Extreme Night Wakings

[Jrc32]

Hello,

Thank you in advance for any advice and help.

- 14 week old baby girl
- Been on 3-hour EASY since 8 weeks
- EBF
- Sleeps 1x2hr nap in the morning, 2x1h-1.5hr nap mid morning and afternoon (the second one is always a "fight"), 1 cat nap between 5-6.
- Up until 13 weeks bedtime was 11pm, she would sleep 4-5 hours, feed, sleep 3-4 hours. (She would not stay down before 11pm, we realize now it was because she was overtired and sleeping too much in the day)
- At 12 weeks she went through a wonder week / development and was off routine (short naps and more BF).
- At 13 weeks, we started bedtime routine WAY earlier after speaking with some friends and reading more in Tracy's book. Bedtime is now 7:30pm and has been for the last 7 nights.

- For the last 7 nights, it has sadly looked something like this:
7:30-7:45pm bedtime
10:30pm dreamfeed
11:15pm wake up and cry after being put down - she doesn't wake for the dreamfeed, but always about 30 mins afterwards?? (not hysterically, but needs soothing - hand on belly/chest - usually don't have to PU/PD)
1:30am wake up and cry (Wait, listen then look and she needs a reswaddle, paci, and will usually settle herself)
3:30am wake up and cry (Diaper change & Feed, but it's usually very difficult. Have to unswaddle fully and keep tickling her to stay awake. Have introduced a bottle of expressed breast milk for when I can't wake her up - she falls asleep nursing. It's very frustrating as I want to ensure a good feed)
5:30am wake up and coo (usually puts self back to sleep)
6:30am wake up for the day (FEED, still yawns, rubs eyes during BF, poops, usually only up for an hour before sleepy signs are back???)

- As you can see, she wakes up every 1.5-2 hours.
- We have been doing PU/PD for 8 days. She has responded well overall. We were rocking to sleep and using wake-to-sleep after placing her in crib (Dr. Harvey Karp method). Now when soothing in the crib we put a hand on her belly / chest and keep repeating "it's ok sleepy girl"
- She uses a pacifier but only at naps & bedtime.
- She feeds 8 times in a 24 hour period: 6:30am, 10:00, 1:00, 4:00, 6:00 + 7:00 (tank up), 10:30pm, 3:30am, 6:30am. Times may vary depending on the length of her naps, but I try to be as consistent as possible by waiting a full 3 hours and follow her hunger cues. (BF sessions are not always very efficient, she was a snacker before I really committed to EASY)
- For the tank up feed and dreamfeed we give her a bottle of expressed breast milk to ensure a good feed.

Questions:
1. When soothing with PU/PD, how long should we keep our hand on her? I believe Tracy recommends waiting until the after the jolt, but I think she finds it overstimulating. I usually pull away after she settles and stops moving her legs. Sometimes she wakes back up, others not.

2. Why is she waking so much at night?

3. Will it ever get better on its own or do I need to change something else?

4. Is 7:30-7:45 too late of a bedtime if she is still waking up sleepy?

Thank you

[ZacsMumme]

Welcome I see you have only posted a few times.

Honestly, I think your nights look ok I mean BT looks fantastic! What I would probably do it ditch the Df given it's not really working. I'd reserve the feed for when she does her first nw around 11. See if his resettles her better. Plus it's less stress on you. I wonder if Jane has trapped wind after the Df/NF what do you think?

The paci starts to become a prop around this age, and often you have to re plug a few times a night til. Can do it themselves....or wean it. The 5.30 ew is common. If she SS back to sleep I'd just not worry about it, it's normal for them to wake and go back to sleep multiple times a night, it's just needing us that can be hard.

She is quite young for pu/pd, but given you are having progress I'd stick with it. The reason it's reserved for older Los is because as you said, it can be OS. Remember you can also use/shh patting to soothe if she needs you.

You could try moving BT forward closer to 7 to shorten the day. and yes, it will get better Hun. 3-6 mths is a really hard age x

[Jrc32]

Thanks so much for the reply.

She's so funny with her soother - sometimes she wants it so bad, other times she spits it across the crib. I don't think we're ready to wean yet - especially because we have a trip coming up and I am nervous about what the time change etc. will do to her routine already... don't want to throw too much change at her at once.

I tried the ssh-pat but she literally HATED it. It would make her crazy. Putting her on her side made her nuts and picking her up and putting her on my shoulder just made her scream louder in my ear. It was horrifying... so that's why I made the switch to PU/PD. It doesn't always work... afternoons and nighttimes are very difficult on both of us. She goes down so easily for her first 2 naps, I always get my hopes up for a good night... but then she skips her cat nap like today and woke up 1.5 hours after bedtime. After 9 PU/PD, (and her not even close to calming down) I fed her because it had been 3 hours anyway and she would have woken up within the hour I believe, based on previous nights. I'm probably in for it tonight.

When will this get easier? Sigh. It's so hard to not envy those babies who sleep 5-6 hours or more in a row. I just wonder if there is something else going on??? You mentioned gas - but I don't see signs of that.

Nice to know I'm not alone, thanks again for replying. Any other advice for this first time nervous wreck is always appreciated.

Cheers

[ZacsMumme]

Both my kids had/have dummies. They are a blessing and a curse

I know it feels like it's never going to end but I promise you it will! My second woke every 30 mins all.night.long in pain with food intolerances and reflux he was terrible till 9 mths. But now sleeps like a dream (touch wood ) she is still little.

So no symptoms of wind or gas? - no reflux symptoms either or Colicy behaviour? - if so then it could just be her.

What are her first A times for the naps, and are they typically good naps? - maybe we could try tweaking her A times later in the day and see if it helps her nights.

Hang in there, your doing a fab job.

[Jrc32]

Hi -

I looked up silent reflux, I had never heard of it before, she does have some signs of that. I will continue to monitor. Between 5-8 weeks she was awful - so much crying..  but we didn't understand that we had to help her sleep, we thought she'd sleep when she wanted.. like the first 3 weeks!!! I can't believe no one told us or that we didn't have the common sense?? Oh well. So after trying a million gas and colic formulas, we figured that she needed to sleep more and then she was lovely.. especially after getting through the 8th week (big growth as I understand it!)

So last night, I pushed her bedtime back an hour, I figured I had nothing to lose at this point and thought maybe I was missing her optimal sleep window? We all got some sleep last night... she went 3 hours (feed - we waiting too long to DF), 4.5 hours (feed), then another 3 hours (wake up & feed).. I was in bed by 8:30 LOL. Tonight she went down at the same time, but has woken up twice already. She has such a hard time with transition - always waking at 40 minutes. So, I should probably head to bed as this is not a good sign of things to come...

I'm not sure I understand your question about activity times? Her morning is *typically* her best nap - solid 1.5 hours. Second nap tends to go the 45 minute route, then I take her for a walk for her third nap, sometimes she sleeps solid, sometimes not. I try to get out with her at least once a day. She hasn't been taking an afternoon catnap because bedtime is now 6:30. Our day starts at 6:30am usually - sometimes 6:45. She's on a 3 hour routine. I really watch for those sleepy signs - but she's finicky... if I go at first yawn it takes forever for her to settle... if I wait a bit longer and get some extra snuggles then I can usually put her down without too much fuss.

Thanks for your continued support!!!!