15 weeks, 4hr EASY but can't sort the nights

[Spandanna]

Hi all

DS has been on a 4 hour feeding routine for a couple of weeks now. He's not hungry any earlier than 4 hours and when I tried to feed him earlier he would only take some of his bottle so I'm confident this is ok. Trouble is the naps and night time really. The naps are a bit more Gina Ford that Tracy Hogg except that the nights are filled with wakeups. He only has one feed in the night but he wakes from 11pm onwards regularly needing resettling. Our routine this week looks a bit like this:

Wake 7iish, sometimes a bit earlier
E - 7
A
S - 9-9.45 (always on school run) - sometimes he only does 20-30min nap and can't be resettled
A
E - 11
A
S 12.15-2.15 in his cot sometimes needs a resettle halfway through
E - 3
A
S - 4.30-5 usually in pushchair or carseat
A - bath
E - 6.20-6.30
S - 7
multiple night wakings needing resttling - (dummy- despite settling at 7pm without it, hand on chest, sometimes a cuddle)
E - between 3 and 4am


Today he woke earlier t 6.25am had his ffed at 7am but didn't go to sleep until we were at the school gates at 8.55am, he woke in the car seat at 9.45 (ten mins ago) but I have managed to resttle him with a dummy and with the extractor fan on above him in the kitchen. This used to work to keep him asleep longer in the mornings but recently it hasn't. I guess today he's super tired so has resettled, will see how this changes things (if at all)

I would love some ideas on how to change the nights and improve them. One thing I should add is that he is on ranitidine for silent reflux

thanks in advance x

[jessmum46]

Are you wanting to stick with a short-long-short type of routine or move towards more of a BW style routine?

Do you think the reflux is fully controlled?

I think the first thing I would try is pulling bedtime a bit earlier. A full A time after a catnap may be a bit much, try in bed (asleep) for 6.30 and see if that helps at all x

[Spandanna]

To be honest I don't have much of a preference really, I just need it to work with school runs as I'm out dropping the older two between 8.30ish and 9 and then leaving to collect at 3 (which means the 3pm feed is either early or late depending on what is happening after school.

In the end today he slept in his car seat until 10.40 which is 1h45 nap now he's been asleep for another hour after having real trouble settling.

Can it work to have short - long - short?

I'm not convinced about the reflux, he was only diagnosed two weeks ago although I suspected silent reflux from about 2 weeks but he wasn't too bothered by it until he was fully on formula about 4 weeks ago. He has never been particularly comfortable at night. When he was first put onto ranitidine he had a couple of great nights only waking once for his feed but then it reverted back to multiple wakeups after that.

Will try putting him down earlier tonight although not sure what till happen after two longer naps. Do I still give him a catnap?

[jessmum46]

It's not a BW routine but other sleep methods do use a short-long-short style.  It can definitely work but you tend to keep shorter A times earlier in the day then only a short CN in the afternoon to get you through to bedtime.  Then once the CN is dropped the final A tends to be very long, but with the theory that it is compensated by shorter A times earlier on. 

How are things going?

[Spandanna]

Hi, thanks for the info

That seems to be the pattern for us with school runs. He sleeps for about 30-40mins at about 9am then does a longer 2-2.5h nap (sometimes 3h with a resettle) at midday then a catnap anywhere between 4.30 and 5.30pm of about half an hour. he sleeps 7pm-6.30am but with a feed at 3am. Some nights we have multiple other night wakings and really we only had one night where he only woke for his feed and no other wakeups. That day he did a 3h lunchtime nap and still was tired enough for a 30min catnap 5-5.30 so I wonder whether this had anything to do with it? We aso tried him on some baby porridge that day (he spat most of it out but my Mum was convinced that's what did it .

Not sure where to go from here, last night was back to waking every hour from 11.30pm until 4 when he then did settle until 6.30..... am at a loss. Neither of my other two did this. They woke for feeds and at this point we were reducing the night feed and by 4.5mths had dropped it altogether

[jessmum46]

Routine sounds great to be honest, very typical for a short-long-short routine at this age.  The only thing I could think of would be to bring BT in a little earlier as maybe a 12.5h day is a bit too much?  That said the pattern of wakings isn't typically an OT pattern, I would guess more discomfort......has the ranitidine dose been adjusted lately?  Have you got the cot inclined etc?  I wonder if reflux pain may be an issue?