Author Topic: waking every hour  (Read 1233 times)

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Offline cazzieclarity

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waking every hour
« on: January 06, 2015, 09:14:04 am »
Hi all,
I'm hoping to get some help, or maybe just moral support!
I used easy for dd who is now 6 and it worked really well. Now I have ds who is 8mths and it's a whole different ball game!
I'm now self employed so I've had no mat leave so me and my husband share the business and the kids with some help from nan and sis in law. Ds is a happy sociable baby so this hasnt been a problem, but implementing a routine has been virtually impossible.

I cant really post a routine but what I can tell you is this:

He wakes at about 6.30am, bed by 6.30 pm
Weaning started at 5mths, he eats well, 3 meals plus snacks and he has a mid morning bottle, one mid aft, one before bed......then go knows how many in the middle of the night.

Hes always been a short napper. I've tried EVERYTHING! He's always hated shhh pat, it winds him up, we have white noise, he sleeps with a lovey and a dummy. He self soothes MOST of the time.....this is the odd bit. We can out him down for naps and for bed and he soothes to sleep, but when he wakes in the night he can take literally hours to try to soothe back to sleep so sometimes I do give him a bit of help with a cuddle or a bottle.

On a good day he'll have 3 x 40 min naps, a time being around 3hrs. On a bad run (it's usually bad) he has disaster naps....10/15 mins and then we're in an over tired loop. Then I find judging the a time really hard.

So here's the problem. I can cope with short naps (I think ive accepted that its just the way he rolls) but on a good night he wakes once for  bottle, on a bad night (and we have more bad than good) its every hr. Last night he was in bed by 6.30, he then woke at 8.30, 9.30, 10, 30, 11.30, 12.30, 1, 3, 5 and then 6.30. Obviously,  we're all shattered. I dont know what to do about his a time and today he starts a taster session in nursery!

I know that he suffers badly with teething and last time he woke hourly it was just before his bottiem teeth came through. Should I just chill and accept its a blip? We're just all so damn tired though!

Any help would be much appreciated xxx

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Re: waking every hour
« Reply #1 on: January 06, 2015, 10:08:22 am »
Oh you must all be so tired :(

Waking every hour at night does sound like teething pain to me. Have you tried meds at BT and perhaps dream meds later on before you go to bed?  Teething was very tough in our house too, I think some LOs really do suffer with those awful teeth!

Has he always done 40 min naps?  if you and/or your child's carers feel prepared to put in some work you may well be able to teach him to sleep a longer, restorative nap which could help his overall sleep habits. Day sleep helps night sleep, night sleep helps day sleep.  If you are prepared then I'd suggest increasing his first A time of the day by 15 - 30 mins and help him through the transition at 40 mins (so you go to him at 30mins and see him right through that transition with a hand on him, a key phrase if you have one such as "it's sleepy time, everything's ok", maybe slightly rocking with your hand or whatever helps, I see he doesn't like to be patted) continue until he is in deep sleep again. If he fully wakes you would stay by his cot for a further 45 mins telling him it is sleep time, reassuring with touch or words as needed (PU/PD if needed) but stay in the dark room to teach him how long a nap is to last.
Perhaps something to think about.


Offline cazzieclarity

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Re: waking every hour
« Reply #2 on: January 06, 2015, 15:00:42 pm »
Hi,
Thanks so much for your response. Yes he suffers so badly, far more than dd did. I give him calpol before med and then last night at about midnight I gave him ibrupofen. I really hope this is just down to teething.

I have gone through stages of really putting in the effort to get him to nap longer but it really is tough. He's a very light sleeper and anything such as w2s or dream feeds have always made his sleeping worse. When I've tried to go to him at the 25/30min mark I usually end up just waking him up! Today after nursery (thankfully it went well, although he's shattered) we decided to go on a very long drive in the hope that he'd sleep coz he was shattered - still he only did 40 mins.

