5 month old night waking help please!

[akstein86]

Hello! My daughter is 5 months, will be 6 months on 1/21. I ebf. Here is her general schedule:

WAKE 7:15
nap 9:15
awake 10
eat  10:30
Nap 12:30
Awake 1:45
Eat 1:30
Nap 3:45
Awake 4:30
Eat 4:30
Bedtime routine 6:30 with feeding
Bedtime 7
Wakes crying 9:30 for a feeding
Wakes crying by 12:30, feeding
Wakes crying 3:30, feeding
Wakes crying around 6, feeding

She sleeps in our room in a rock in play. She also naps here during the day. She has a blankey she holds and sucks her thumb.  Her naps seem shorter – she used to have a long nap mid day. Now they are all 45 minutes, and she wakes up happy. I have tried to get her back down for longer and it’s not happening.
Nighttime when she wakes its not just slight fussing, she full out screams flails around acts panic-y. First feeding she does seem to drain both sides and goes right back to sleep. Second and third feeding if I try to just shush her or rock the rock and play it just escalates. I’ve tried rocking her in chair without feeding and that doesn’t go over. If I latch her on she will eat aggressively for maybe five minutes through one let down and goes to sleep. I am never sure at this point to just unlatch her and lay her down so that she’s not comfort sucking, or try to wake her so she eats more on both sides and hopefully sleep longer. Neither seems to make a difference or work. She still wakes up three hours later. I have tried to put her beside her dad thinking she smells me but only makes a small difference.
Nap time and bed time she puts herself to sleep. Usually we are on a good easy schedule and she eats at wake up and goes down after playing. She sucks her thumb and goes right to sleep if the timing is right. Bedtime occasionally I have to nurse her first but I still put her down drowsy awake and she puts herself down with her thumb. She really doesn’t comfort suck during the day.
Middle of the night feedings after I nurse her she gets her thumb and goes back to sleep. But she cannot seem to find her thumb or settle if I don’t pick her up and nurse her.
Two months ago she used to sleep a long 5-6 hour stretch after bedtime. Not sure what changed. I am so worn out from these night waking, I could handle one or two times a night. But she is consistently waking every three hours now, sometimes 2-2.5 hours apart.
I don’t think she needs all of those late night feedings, but I always worry well what if she really isn’t getting enough milk during the day. Would appreciate any suggestions, I am open to sleep training I just don’t know whats best at this point. U

[honeybeze]

I will follow along as am having a similar situation with my DS.  He was also sleeping 5 to 6 (more on occasion) hours after bedtime, now he is up within an hour or two of going down and then every couple hours the rest if the night. Never a good napper, but am hoping maybe getting his days better will improve his nights.  He just got his first teeth, but I was medicating before bed and it made no difference.  Maybe they are going through the 4 month regression late?  The exhaustion is so hard esp with another LO around, too! Hugs, and will hope it all works out soon!

[zeec]

Akstein86....has she always napped 45 mins?

[akstein86]

No this is new. She used to have a 1.5-2hr afternoon nap. Now she seems happy and awake after 45 mins three times a day. BUT yesterday was different. This was after a night of lots of wakings...

7:15 e
A
9:15 s
Y
10:30 not hungry?
A
12:15 e s
Y
2:10 wakes! (Nice long nap from full belly?)
3:30 e
A
5 pm cn finally drowsy after one hour of attempts s
Y
5:30 a
6:30 e
Bedtime routine
7:30 not ready, rolling around wants to play
8 cries when laid down wont self soothe, top off with nursing
Sleeps 8-12a eats a really full feeding
Sleeps 12-3 nurses 5 minutes didn't seem to need it
Awake at 4, 5 and 6 never really that hungry
Wakes 7 still not eating a full feeding

So confused!

[zeec]

With my son, at this stage....45 min naps usually meant that he is undertired....so I increased the awake time by 15mins over a couple of days and see which awake time extended the naps....u could try that???does she sleep right away after being put down in the morning...usually when my son plays around alot before sleeping, I figure that he is undertired...just some ideas...hope that helps

[akstein86]

Yeah I will try to lengthen naps. But yesterday she napped well and still was up through the night. So I guess I need direction with how to handle the night wakings? If I feed her say at 11 and 3 how do I handle wakings at other times? She seems to just nurse 5 mins and falls asleep so I'm thinking it's for comfort. But during the day she sucks her thumb and puts herself to sleep? I'm just so tired from these nights up five times...

[akstein86]

Thank you both for your input! It's nice to know I'm not the only one going through this!! 

[akstein86]

Could a mod give some insight on this please? :-) we had a really bad night, up every two hours. I am just getting at my wits end!! I'm going to post on props page too because im wondering if she's using the breast to get back to sleep at night. she goes down for naps and bed on her own fine, but she seems to be refusing going back to sleep unless i pick her up and nurse her. not good!!

I'm going to try and extend her awake time and get better naps...and HOPEFULLY this up all night will get better : (

[honeybeze]

Waiting to hear what a mod thinks. My DS is also up basically from 430 or 5 am (sometimes earlier). I feel like nothing I do helps this, either.  He had great naps yesterday, but still got up at 1130pm & 345am to eat, then it was off and on from ?445? I am so drowsy when he gets up that I have a hard time remembering the time....then it's 2 hours of him being happy and talking to us, even though we are both ignoring him.  We are moving in the next couple months, after which he will have his own room, which I know will help.  Just trying to figure something out in the meantime.  Maybe he is just an early riser as he has been doing this for months. 

His naps are on the short side (30 to 60 minutes), but even on days when they are 1.5 hours plus a catnap, there is no difference.  A time is 2 to 2.5 hours, he eats about every 3 hours. (EBF). I have tried earlier bedtime, as in 7, and as late as 8 depending on that late catnap.  730 seems to be his happy place there.  I am desperate enough to really push the bedtime late and see if it helps.  My hubby was a total night owl as a kid, but I know his schedule was completely not respected by his parents.

I am sure I went through similar times with my older DS, but after eating he always went back to sleep even when he was up a lot.  But he was also in his own room from 10 days old. 

This will all pass....but going on 6 months without a good night sleep is wearing on us mommas!

[debo620]

Hmm, my 5 month old is having similar issues so I'm following along

[honeybeze]

I just got an app that tracks sleep patterns so will be interesting to see what trends emerge. DS had a great nap day yesterday (3 naps total, 1 long, 2 short) but was up from 3am to 5am, when I finally moved him to bouncy seat, then he slept 2 more hours. Today he had 2 great naps, but an extended A time before bed....so will be curious to see if any different. 

[debo620]

What is the name of the app?

[honeybeze]

Baby sleep tracker by Sprout. 

[honeybeze]

Hi girls, I just posted in General slept issues so will see what comes of it. Liking the sleep app for seeing patterns & totals. Hope you are getting some sleep (no change here...)

[debo620]

I think a lot of our night wakings were due to a cold but I also am spacing feeds apart by 4 hours... So depending in naps... She may have activity time before eating.

I'm also needing to increase A to get better naps. This morning I increased it 2hr 20 and she had a hard time settling to sleep ( overtired) and was asleep at the 2hr 30 min mark. She did wake after 40 min but I was able to resettle her with her soother and she slept another hour...
Which is good.