Author Topic: 7 month old night wakings  (Read 7327 times)

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Offline Layla

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Re: 7 month old night wakings
« Reply #15 on: September 23, 2013, 23:17:03 pm »
How long have you been doing the shh/pat method? When he wakes at night, do you try and settle him in the cot using the same method? Have you tried the pu/pd method at all?

Here is a link on how to pu/pd How to PU/PD (inc age adaptations)

Or if you're not comfortable with the pu/pd, then you can continue to shh/pat but I would really work on taking yourself away from the picture as it seems like you're shh/patting him TO sleep and he isn't learning how to self settle on his own. Does he have a lovey? Have you noticed him trying to suck on his hands or fingers to self soothe?



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Offline Hellomama

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Re: 7 month old night wakings
« Reply #16 on: September 24, 2013, 00:07:07 am »
Ill be right back to answer your questions but just a quick one, DS woke after 35-40m after 2hr A this morning (woke at 09:35) when should I put him down next, he's screaming already.

Offline Hellomama

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Re: 7 month old night wakings
« Reply #17 on: September 24, 2013, 00:10:04 am »
Oops I mean
Wu 06:25
A 2hr-2hr5m
S 08:25-30 (woke 09:05)

Offline Layla

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Re: 7 month old night wakings
« Reply #18 on: September 24, 2013, 00:12:00 am »
I would probably try around 11:30/45 - so today will probably have to be a 3 nap day.



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Offline Hellomama

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Re: 7 month old night wakings
« Reply #19 on: September 24, 2013, 00:33:11 am »
Ok thanks! Do you think 11:45am would be a little late or are we trying to make him more tired and therefore get a better sleep?

And just to add to the chaos there's a fly in my house! How did it get inside!? Grrrr

What's a lovely? He doesn't care for teddy or taggie blanket thingy. He chews his hands but that keeps him up or wakes him up, I only just found a dummy that fits and use that for bed (maybe late to intro it but its been helping him) and he is no longer swaddled but likes to roll as he learnt to do so about a month ago.

I've been ssh pat since mid aug, pu pd seems to make it worse but I do so sometimes and it calms him down but only if he's still sleeping/eyes closed/not fully awake.

Do you think a spirited baby needs lots of night sleep and coz his sleep is so broken that he is so exhausted so in the am I would need to even try a shorter A like 1.5hr just to get naps back on track?

Offline Layla

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Re: 7 month old night wakings
« Reply #20 on: September 24, 2013, 01:13:43 am »
Oh sorry, I just read that he woke at 9:05 and not 9:30ish so then probably try for a nap around 11ish. I probably wouldn't do A time any less than 2hrs because then you'll end up with a looong A time before bed.

I've got to go as DD is up from her nap and the girls are at home now (school holds) but will be back in the pm re: sleep training and maybe it would be a good idea to tackle nights first and then work on naps



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Offline Hellomama

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Re: 7 month old night wakings
« Reply #21 on: September 24, 2013, 01:38:09 am »
Oops it's been 2hr30m A and he's fighting sleep.

Ok talk to u later, yup maybe nights would be best so I can then have him rested enough during the day. Have fun!

Offline Hellomama

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Re: 7 month old night wakings
« Reply #22 on: September 24, 2013, 03:11:33 am »
I think he fell asleep at 2hr35-40m A and slept for 1hr15m! Better than 30m! But now do I stick to 2hr35-40 A for his catnap? He woke crying as usu I didnt go in but he started rotating around his cot playing with his dummy then kept on crying so got him up.

Offline Layla

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Re: 7 month old night wakings
« Reply #23 on: September 24, 2013, 03:34:14 am »
Yes much better. It sounds like he's naturally extending his A times. I really wouldn't do anything less than 2.5 hrs from now on because all that fighting might also be from him not being tired enough. So yes, try for a cn around 2.5-2.75hrs A time. How did he sleep at night? How often does he wake and when he wakes is he able to replug the dummy himself or does he need a little shh patting?



