Author Topic: Frequent night wakings  (Read 1622 times)

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Offline albers30

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Frequent night wakings
« on: December 28, 2015, 04:40:45 am »
My previously good sleeper has started having difficulty going to bed, she wakes about a half hour after going to bed followed by 2-3 hours of going in and soothing her (pat, shush) to settle every 5-15 minutes before settling to bed for her long stretch of sleep which is then generally 4 hours now before waking to feed then its the same thing again of waking frequently every 20-30 minutes this time until getting up around 730.  Her prior schedule was 8pm bed, 2 am feed, then 5 am feed sometimes or just sometimes needs settled back to bed 730 am wake up.  Her naps and daytime activity have stayed consistent during all of this.  She did just turn 5 months so I don't know if its something to do with her development.  She's also teething and currently has a cold but these have been factors before without this much difficulty so I don't want to solely blame it on this and just keep going with it if there's something else I can be doing to help her.  Suggestions?

Offline lauradj

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Re: Frequent night wakings
« Reply #1 on: December 29, 2015, 03:10:22 am »
It sounds to me like the teething may be affecting her somewhat but it's likely that she's simply getting too much day time sleep so she's not tired enough at night.  Would you mind posting your EASY and we'll see if anything needs to be tweaked at all?


Offline albers30

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Re: Frequent night wakings
« Reply #2 on: December 30, 2015, 17:36:07 pm »
Wake 730
Play
Eat
Nap 10 am for 30-40 minutes
Play
Eat
Nap 1pm for 3 hours
Eat
Play
Eat
Bedtime 8pm or a little earlier depending on her mood
If her 1 pm nap isn't as long then she'll ususally take a 20-30 minute cat nap around 5 pm.

This has been her schedule for awhile and she was a great consistent sleeper and good at self soothing until the past week.  Her frequent wakings involve very loud forceful screaming/crying that are generally very easily quieted with patting or picking up and she drifts back off to sleep quickly only to re-awaken 10-30 minutes later with the same.  In the past she's had wakings where she just wants to play and coos which I contribute to not being tired enough but this is different its a very panicked or angry cry.  Could it be a separation anxiety thing already? 

Offline lauradj

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Re: Frequent night wakings
« Reply #3 on: January 02, 2016, 03:55:39 am »
Sorry for the slow response!  We were away over New Years.
Ok, one thing I noticed right away is your baby is up for a REALLY long time between her last nap and BT.  I would recommend two things; firstly, I would cap her second nap at two hours and then give her a little cat nap between 4:30-5:15pm and secondly, I would move her bed time up to 7pm, 7:30pm at the absolute latest.  You want to try and keep your baby's day to about 12 hrs of awake time.  She's waking up all over the place because she's OT.  Add the teething and developmental strides and that's going to wreak havoc with everyone's sleep.


Offline albers30

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Re: Frequent night wakings
« Reply #4 on: January 02, 2016, 20:16:46 pm »
We've tried cutting the nap time short at 2 hours and then the cat nap but that definitely led to over tiredness and a much more unpleasant evening stretch and bed time difficulties.  She seems to need that long stretch to re-energize and cope with all the business of the day.  We have more bedtime difficulty on the days she takes the evening cat nap too, without that longer stretch she just doesn't seem to be tired enough at bedtime. She's always been awake for longer stretches then is normal for her age since she was born out of necessity due to our crazy family schedule she's learned to adapt and does well for the most part.  When she's overtired at a bedtime/naptime her reactions are different too.  This fierce screaming is something new.

Offline lauradj

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Re: Frequent night wakings
« Reply #5 on: January 03, 2016, 03:44:50 am »
It may just be that she has low sleep needs.  Another Moderator has three girls and her third was down to one nap at 9 months.  It happens.  :)  The frequent wakings could be attributed to discomfort. Does she have any teeth yet or are they just pushing around?  Have you tried elevating her mattress?  That can help relieve pressure on the gums.  Medication is also a really nice fix for sore little teeth.
What about moving her BT to a consistent 7:00 or 7:30 and see if that helps.  It may be that she's needing to go to sleep a little early now that she's a bit older.  If you choose to go that route, give it a solid week to see if it genuinely helps.  If that doesn't do the trick we can see what else is going on.


Offline albers30

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Re: Frequent night wakings
« Reply #6 on: January 03, 2016, 04:43:23 am »
Thanks, will give that a try and see if that helps.

Offline starburst15

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Re: Frequent night wakings
« Reply #7 on: January 05, 2016, 18:11:25 pm »
You want to try and keep your baby's day to about 12 hrs of awake time.  She's waking up all over the place because she's OT. 
How much awake time should a 3-mo old have? He's been averaging 10-12 hours and it seems like way too much.

Offline lauradj

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Re: Frequent night wakings
« Reply #8 on: January 05, 2016, 22:27:28 pm »
Sorry, I'm confused. Is this a question you have regarding your own child? If so, the best thing to do is start your own post so we can help each individual.