Author Topic: Night Wakings, not sure the next course of action.....  (Read 979 times)

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Offline tkymom

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Night Wakings, not sure the next course of action.....
« on: January 03, 2014, 20:39:19 pm »
My main question is what, how much, and how long should you try other methods before going to PUPD?

My 8 1/2 month old has only somewhat randomly almost STTN the past few months.  At 6.5 mo he had a bad cold & first teething episode & sleep was awful but I endured b/c I knew he was sick & teething.  After he was better & teeth through he almost STTN for a few days & then started waking again.  I know this is where I went wrong b/c I continued to nurse him back to sleep usually when he awoke.  Sometime I would try and just put a hand on him but I usually only tried for 10 minutes and then just nursed him.  Accidental parenting.  So for the past month or so he's been off & on with better & worse nights.  One stretch was especially bad b/c I tried to transition him to a Medium Zipadeezip from a sleep sack (with his arms tucked inside, so a pretty tight “swaddle”).  His naps got short and then night sleep got awful (waking every 1.5-2hrs!)  The last few nights have been a little better, waking only once b/t 3-5am.  Obviously when he's waking that often he's waking up early often in the morning too & I'm trying to nurse back to sleep!  I'm still doing a DF, and if I'm not there right at 10pm, he usually wakes up (and sometimes even wakes up sooner) and then I nurse him then.  He's an average sized baby, a super eater of table food, and obviously I'm still nursing him.  I don't think he needs to eat at night.  I'm ready to spend a couple weeks training him to STTN, I just need some help knowing where to start. 

Should I keep the DF at the beginning even if he wakes up for it early?  If I try just putting my hand on him when he wakes up at night how long do I do that for before trying something else?  I’m guessing he could be getting some calories at night that he’ll need to make up for during the day, so do I start with just a goal of one NF still, and then try another strategy the other times he wakes up?  Then what do I do if he wakes up early & I’ve already fed him?  The same strategy?  But if he doesn’t go back to sleep what do I do with the daytime EASY routine? 

I also got the small Zipadeezip and as staring to use that at naps today but won’t try it at night for a few more days.  I’m hoping it works this time as he’s starting to move but really doesn’t like having his hands out away from his body while he sleeps. 

Here’s are EASY routine now:

WU: b/t 6-7am, for this example, we’ll say 6:30am
E: breastfeed 6:30am (if he’s not fussy I might let him “play” in the crib, but this usually only lasts 10 minutes at the most)
A: breakfast cereal, yogurt, oatmeal, whatever usually around 8am, but can vary
S: putting down 9:45-10am, he’s starting to lengthen this out, I’ve been tweaking trying to figure out the right A time for him now.  Usually longer than 3 hrs, shorter than 3 ˝ hrs. 
E: breastfeed upon waking – this nap can be anywhere from 45 min (rare – when we tried the Zipadeezip last time) to 1 hr to 1.5 hrs to even 2+ hrs on a rare occasion.
A: lunch of table food b/t 12-1pm (this varied b/c I have another LO & based on my husbands schedule)
S: put back down b/t 3-3.5 hours from WU.  Usually b/t 2:30-3pm.  This one is more often 45 minutes but sometimes can be 1.5, especially if the morning nap was longer.  I had thought about waking from morning nap at 1 hr to help make this nap longer but I haven’t had the guts to do it yet. 
E: breastfeed upon WU again (probably b/t 3:15-4:30pm depending)
A: supper b/t 5:30-6pm
E: get ready for bed at 7pm, with breastfeed
S: in bed asleep at 7:30pm usually. Most often falls asleep while feeding, use to always do this, other times I’m able to get him to fall asleep in his crib on his own. 
DF: 10pm
NF: see above 

That’s a lot information but hopefully someone can give me some insights!  Thanks! 

Offline kmalbin

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Re: Night Wakings, not sure the next course of action.....
« Reply #1 on: January 04, 2014, 18:35:31 pm »
Hi tkymom,

I cant offer much advice as I'm also having the same kind of problems with my DS (10 mnths) but I just wanted to let you know your not alone, its horrible when u see how many people have viewed your post and nobody has replied yet.

I found shh/pat really worked for my DS, and he now goes straight to sleep at naps and BT by himself, but if hes a bit unsettled a quick shhh settles him easily.

When sleep training, I used to do that for 30 mins, ish and if he really wasnt going back to sleep I'd get him up, but sometimes it took that long, and I'd be about to give up and then he'd drift off just as I was going to stop lol.

Have you tried water in the night instead of nursing?  I have got DS off feeds that way, but now he wakes for water so not sure if thats a good thing or not haha!  We have storage heaters so the air is really dry though so I dont mind too much as he goes straight back to sleep.

Hopefully someone will pop over with more advice soon and you get your LO sorted.

Take care

Offline Layla

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Re: Night Wakings, not sure the next course of action.....
« Reply #2 on: January 04, 2014, 22:31:57 pm »
At 8.5 months, some babies don't have a night feed at all but its not uncommon for them to have up to 2. I would personally pick 2 feeds where you will feed him and for the rest of the night wakings sleep train. What method you choose is up to you.... if he responds well to shh/pat, you can do this. It doesn't have to be pu/pd just because he is 8.5 mo. Dd3 still responds best to shh/pat and she does best when DH does it as I am still BF'd and she doesn't like me too shh/pat lol. I would probably do a feed at around 10/11pm (DF) and then another one around 4-5am. For the other night wakings, try resettling. Then you can work on resettling for the early morning feed and then eliminating the DF. It might take a while for him to get the idea but consistency will be the key.

With regards to daytime sleep, if the long morning/short pm nap is working well for you, then you don't have to change it. With us, dd3 will have a shorter am nap and a longer pm nap but the other way around is still ok. At this age, most don't have 2 long sleeps, one long and one short is ok and will naturally lead to the 2-1 transition, which starts to happen anywhere form 11months onwards.

Hth and let us know how you go :)



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Offline tkymom

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Re: Night Wakings, not sure the next course of action.....
« Reply #3 on: January 04, 2014, 23:22:36 pm »
how long should I try pt/sh before I feed him?  45 min?  I pt/sh when he was younger but haven't done it recently.  thanks!

Offline Layla

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Re: Night Wakings, not sure the next course of action.....
« Reply #4 on: January 05, 2014, 01:22:54 am »
You do it as long as it takes for him to settle. if you do it for 45 and then feed him, you're teaching him that eventually you will feed. Sorry hun, I know its tough and he will cry and it will be a lot easier to feed than to resettl but he needs to learn to transition at night without being fed to sleep.

Let me know how you get on



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Offline Layla

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Re: Night Wakings, not sure the next course of action.....
« Reply #5 on: January 07, 2014, 08:44:26 am »
How are you going hun?



20/06/2012 - my angel baby