Author Topic: Nightwakings in 17 week old  (Read 963 times)

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Offline kr@sh

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Nightwakings in 17 week old
« on: August 27, 2014, 18:31:30 pm »
Hi All,

My DS will be 17 weeks old tomorrow (16lbs) and is EBF. Since a couple of weeks he has started waking up multiple times at night and is very restless when asleep. I was wondering if anyone can help me figure out why. I was never lucky enough to have him sleep through the night for more than 5-6 hrs, but it seemed to be getting better with restful sleep atleast from 10 pm. to 4:00 a.m. and bang! a few days later he started waking up more frequently even in that span of time.
His natural bedtime used to be 10 p.m. at around 12 weeks, then he moved it to 9:00 p.m. Yesterday he was ready for bed around 8:00 p.m. He wakes up for the day around 6:00 a.m. From whatever I have read, 9:00 p.m seems like its too late for bedtime even though it works better for me since I work till about 7:00 p.m. and our family has late dinner. So yesterday, I decided to try and put him to bed earlier so see if it resolves his NWs and lucky me, cause he was ready to sleep around 8:00 yesterday.
But this led to even worse NWs last night and I'm wondering what I should do!
 His grandparents take care of him during the day when I'm away at work and are very diligent about his schedule . I'm a Zombie during the day and I really need to get some sleep at night and I'm sure my DS needs his restful sleep even more! Please help!!
Here's what our day looked like yesterday:

Wake up for the day: 6:10 a.m.
E: 6:20 a.m
S: 6:30 to 7:30 a.m.
A: 7:30 to 8:30 a.m

E:8:30 a.m.
A: 8:30 to 10:30 a.m
S: 10:30 to 11:30 a.m

E: 12:00 p.m
A: Play, Bath : till 1:55 p.m.
S: 1:55 to 2:45 p.m.

E: 3 p.m
A: 3 to 4:40 p.m
S: 4:40 to 5:10 p.m

E: 6:15 p.m
A: 6:40 to 7:30 p.m (Out for a stroll)

E: 8:00 p.m. (Didnt do a full feed - was not hungry, but I prefer bf ing him before he sleeps)
S: 8:20 p.m. Asleep in bed

NW: 9:30 p.m. - I thought he was hungry since he didnt have a full feed at 8:00 - he bfed a little (again dont think it was a full feed) and went back to sleep

NW: 1:37 a.m. - Picked up, wouldn't fall asleep, so checked if hungry, but wasn't but fell asleep at breast

restless sleep with lots of leg banging on the bassinet and trying to roll, turned 90 degs and got stuck against the bassinet wall.
NW: 4:20 a.m. - Bfed him since he is usually hungry around this time and seemed to be last night as well. He fed at this time, but wouldn't fall asleep even after i rocked him for sometime.
He had also loosened his Halo swaddle and pulled it on his face, so had to re-swaddle him. The velcro opening woke him up even more. I tried keeping his hands out since he was trying to escape the swaddle and thought it would self soothe, but that backfired after I put him in his bassinet.
Fell asleep for 10 mins

Back up at 5:10 a.m. - Picked him, rocked him, didnt want to sleep, so put him in his bassinet where he played and banged his feet for some more time. Wouldn't take his pacifier.

5:40 a.m. - picked him, put his hands back inside swaddle and reswaddled,  rocked him, put him drowsy in his bassinet. Wouldn't go down, so tried the pacifier again. This time he took it and fell asleep at 6:00 a.m. and slept till 8:00 a.m. (restful sleep).
 

I usually give him a massage before his usual 9:00 p.m bedtime with a feed around 8:45 p.m. Yesterday I had to skip it and put him right to bed after nursing cause he was really sleepy. I know I committed a lot of don'ts last night with the pacifier, rocking and nursing, but I'm desperate for some sleep. He used to sleep better at night with his 10:00 p.m bedtime, but there's no way he can stay up till then now. I wonder if this is the dreaded 4 month regression too. Please help me make my baby sleep peacefully at night and save my sanity!! :'(


Offline kr@sh

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Re: Nightwakings in 17 week old
« Reply #1 on: August 28, 2014, 18:15:19 pm »
Can anyone help? I feel like I'm going to crash soon. Last night was similar with a lot of crying at 4:00 a.m. (first time my DS cried so much at night) and was difficult to settle. I'm completely exhausted :'( :'( :'(

Offline jessmum46

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Re: Nightwakings in 17 week old
« Reply #2 on: August 28, 2014, 19:08:55 pm »
Hi I'm sorry you've had no replies as yet.

I do think your LO sounds pretty overtired.  Looking at the routine you posted yesterday I'd say the real start to your day was 7.30am - that 20 minute waking 6.10-6.30am was a night waking.  So that made his first A time 3 hours which is really way too long for his age (typical at four months is 1h45-2h for a well-rested LO).  His second A time was also really long 2.5h, he was then awake another 2h after a really short nap then a further 3h after a tiny overtired 30 minute nap.  Being awake too long and being overtired would definitely explain why your nights have gone so wrong.  Around four months is the time when LOs stop just crashing through sleep cycles when they are tired and the effects of overtiredness become much more apparent. 

Another thing to check - does he go to sleep independently?

When do you need him up to start the day so you can get to work?  Say it's 7am, then really you want to be aiming for a BT no later than 8pm at the absolute outside, and ideally closer to 7/7.30pm.  Treat anything before your ideal WU time as a night waking and resettle.  I would cut his awake times in the day right down to something on the lower side of age appropriate - so say around 1h45 for now.  You may find he naps better and longer if you do that.  After a short nap (anything less than about 1h20-30) then you will need to get him back down for a sleep even sooner. 

Have a look here for some ideas of what other babies are doing at this age: chronological EASY samples, 4-6 months

Offline kr@sh

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Re: Nightwakings in 17 week old
« Reply #3 on: August 28, 2014, 22:23:26 pm »
Thank you Katherine. Let me try reducing his awake hours. In general, we put him down for his naps when he seems sleepy. Anything before and he appears too undertired to sleep. He is usually very happy after his naps. Is there a way to tell if this is all a part of a 4 month regression?

Offline jessmum46

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Re: Nightwakings in 17 week old
« Reply #4 on: August 31, 2014, 08:41:13 am »
Do you mean how would you tell if its 'just' regression rather than OT or something else? I guess only time would tell really, a regression should right itself whereas if you shorten A times to something more age-appropriate and things improve then OT is more likely your culprit.  To be honest the 4m regression and OT/props all seem to be bound up together so I don't know that you can necessarily just blame one thing.