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Offline Hellomama

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Re: 7 month old night wakings
« Reply #24 on: September 24, 2013, 06:47:12 am »
So his catnap was 30m, I guess it's a cn so its ok but his A was 2hr45m only coz he just wouldn't sleep. So he woke at 16:40, what should his A be before bed? 2hr?

When DS wakes I need to shh pat, replug sometimes but sometimes he doesn't need it so I leave it out, or if its not working pu rock and then pd, but that only works if his eyes are still closed and not awake yet. He would wake up randomly thru the night, last night about 4-5 times between 7-10, then 3 times after midnite I fed and he slept til morning. I find that whenever I feed him he will wake 3.5-4hrs after that, so last night I fed him at 2:40 he woke at 6:20, the other night I fed him at 3:30 he woke at 7:25 or there abouts. Sometimes he can replug the dummy but usu just plays with it, but its been a lot better with the dummy coz he would wake more when sucking on his hands.

Offline Layla

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Re: 7 month old night wakings
« Reply #25 on: September 24, 2013, 07:38:58 am »
Yes, you only want a short nap as a CN anyways so 30mins is fine. I would probably aim also at 2hrs A time - hopefully he won't fight you too much.

« Last Edit: September 24, 2013, 07:46:37 am by Layla »



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Offline Layla

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Re: 7 month old night wakings
« Reply #26 on: September 24, 2013, 08:02:41 am »
How would you feel about waking him up at around the same time everyday so that his internal clock can start to get used to taking a nap at around the same time every day. I would probably start with 6.30am and go from there and try to aim for a morning nap say around 9am (so 2.5hrs A time). If he's been used to around 2hrs A time then you could try to stretch him to 2.15hrs for a few days and then work on stretching him to 9am over the next couple of days. I think it would help with keeping the day regular if you at least aim to have the morning nap start around about the same time. The one thing that really really helped me when stretching A's was to get out of the house!!! I must be a pretty boring person because DD would show me tired signs as early as 1.5hrs A time in the morning  ;) and I found that taking her out of the house or changing the scene/activity of what we were doing would do the trick in keeping her awake and entertained until our designated nap time. Then as we would get closer to nap time, I would tone things down and start our windown routine around 15 mins before nap time. Given that he's a spirited little guy, he may not like a long windonw but you could maybe try reading 1 book, sing 1 song whilst holding him and rubbing his back and then into cot. Then I would leave him! I would leave the room to see what he will do. If he's crying and its a mantra cry, leave him. If he's crying the "I need you"!!! cry, then go to him and begin shh/patting. Shh/pat ONLY until he's calm and not to sleep. You will find that there will be a peak in crying and then he'll hopefully start to settle down. During the settling down part, you could try stopping the shushing and maybe just do the patting or the other way around but again try not to keep patting him until he's asleep. And then I would leave him again. I wouldn't stay there for the whole nap time and when he wakes at the 35-40min mark, you could try to resettle (using the same method) but only give it another 20mins or so as otherwise you'll end up spending the whole day in that room! I used to allow up to 1 hr from the time the nap started to resettle - so if the nap was only 30mins, I would attempt to resettle for another 30mins; if the nap was 45mins, I would attempt to resettle for 15mins.

At night, try the same method and if its been 4 hrs from the time he last fed then feed him but try not to feed him at every awakening.

What do you think?
« Last Edit: September 24, 2013, 08:04:47 am by Layla »



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Offline Hellomama

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Re: 7 month old night wakings
« Reply #27 on: September 24, 2013, 09:54:07 am »
Thanks again Layla for taking the time to reply and help me, 3 girls is just so much work plus school holidays and then to jump on here to help me! Just know I'm so grateful and really feel a lot better having someone supporting me thru this xoxox

I got dh to read what you wrote coz he has been telling me for ages to set a nap time but I didn't listen to him coz I wanted to let DS sleep as he needed hehe but I will start tomorrow! Hehe but what happens if he wakes earlier as he sometimes does at 5-5:30?

