Author Topic: PU/PD for night waking - 5&1/2 month old  (Read 1762 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Bobcat

  • New & Learning The Ropes
  • *
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Posts: 42
  • Location: Ireland
PU/PD for night waking - 5&1/2 month old
« on: October 24, 2015, 22:34:14 pm »
Hi. I have a 5 1/2 month old that is waking at night and I'd love some advice. He's my third and I used PU/PD really successfully with my other 2.

He is a lovely happy baby and daytime naps are pretty good - they tend to be short but he goes down very easily (often wide awake and settles himself fully) and wakes quite happy - so though they are a bit short I'm not trying too hard to extend them.

He goes to bed at around 7pm after bath and breastfeed and then gets a dream feed at 10pm. Problem is that he wakes at least once a night - usually about 3am, sometimes at 1am as well  -  and is very difficult to settle. He doesn't seem to be hungry - feeding hasn't helped and when he does finally go back to sleep he usually sleeps until 7am and wakes up quite happy and not always looking for a feed straight away. I've been doing PU/PD for a week now and it's getting harder to settle him. It often takes an hour.

Some specific questions -
-When I put him down should I continue to pat him in the cot?
- If (when) he cries immediately on being put down should I pick him up straight away or try to comfort him in the cot?
- Should I talk to him or is that too stimulating?
- When I pick up is it ok to rock him to get him to calm down?
- Finally - he is often very difficult to calm down when I pick him up and this often gets worse as time goes on - should I put him down anyway if he's still crying after 2-3 minutes and then when to pick him up again.

I have a 4 and 3 year old as well who have both been sick so I am exhausted and these night wakings are getting really stressful.
Any advice would be hugely appreciated.
Thanks

Offline Martini~

  • Birth Clubs
  • Forum Moderator
  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 48
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 3009
  • Location:
Re: PU/PD for night waking - 5&1/2 month old
« Reply #1 on: October 25, 2015, 06:52:04 am »
Hi Honey! If he goes to sleep quite independently, it's rather less probable his NW are reasoned by habit or wrong sleep associations so maybe that's why PUPD is not working.

Can you please post your routine so we could check if any tweak is needed?
~Marta

Offline Bobcat

  • New & Learning The Ropes
  • *
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Posts: 42
  • Location: Ireland
Re: PU/PD for night waking - 5&1/2 month old
« Reply #2 on: October 25, 2015, 23:24:37 pm »
Thanks Maritini.

His day is something like this

Wake and breast feed 6:30am
Solids 8am
Sleep 8:30
Wake 9:15
Breast feed - I try to delay until about 10am, sometimes it's earlier.
Sleep 12:30
Awake 1:15
Breast feed - I try to delay until 2pm, depends on earlier feed.
Solids about 2:30
Sleep 3:30
Awake 4pm
Breast feed 4pm
Bath, breast feed, bed time routine starts at 6:30 (goes down easily)
Bottle 10pm - dream feed but occasionally wakes for it.

As you can see his daytime naps are short and maybe that is the problem. Although he usually goes down easily. My other 2 boys have school and kindy and swim classes etc so it's hard to work on daytime naps.

Any advice would be great!
Thanks

Offline Martini~

  • Birth Clubs
  • Forum Moderator
  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 48
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 3009
  • Location:
Re: PU/PD for night waking - 5&1/2 month old
« Reply #3 on: October 26, 2015, 06:23:42 am »
Am I right that he sleeps 3 times a day and naps sum up to 2h?
Can you please explain what do you do at the nw?
~Marta

Offline Bobcat

  • New & Learning The Ropes
  • *
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Posts: 42
  • Location: Ireland
Re: PU/PD for night waking - 5&1/2 month old
« Reply #4 on: October 26, 2015, 07:40:52 am »
Yes - 3 naps a day is right. About 2 hours total though this can vary a little.

When he wakes at night I try to comfort him in the cot with gentle patting and sshing. This never works and I then do PU/PD. He seems to get increasingly agitated with this and while he will eventually settle it can take up to an hour. I think it might be too stimulating for him. Often if he has been difficult to settle he will wake again at about 5am. I've tried feeding and while he takes a feed he still doesn't settle.

Any advice would be great! Thanks.

Offline Martini~

  • Birth Clubs
  • Forum Moderator
  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 48
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 3009
  • Location:
Re: PU/PD for night waking - 5&1/2 month old
« Reply #5 on: October 26, 2015, 08:34:10 am »
I would think that your short naps and the fact that your morning A is short are starting impacting the night sleep.

Average A for a 5,5-6mo would be rather 2.5-3h when you morning one is 2h. Can you try to push this nap a bit and start it later than now? It should prevent waking at 5, give him more A during day, lengthen the nap and make him less OT if at least one nap will be long.
~Marta

Offline Bobcat

  • New & Learning The Ropes
  • *
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Posts: 42
  • Location: Ireland
Re: PU/PD for night waking - 5&1/2 month old
« Reply #6 on: October 26, 2015, 09:05:48 am »
I'll try that. He tends to fall asleep when I'm dropping the other kids to kindy so I'll have to come up with a strategy for keeping him awake in the car!

Thanks for your help - heading off to bed now as I'm in New Zealand so fingers crossed for tonight - I live in hope.

Offline Bobcat

  • New & Learning The Ropes
  • *
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Posts: 42
  • Location: Ireland
Re: PU/PD for night waking - 5&1/2 month old
« Reply #7 on: October 29, 2015, 04:22:53 am »
Hi there

So the last few days I've changed the routine. He is tolerating the extra awake time no problem and still going down ok for naps. I've been working on extending his am nap with holding through the jerks followed by PU/PD with some success.

The last two days
Awake 6am
BF then solids 7am
Nap 9am - 10:45pm (with about 20 mins PU/PD at the 45 minute mark)
BF then solids 11am
Nap 1pm - 45 minutes!
BF 3pm
Catnap 4:30-5
Bath 6:30
BF and sleep 7pm
Bottle feed 10pm.

So the morning nap is better and the feeds finally spacing out to 4 hours - only problem is the nights following these have been awful. He has woken about 4 times a night and always needs me to settle him. Even after his 10pm feed last night is took an hour of PU/PD to settle him.

I feel like I've gone about 10 steps back. I don't know whether to persevere with this approach and see what happens? He is generally a very happy chap during the day but I'm exhausted!

Thanks

Offline Martini~

  • Birth Clubs
  • Forum Moderator
  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 48
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 3009
  • Location:
Re: PU/PD for night waking - 5&1/2 month old
« Reply #8 on: November 13, 2015, 08:40:37 am »
Oh wat a crappy helper I am:). Missed your answer.
I have seen you opened another thread when looking for help - would you still want some of my advice?
~Marta