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!
