5 month old EASY all off kilter!

[AlanaCYK]

Hi jessmum! The CN was 40 minutes and got her through the evening - she was asleep by 8:15pm for BT that night. We are on Day #12 of ST and things are slowly improving. Her naps are very good for the most part - usually 1.5-2 hours with the occasional 30 minute OT nap that we make up with a CN.

We're still struggling with NWs and I cannot for the life of me figure out why she's waking. There have been a few nights that she settled herself back to sleep for some of the wakings, but usually I need to go in and shh/pat to resettle her. I can't tell if it's teething, OT, UT, hunger or just restless sleeping. There's never any consistency to the timings of the wakings and it's different every night, but there's guaranteed to be at least 5 per night (one of which she gets fed/changed).

[jessmum46]

What does her EASY look like now?  The naps sound great

Do you use shh pat at bedtime or is she able to settle independently?  Have you ever tried pain meds to see if they help?  Does she have a dreamfeed?

[AlanaCYK]

Typically her EASY looks like this:
7:00am - Eat
              Activity
9:30am/10:00am - Sleep
11:30am/12pm - Eat
                         Activity
3:30pm/4:00pm - Eat
                         Activity
6:30pm - BT routine incl. a bottle
asleep by 7-7:30pm
On days where her naps are bad we fit in a CN around 5:00pm.
We have started giving her time to settle herself for naps and BT (allowing her to fuss and protest cry). If after 5 minutes she starts to escalate, I shh/pat just to calm her down and as soon as she closes her eyes I stop and leave the room. If after 5 minutes she starts winding down the crying, I leave her be and she settles herself after a few more minutes. We gave her some Advil (ibuprofen) last night before bed and she slept soundly until her dream feed at 11:45pm. She went back to sleep quickly after her bottle, but from 3:30am to 7:00am she had 5 wakings all of which she needed shh/pat to resettle. We'll try the Advil again tonight to see if it helps (in case last night was a one off!). I'm inclined to think she's teething as she's showing all the signs and our DS1 got his 1st teeth at 6 months (DD2 is now less than a week from 6 months old).
- excessive drooling (soaks at least 5 bibs a day)
- excessive chewing on her fingers and anything she gets in her mouth (she doesn't suck; she chews hard)
- for all her wakings she sounds like she's in pain and she has her fingers in her mouth chewing
She has always had numerous NWs so I'm not positive about the teething being the cause. If it's not teething maybe she's hungry and now needs two feedings vs. one through the night?

[AlanaCYK]

So we tried the Advil last night and she slept all night except for being up for 20 minutes for a df! I'll try it again tonight although I don't want to overdo it with the pain meds. I'm assuming she'll be teething for weeks and I can't give her meds every night. Any suggestions for helping her sleep through teething without meds?

Oh and she started crying and chewing her hand this morning at 6am. Her eyes were still closed, but I couldn't get her to settle back to sleep. I admit to AP and gave her a paci to chew on. She chewed on it for a bit and went back to sleep until 7:30am.

I must say, it was nice to have some sleep last night! :-)

[jessmum46]

It does sound like teething.  If she's hasn't got any by almost six months I'd say it was a fair bet.  DD had her first at 3.5 months! 

To be honest I'm not sure there is a lot you can do to improve sleep when in pain from teething other than to offer some pain relief.  I mean, if I had toothache I can't imagine I'd sleep well.  What you could do is investigate some more homeopathic options - it's not really something I'm into but others do swear by amber necklaces or Hyland's teething tablets (or similar).  But my approach has always been try the 'proper' pain meds for a few nights, then try a night without and see how it goes rather than keeping at them indefinitely. 

It's good that she can settle herself independently it sounds like you know the difference between a protest cry and a 'real' one, but just remember that listening to the cry and responding appropriately is key, not waiting for any set amount of time before deciding whether or not to respond. 

Hope the good sleep continues!

[AlanaCYK]

Thanks! Fun times :-)