Multiple wakings first 3 hours of bedtime

[jyrenze]

For some reason, ever since she was born, my baby would wake multiple times after she sleeps. Sometimes every 10-15 minutes even and its driving us crazy. We do not get to do anything at all after she goes down because she is up again soon and will cry until I give her a bottle or nurse her. She has a strong need to suck but she has rejected a binkie since she was 4 months old. Also, there must be milk in the bottle (or  nursing). If its water she will just continiue crying. She doesn't take much, just sucks or nurses for like a minute then she falls asleep again so i doubt its hunger.

3 hours after her multiple wakings, she will sleep a 4-5 hour stretch then up again for milk, which I am ok with unless she decides not to go down again after her milk, but that is another topic by itself, lol. On very rare occasions she only gets up once in the first 3 hours, but on average its 3-5 times.

I have tried adjusting the temperature of the room, dimming lights, turning off lights, leaving on a night light. We have white noise in the form of our air conditioner. Tried a more relaxing bedtime routine- soft music, baths, stories and also tried playing games with her to tire her out. Also tried an earlier or later bedtime to no avail. I don't understand why her sleep is not restful no matter what we do. In short she sleeps terribly almost every night and gets a total of 8-10 hours sleep only. Any tips?

Her schedule

9 am wake up
12pm nap
4.30pm nap
10 pm bedtime

Have tried for earlier bedtime multiple times but not working, she just flat out refuses to sleep and would cry for a whole hour.

[PaulsMom]

Hugs Hun.  How old is your Lo? Also if your can writte our her routine in this format we can see if any adjustments are needed,

Wu 9:00
E
S 12:00 to
E
S 4:30 to
E
Bt
E
E
Etc.

Thanks!

[jyrenze]

oops, sorry thought I had mentioned it but guess I left it out.
LO is 10 months old. Her schedule :

Wu 9 am
E 10 am cereal
E 11 am bottle
A 11.30 am bath
S 12pm to 1 pm
E 1pm lunch
E 3 pm bottle
S 4.30pm to 5.30 pm nap
A 5.30 pm bath
E 6pm bottle
E 8pm dinner
E 9.30pm bottle
S 10 pm bedtime (sometimes with nursing to help the process)
A 10pm- 1.30 am Multiple wakings and nursing or bottle
E 5.00 am Nursing
S
E 8.00 am Nursing

All the naptimes are estimates because she sleeps any duration from 20 minutes to 1.5 hours per nap at the daycare, from what I am told.

[PaulsMom]

Ok, several things may be at play here.  In general I think that very unsettled sleep is usually due to being OT.  Her bt is very late and you may want to consider moving it forward gradually (so 10-15 min earlier every few days).  Also, her last A is very long so this may be contributing to her OTness.  If she short naps, I would recommend an earlier bt if at all possible. 

Do you think that the bottle is a prop?  If she's needing it for comfort rather than nutrition, then you may want to consider weaning it.

How much is she eating during the day?  She does have a lot of meals at the end of the day and I'm wondering if they should be moved earlier so that she's not so full when she sleeps (some tummy discomfort may be at play here). 

The other thing that has crossed my mind is the 2-1 transition.  Not that she's ready to drop a nap, but the last nap may be too long and occurring too late in the day. 
HTH

[jyrenze]

Shes  a very small but frequent eater. Only takes 13 oz total for her first 3 bottles and just a few bites of cereal/solids for breakfast lunch and dinner. Her night bottle is only 3oz. Shes very much of a grazer, loves to eat often and little at a time. We are trying to get her to eat more before bed so that she doesn't need to wake up for milk so frequently.

I know her bedtime is very late but we have been trying forever to get it earlier. We just end up in the room longer trying to make her sleep. Her last nap as stated is "4.30pm to 5.30 pm " but sometimes she only sleeps 20 minutes. Its hard to control her naps because she is at the sitters and all children follow the same naptimes but maybe I can try to talk to her and work something out,

What should I first try to change about the schedule?

[PaulsMom]

I would move bt earlier to try to reduce the amount of OT.  If you want to make a big change, you can try an earlier wu, then shift the naps earlier and also bt. 

Also, what if you gave milk first and then solids about an hour later?  Milk is more calorie dense than solids so I would try to get her to take more than 3 oz at a time. 

HTH