We went to sleep school mid aug (that's when I came home and started ssh patting) their techniques is either go in rock/shh pat/ once calm go out, or go in ssh pat once nearly asleep go out and in no case help them to actually sleep. Well, they said to us that we just need to shh pat til he is asleep coz there was no other way as he goes berserk and would munch on his hands and kick his feet and this would continue for the whole night from bedtime to wakeup, so back came the swaddle and then back came a night feed (i thought sleep school was meant to help you wean, not reintroduce) lol hence I came home and ssh pat DS to sleep and have been doing so ever since and have now replaced rocking with ssh patting! And now have an extra feed which I have to get rid of coz of his weight (that's another story, but I only feed him once)

Here is what I do, low key activities then my windown is just holding him in his bedroom while its dark for about a min as any longer he would start trying to play then I would rock him a tiny bit usu I would watch his eyes and see how drowsy he is and use that to judge how ready he was for sleep. Then I would put him in the cot kiss him goodnight and leave, he would cry and scream, usu if that happens I could go in and usu it would be easy to shh pat him to sleep, but if he is calm then there is no way of doing so, he would just lie there for what feels like forever on and off mantra scream babble play with dummy roll rotate etc

So, with your suggestion, I have a few questions, say he wakes at 6:30 and due for a nap at 9, and knowing he would just cry on and off for a long time, do I put him down at say 8:30 so he could maybe settle by the time his window rolls around? How long do I try for and how would I go about his next nap in regards to A time (assuming he doesn't sleep).

Thx!




 

Offline Layla

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Re: 7 month old night wakings
« Reply #28 on: September 24, 2013, 11:23:36 am »
If he wakes around 5-5.30am, I would still try and stretch him. You might only get to 8.30am but that is still better than offering a nap at say 7.30 or 8am. The earliest I would probably do is 8.30am.

Quote (selected)
Then I would put him in the cot kiss him goodnight and leave, he would cry and scream, usu if that happens I could go in and usu it would be easy to shh pat him to sleep, but if he is calm then there is no way of doing so, he would just lie there for what feels like forever on and off mantra scream babble play with dummy roll rotate etc
So I would suggest to shh/pat until he's calm and then leave and if he starts crying/screaming (and its not mantra) then repeat and shh/pat until he's calm and then leave, repeat, repeat, repeat.
There is no need to shh/pat him if he's calm and just playing around... and this behaviour is probably him not being tired enough (or it could be that he's already overtired - how confusing, hey!)

Quote (selected)
So, with your suggestion, I have a few questions, say he wakes at 6:30 and due for a nap at 9, and knowing he would just cry on and off for a long time, do I put him down at say 8:30 so he could maybe settle by the time his window rolls around? How long do I try for and how would I go about his next nap in regards to A time (assuming he doesn't sleep).
See he may be crying on and off because he isn't ready for a nap because he's being put down too early. If you put him down too early what may happen is that he isn't tired enough and then with all that crying/rolling, he misses his sleepy window and then he's overtired and won't sleep well or at all. You may find that if you start stretching him and not offering the nap too early, he won't take as long to settle.

If he misses a nap altogether or there is no nap by say 10am then hold him off until 11ish and offer the nap then. This will then be his "afternoon nap" and he will probably need a catnap before bedtime too.

Unless weight is an issue, don't worry about the night feed - my girls had a NF at 7 months too. We can work on weaning that once things settle down.

How did you go tonight?



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Offline Hellomama

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Re: 7 month old night wakings
« Reply #29 on: September 24, 2013, 11:39:54 am »
Ok thanks ill try as you suggest starting tomorrow.

At 6 mo he was over 10kg, over the 100th percentile in weight and 70th percentile in height. My paed is sending me to a dietitian as his weight is also related to his reflux.. Ill see how it goes but I'm keeping the night feed anyway as he won't settle without it.

Tonight has been good, 2hr40m A, woke at 40m I ssh pat him, and so far still asleep. Fingers crossed! Will update you in the morning. Thanks again!