I am new to this forum - thank you in advance for anyone that can offer any help. My oldest (girl) was an ideal textbook baby, sleeping through the night, no problem at all from 9 weeks on (seriously as easy as could be). She was on EASY since day 1.
My 2nd is a bit more of a challenge. He's 17 weeks and weighs 16 lbs (big boy!). He has been on EASY since day 1 (bottle fed). He has pretty bad reflux, but it is controlled with Nexium and when he's on the medication he essentially shows no symptoms. We also changed his formula 2 weeks ago to Alimentum (we were on Gerber Good Start Gentle) and that has also been very helpful. He's a bit of a gassy baby but nothing too bad, we use the Dr. Browns bottles and those seem to help. So we have been good to go as far as feeding is concerned. He's been a fairly good sleeper until week 15. Occasionally he would need to be reswaddled or given a pacifier, but he was pretty consistent. Then, at around 15 weeks, all hell broke loose.
I have heard awful things about the '4 month growth spurt / sleep regression'. Baby Whisperer advised that this was the time to move him to an eating-every-4 hour schedule, which we have done fairly successfully (he has been on this new schedule for approx 5 days). He eats at 7, 11, 3, and 7 (roughly 7 ounces each bottle) and then a dream feed at 11 (anywhere from 5 to 7 ounces). Takes 2 naps a day (one at 9am and one at 1pm, each one around 1.5 hours, though we try and get him to sleep a full 2) and then a catnap (30-40 mins max) around 5pm. He's in his crib by 7:15. So we are literally following the schedule to a T. We put him down awake for both naps and bedtime and he puts himself to sleep no problem at all. He is not rolling over yet, and like all infants he is drooling like a madman and loves to eat his hands. No teeth yet. We swaddle him for all naps and bedtime which he loves.
Our issue arises at around 1am. He will sleep from 7:15 to 1am soundly -not a peep out of him at all. He doesn't wake during the dream feed either. Then, at 1am, like clockwork, he starts fussing in his sleep. He doesn't wake up, but is fussing and moving all over the place (still in his swaddle). We do PU/PD and that calms him almost immediately, throw the pacifier back in and he's asleep again....for another 45 mins to an hour, when the whole episode repeats itself until 630am. Sometimes around 3 or 4am, he will open his eyes briefly and then go right back to sleep, but otherwise his eyes don't open at all. I know the dangers of props and I don't think the pacifier is one at this time. It's not like he spits it out and then is demanding it back. Many times I am tempted to let him 'cry it out' and settle himself back down, but he doesn't appear to be doing that, and simultaneously is waking up my 3 year old.
This has been going on for almost 2 weeks and my wife and I are really struggling. We have no clue what to do - is this something we just wait out, and it will go away? We are exhausted! I also have heard that with some kids the dream feed can interrupt their sleep - is this possible? The last thing I want to do is try to get rid of the dream feed only to have him wake up hungry hours later. I have also heard that moving up the dream feed, or moving up his bedtime, can help...basically we will try anything at this point. We are very routine driven and the schedules have worked great for our family. We head to the doctor this week for his 4 month well visit, but I thought I would reach out to you all and see if anyone has any guidance.
As you can see (and many of you have experienced) it's a vicious cycle. He is so sweet but we are all so so tired. Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much!
