7 mo old with frequent nw's in the last month, often requiring a MOTN feed

[alingenf]

My LO has been waking during the night for many months.  At each phase, we discover something new and are able to adjust and get back to where it is minimized, but the last month has been a steady struggle with multiple night wakings and lots of nights where I am feeding her.  First, a brief history:

At first, when she was very little (2-3 months) she was waking 10+ times each night, and it was because she had reflux and we didn't know.  We also discovered she had food sensitivities and was reactive to dairy and soy in my diet.  I cut out all dairy and soy, we put her on medication and her NWs immediately dropped to 1-2 per night.  Each time she woke, I could replug her paci and she immediately went back to sleep.  I posted on the Props board for help, and given her reflux, I resisted the urge to wean the paci, as it was probably still helping with her reflux issues.

At was 3.5 mos, she was sleeping for 6-7 hour stretches regularly, and often going 9-10 hours.   At 4 and 5 mos, she was sleeping well and NOT being fed in the MOTN.  I was going in 1-2x a night, on average, to replug the paci, but it literally took seconds for her to be back asleep. 

 At age 5.5 mos, she started daycare 3 days a week, and we also started cereal as she started seeming hungry in the MOTN and waking earlier for food/milk. 

Things really started downhill around at age 6 mos (1 month ago) - we moved to a new house and had to temporarily live with my in-laws so the entire routine and sleeping arrangement was thrown off for over a week.  It was then that I started feeding her at night to get her to settle back down and go to sleep - nothing else seemed to work.  I was replugging a paci every 5-10 mins for a hour, then I would resort to feeding her, and she'd settle down and sleep again for several hours. 

About a week after we moved into our new house, she seemed to be doing well.  We had 2 nights in a row of no night wakings, and she seemed to be adjusting fine.  Then, all of a sudden, things weren't okay.  She began waking more at night, often seeming WIDE AWAKE and happy.  Other times she would wake and fuss and fuss until I fed her.  About half the nights I ended up feeding her to get her to settle.  I read some on the boards, and immediately began extending her Awake times and shortening her daytime sleep a bit to see if that would help.  Since then (that was about  1.5 - 2 weeks ago), the NWs haven't really changed - she still wakes anywhere from 2-4x each night, sometimes just for paci replugs, others for feedings, and other times I'm sitting there with my hand on her chest for 30-45 mins.

At this point, I feel lost as to what is going on.  Is she truly hungry in the MOTN?  I tend to doubt it because some nights she can go all night without a feed, but then again, she does take a fairly full feed when I do nurse her in the MOTN...  Should I spend multiple hours with my hand on her chest and not give in to feed her?  Is that actually accomplishing anything?  She knows how to settle and fall asleep on her own, so I'm not sure my hand on her chest is actually a solution that will get us to the point where she wont' wake anymore in the night.   It seems like it just buys me another short chunk of time until she wakes up again.  LO is still swaddled as well.

Any thoughts/suggestions?  TIA

Our Routine:
E - 7am wake her and nurse, breakfast at ~8 (~2 oz fruit/cereal)
A
S - 9:15/9:30 ( she will easily sleep for 2 hours, but I have been waking her after 1 hour)
E - 11:30 nurse, lunch at 12:30 (about 2-3 oz veggie/cereal)
A
S - ~1:30 (2 hours)
E - 3:30/4 nurse  her
A
E - 5:45/6pm nurse her and solids (about 4-5 oz solids) and a little breastmilk
A - bath, books
S - 7/7:15pm bedtime
E - dream feed at 10pm (takes a full feed!)

[Skadiver13]

Hi Hun, sorry I missed this post.

At age 5.5 mos, she started daycare 3 days a week, and we also started cereal as she started seeming hungry in the MOTN and waking earlier for food/milk. 

This is right around a grow spurt so that's not uncomon at all. But cereal isn't going to help her sleep through the night as it still has less calories than BM. I would up her feeding during the day and maybe do some cluster feeding before Bed to help?

she still wakes anywhere from 2-4x each night, sometimes just for paci replugs, others for feedings, and other times I'm sitting there with my hand on her chest for 30-45 mins.

I think your paci is an issue. If she can't replug herself and is waking becuase it has fallen out or needs it to go back to sleep than I would wean it. At 4 months my LO would wake if it fell out or wouldn't go back to sleep with out it and I was exhausted so I weaned it and it helped those wakings as he had to self settle with out it.  The other is feeding to sleep. It sounds as if she's on a 4hr EASY so she can certainly go 4hrs in the middle of the night with out feeding. So if you feed her before bed then do a DF at 10 then she should not need to eat before 2am. If she wakes before then you need to teach her how to resettle with out feeding and with out replugging her pacifier
As for your EASY

S - 9:15/9:30 ( she will easily sleep for 2 hours, but I have been waking her after 1 hour)

^ I would not do this. You are waking her before she is having a full cycle of sleep and it's causing her to be over tired for her next nap. A full nap at this age would be 1.5-2hrs. Is there a reason you are waking her after an hr?

[alingenf]

Thanks so much for the reply and the suggestions!!  Yes, I agree that the paci is an issue.  At this point, it's a concern, but not the first one.  I still feel like there is a little more I can do with respect to her feeding and daytime sleep schedule before I go that route.  Weaning a paci sounds painful - I will do it if that's what it comes to, but just want to exhaust all my other options first! 

Also, I was waking her after only an hour nap in the morning, because I was thinking she is getting too much daytime sleep (I was reading other posts on this board).  If she is home with me (and not at daycare) she will easily nap for 4 hours a day if I let her (2 naps, each of 2 hours). 

After I posted, I did start doing cluster feeding in the evening and really cut her dinner solids down to 1-2oz max.  So, she is taking in more milk between 5 and 7pm, and it does seem to help - yay!!  I was able to get 2 nights in a row with just 1 wake-up for a very quick paci re-plug to get her back to sleep.  Her daytime naps on those days totaled less than 3 hours.  Then, the next 2 nights Ijust had to do a paci re-plug 2x, and she had 3.5 hours and 4 hours of daytime sleep on those days....  so maybe it isn't the daytime sleep causing my nighttime issues.

But, yesterday, she got 3.5 hours of daytime sleep, and woke at 1:15 and was WIKE AWAKE.  She wasn't really hungry, although I tried nursing her.  I ended up holding her for a bit and then putting her in her crib with her paci, and she settled to sleep without me.  All together, she was up off/on for about 1.5hours

Are there any clues that I'm missing?  I only have 5 days in with the cluster feeds, so maybe I should keep up with the cluster feeds and give it another week to see how it goes?  She's at daycare for the next 4 days, so her daytime sleep will be shorter regardless (around 2-3 hours total).

Thanks!!

[Skadiver13]

Also, I was waking her after only an hour nap in the morning, because I was thinking she is getting too much daytime sleep (I was reading other posts on this board).  If she is home with me (and not at daycare) she will easily nap for 4 hours a day if I let her (2 naps, each of 2 hours). 

Hi hun I would suggest you at least give her a full 1.5hr nap in the AM and a 1.5hr nap in the PM that's only 3hrs and normal for her age.

I would suggest maybe start stretching her A time before that second nap and lower the A time slightly before BT.