Night wakings every 1-2 hrs

[zissi]

Hi ladies,
My lo is 5.5 months old and since the 4 months sleep regression she wakes every 1-2 sleep cycles (between 45 mins and 2 hrs) at night. I usually feed her back to sleep as this is the quickest and she doesn't really wake that way. I know it has become a prop. She is not an independent sleeper and we are planning to do pupd next weekend. I guess my question is will this resolve the frequent night wakings? I have no problem feeding her every 4 hrs at night or so but our current night tine routine is killing me. I have tried other ways to put her back to sleep, mainly rocking and dummy but this usually doesn't work. It used to before the 4 months sleep regression... She is also going through the 3-2 transition which probably doesn't help either. But my feeling tells me the nw are a sleep association problem rather than hunger... Any thoughts?

[Kellyjs]

I think you may have a prop hun. I would also check for teeth before you begin sleep training.

I would consider doing ssh/pat rather than jumping in straight with pu/pd wdyt? Pu/pd can be too stimulating for some bubbas and even more so at nighttime. Do you want to have a read through the ssh/pat link to prepare yourself?

I have also found it helps if daddy or someone else can help with the resettling at night. Is that something you could arrange? It helps break the association that if mummy comes in she's going to be fed back to sleep. It will be tough for a few days hun, then it will get better, then there will be a slight regression, then it will be better again ok? Xx

Shush-pat - How to

[zissi]

Yeah that's what I thought. However she settles for bt and naps without nursing, usually on her tummy with her dummy. Still a prop at night time I guess? Will try sh pat first and see how it goes. When I feed her at night then and she falls asleep on the breast, will indeed to wake her when putting her down in the cot? Also, she got 2 teeth, not teething at the moment as far as o can see...

[Kellyjs]

Nope, I still think night time is a whole different ball game than day time. So, if she does fall asleep on the breast at night I would whisper to her that you're putting her in bed now, night night. If she rouses slightly, ok, if she doesn't it's fine.

I would just concentrate on picking 2 times at night you're prepared to feed (or 3 if you prefer for now) and for all other NW's try the ssh/pat. You may have noticed when she does take a full feed already from the NW's currently and the ones she just has a go for a min or two and then falls asleep? If not, it might be worth making a note of them (if you can in your sleep deprived state  ) before you try? Wdyt? Xx

[zissi]

we were planning to sleep train today since its the wkd but now LO has a bit of a head cold. she doesn't feel terrible I don't think, should I delay? I really wanted to do that now since our nights are awful... what do you think?

[Kellyjs]

I would hold off hun, there's nothing worse than someone trying to get you to do something if you feel a bit poorly! Perhaps give it a day or two? Or even next weekend. I know you psyched yourself up for it but one more week won't make a difference to how we approach it.

It's totally up to you, but I'd wait xx

[zissi]

thanks, you are totally right. we held off and will wait another week, Prefer to do at the weekend... thanks again...

[Kellyjs]

My pleasure. Pop back when you need to. And ((hugs)) for the rough nights atm xx

[zissi]

just an update. we sleep trained yesterday as LO was better with her head cold and it went really well actually. took initially only 25 mins and then again an hour as she woke OT. she still had a cot party of 2 hrs after the 3pm feed. I think its developmental (nearly 6 months) as she did it before too. we did shush pat for this too. the 2 naps today went well. took her less than 5 mins to settle by herself. I decided to feed her every 3-4 hrs at night and will continue doing so for the time being. she did wake by herself every 3-4 hrs, wonder if she can read my mind...  my DH was very hands on which really helped.. just one question, can I APOP the cat nap if we need one in the carrier? Thats what I had been doing so far as she would fight that nap anywhere else...

[Kellyjs]

This is brilliant hun, well done you. I can tell my the tone of your post you're committed to it, I bet she can tell too  . Do remember it tends to get better for day two, then sometimes there's a little regression on day 3 or 4 ok? Then it does get better again, just remember to stick with it.

Yes, totally apop that CN if you need to. It won't hurt at all as it's not for every nap and BT too. We do what we can to get through these transitions. And tbh an apop'd CN is sometimes better than no CN ever again and OT building up. Keep me posted ok? Xx

[Kellyjs]

Was just thinking of you today, I hope things are still going well xx

[zissi]

hi kellyjs,

thanks for asking. things are going well. nights are so much better. we have a dreamfeed and 2 additional feeds which are totally fine for me. Im getting so much rest, unbelievable. she settles well usually after feeds and for naps. for bedtime it still takes up to 30 mins for her to go down, I think no matter what I do she is OT by the end of the day. we had a trip over the wkd of 3 hours in the car. she settles badly there unfortunately. i hope this will change at some stage. its better already. we had times when she would have screamed historically after 10 mins being in the car... I did give her today a soother when I had to apop the cat nap. I know not a good idea, it was in the sling and she just wouldn't settle. I probably will throw out all the soothers so Im not tempted anymore...

[Kellyjs]

We do what we can hun, especially with OT. I'm so glad things are getting better at night time. It does make it easier to face the day with a bit of sleep xx

[zissi]

hey there,
our nights continue to go well, DF and 2 night feeds which is totally fine. however we are having huge difficulties to get LO down for BT. I don't think its any prop issue as she goes down very well for naps. I think its OT but I don't know how to fix it. she is in the 3-2 transition and usually the second nap is short which means we need a CN which happens so late that its too little time to BT. I have capped the CN to 15 mins, LO is still very OT after this even with less than 1 hr to BT. Any ideas? should I ask on the naps board?
thanks...

[Kellyjs]

No it's fine, of course ask here! 

Great news about the nights, that's brilliant. Do you think she OT before BT? Or could it be UT dyt? Messing around at BT can be either but if she was going down well previously I would suspect UT. Would you mind posting what the last couple of days looked like wrt naps and how long it took to settle for BT? Ta xx