I know the way to crack night sleep is to crack day sleep but I just can't seem to work out how to do it. The only success that I've had in getting him back to sleep once he's awake is to rock him. I don't want to add another prop plus he's a big boy!

I'll try increasing the A time in the morning but usually his morning naps are only ever 30mins. We have been having very bad nights though so I guess the A time is all over the place as a result.

Thanks for your help
x

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Re: waking every hour
« Reply #3 on: January 06, 2015, 17:52:17 pm »
Would you be able to extend a nap by rocking him inside the cot?  Rather than pick him up can you put a firm hand on him and use it to gently rock him?  I used to do this with my DS rather than patting.  In our case the 'rock' was minute, almost a judder or a shake like the vibration of the car, it's a small movement of the firm hand and you can see his body moving.


Offline cazzieclarity

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Re: waking every hour
« Reply #4 on: January 06, 2015, 19:02:10 pm »
I've often just sat with him with my hand on his chest which when he was younger worked......now he'd probably just start to play with my hand!

Often all he wants is to be picked up, it doesn't even have to be rocking,  just a cuddle works. Today he woke from his 40 min nap at 12.20 and has refused to go back to sleep. I put him in his cot at just before 3and he was there an hour before I just gave up. I figure hes had the chance to sleep but by the time it had got to nearly 4 I thought it was just too late in the day.

So he was in bed by 6.10.......now half an hour later he's started moaning.

I think he maybe does need longer a time but until we're getting better nights I cant see how thats possible??
X

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Re: waking every hour
« Reply #5 on: January 07, 2015, 09:40:53 am »
As things are already pretty bad I'd risk him getting OT and up the A time as you've said. Some LOs do need a longer A at this age (mine liked a super long first A then had a short last A of the day, other LOs like a short first A, long last A, if you aren't sure then just trying for a week might help you discover more about his sleep preferences).  I would try not to trap yourself in the idea of him needing a better night before increasing A because if he is UT for his naps this just perpetuates the problem. I would try increasing by 15 mins and stay close by so if he has any stirrings you can try to sooth him through without him fully waking.


Offline cazzieclarity

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Re: waking every hour
« Reply #6 on: January 07, 2015, 14:03:26 pm »
Ok that's good advise. After another night last night of hourly waking (that's three in a row, and last night he even woke our daughter!) I decided to try a longer A. It was impossible though and after 2.5hrs he fell asleep within minutes of being put down.

He's in a bad way with the teething - he gets diarrhea, cough, snot....you name it and he's even now losing his voice. He's had a better nap day so far today though so fingers crossed.

Thanks again - I'll try pushing that A!

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Re: waking every hour
« Reply #7 on: January 07, 2015, 18:34:51 pm »
Oh dear poor boy is really suffering. I would perhaps leave the A for now and wait for this teething phase to pass if he is as bad as that :(
Hope the worst passes very soon.


Offline cazzieclarity

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Re: waking every hour
« Reply #8 on: January 09, 2015, 15:42:44 pm »
It's been a terrible week so far. We did get one 1.5hr nap from him where he didn't need any assistance, but other than that it's been shocking. we're all beyond exhausted. Were it not for the fact that he had a chest infection just before xmas and had a round of antibiotics, I'd have him in to the docs. But I know there's no infections coz he's just had the meds, and he's no temperature. It's just grotty, horrible teeth!

I'm letting him take naps wherever we can get them. I've also just got him a cuddly to attach dummies to, since the nights are so bad anyway I thought I might as well try to get him used to re-plugging himself and introduce slowly. Hopefully once the teeth are through we can start stretching the A - it just seems at the minute that there's always something wrong such as teething or cold! poor love, if I'm knackered, he must be!!

Thanks again

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Re: waking every hour
« Reply #9 on: January 10, 2015, 15:48:56 pm »
Oh, so sorry for him with this rough time of teething. I remember too well how much my DS suffered (and me too from so little sleep), it just seemed to go on and on.
vibes for a better week to come x