Author Topic: 9 month old - waking at 10pm & 3am  (Read 1492 times)

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Offline ICCmommy

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9 month old - waking at 10pm & 3am
« on: January 10, 2014, 12:04:02 pm »
Hi there,

My husband had surgery over the holidays and between taking care of him, my 4-year old and my 9-month old I am so exhausted I can't think straight to figure out where and how to start fixing this. Here is our current schedule:

7 - wake & eat breakfast
9:30 - bottle
10:30 - 12 - morning nap
12:30 - lunch
2:00  - bottle
2:30 - afternoon nap
4:00  - dinner
5:00 - sometimes a catnap, otherwise a very cranky baby!
6 - bath
6:30 - bottle & bed
Between 10-11pm he wakes and we give him a bottle
Between 3-4am he wakes and we give him a bottle

Notes:
- I give him food before bottle because I find he doesn't eat as good the other way round. He is a very good eater, with the exception of breakfast...he eats very little breakfast. I'm assuming that is because he is still a but full from the 3am bottle.
- We have tried not giving him the 3am bottle and it's a disaster, he continues to wake until we get up @ 6-7am
-If he goes to bed any later than 6:30pm, he is very restless and wakes often between 7-11pm
- He will most times go to sleep in his crib, by himself. Sometimes instantly, sometimes it takes a while. I think this is because when my husband was recovering, I would rock or hold him to sleep so he wouldn't cry or fuss and wake my husband. I am trying to be consistent by putting him in his crib awake every time now.
- he is a good napper, usually going down for at least 1.5 -2 hrs
- while my husband was recovering, I will admit that some nights I was so exhausted that I would just bring him into bed with me. I don't do it as much now, but I am still very tired and it does happen every few nights for part of the night.
- Here is the part I am having trouble with...he is always tired, rubbing his eyes and being fussy, even right after his naps and at mealtimes. I know this is probably because he's not getting a solid 11-12hrs at night. I also know that his A time should be longer (right now he is taking a nap after only 2hrs of being awake and is sometimes even still taking a catnap @5pm-ish because he is tired and miserable). I don't know how to stretch his A time when he is already so tired! I suspect that is one of the reasons we are having such a hard time right now.

I think that is it, please let me know if I've missed anything.

Any help would be so greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance,
Justina

Offline Skadiver13

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Re: 9 month old - waking at 10pm & 3am
« Reply #1 on: January 10, 2014, 17:55:24 pm »
Hi Hun, hope all is well with your husband. I can imagine how tired you must be. Do you have family at all that might be able to come over for an afternoon and let you take a break? Or friends that can take your older one for a bit?

Looking over your easy and questions here are somethings I can suggest.

We have tried not giving him the 3am bottle and it's a disaster, he continues to wake until we get up @ 6-7am
That's fine it's not unheard of to still have a feed at this time. I woudlnt' bother weaning it for now until you can have help from your husband later on.

I think making sure you put him to sleep independently will only help you although I know it's hard with someone convalescing. But I would remove that CN all together. He's already OT from a shorter night so I think now is the time to go. He's waking at 10pm most likely because of that CN. I would remove it al together and start focusing on the two naps. At this age he honestly doesn't need it. He needs to get his A times pushed out and he'll get used to staying up longer but only if he's forced too. A lot of lo's tend to get tired around the time they are used to sleeping.  I know when my LO has some built up OT he's tired after he wakes up and is yawning etc. But getting him out of hte house helps. I know that's hard to do but it just means he's not actually still tired.

At the 10pm feeding Does he take a full feed? And at 3 does he take a full feed? Does he go right back to sleep after both feedings by himself?

My dreamed for Angel Baby DD (other than dreaded 40min naps) Born 4/30/16
Reflux, MSPI, Love my Spirited,textbook little munchkin DS Born 5/17/2012



**Siobhan**