What to do with the 5am NW

[ginger428]

Lots of hugs, Lindsay!! I remember this age being torturous, just so painful with the sleep deprivation.

Have you heard of the zipadeezip? Not sure it sells in Canada, but it encases the baby but leaves limbs mobile.

Not much help, but sending more hugs!

[Lindsay27]

Yes I have! I am going to order one ASAP!  Going to just try 1 arm out for a few nights.

[FPT23]

Awww hugs

Super hard!! Vent away <3
We are battling a cold now... What is sleep?

You never know though! She may take to being without a swaddle better than you think! I know you tried before but maybe now being more mobile, she'll enjoy it! She may surprise you also and start self settling w that free hand !! Much love your way!!!

I was thinking... This 1am feed, how far is it from her DF? You said you do a DF? Or not?? I know she needs the NF but have you considered or tried to settle without a feed a bit... that pushes the clock a bit further out? Then feed...? Maybe will push out the 5am into at least 6?

Wdyt? <3

All the good vibes your way! I remember my first and this regression. Rough stuff. Not excited to see it again here soon. By then maybe you can help me get through it w/ your success story!
It'll be over sooner than later. I know it's hard but hang in there!!

Xoxo

[FPT23]

A word of advice on that zipadeezip-- if she's at least 15lbs it should be good! From reviews I hear they run big and intended for 5+ mths? Your close, but just something to consider when ordering it!

[Lindsay27]

Yes I am noticing she seems to want to sleep on her side these days so hopefully she'll be comfy and not jumpy without the swaddle.  I think that's what she was trying to do last night, just sleep in her side, but gravity and the lack on arm movement got the best of her and over she went!

We don't DF, never have.  I'm just not really a fan because I like to go to bed early and it just seems like something else to wean.  And it never worked with DS so we gave it up and just never really did it with DD.  I have a feeling once she starts solids her nights might extend again.

She's about 14lbs now so not far off the 15lb mark so hopefully the zipadeezip will fit okay!

[FPT23]

Ah well hopefully all goes smooth w/ the transition!!

Yes I DF my first but w this LO, it's never helped! So I too skip it! But, I meant... Even without the DF... If she used to go to 3am, is there a way you can just settle her a bit? Not give her the NF right away and possibly extend that feed- even if it's just 30 mins. Can help push that 5am maybe??

[Lindsay27]

Ya I was thinking that too.  I think in the night I just figure if I feed her at 1 she'll go down faster yk?  But you are eighth if I resettle her then and then she has her NF later it may push out the 5am waking.

Operation de-swaddle is going okay so far, she went down at BT fine and has rolled herself on her side and looks comfy cozy.  I think she was really starting to want to move around and get herself comfortable, so I am wondering if that maybe contributed to those few nights where we had lots of early NW. 

[FPT23]

Yay!! Maybe she was just ready now for the de-swaddl! Best of luck!

Yk, I believe you on that swaddle and the NWs! When my LO wakes, he's been fighting the swaddle a bit and I find that he has a harder time settling too b/c of it. But he's still little and needs it

I totally understand about goin down faster! But maybe attempt that and see if it pushes out that 1am feed! Mine started waking at 1 am too lately instead of 2/3 and now is waking at 5/6 too! Not our norm! It's a drag and he will feed at that time but I find he doesn't need it... But won't settle back to sleep easy. Grrr tough phases!



Let me know how operation de swaddle worked out!

[Lindsay27]

So she seemed to do fine with her arm out, she was able to roll on her side and get comfortable and she wasn't flailing around like she was before when we tried to wean. 

That said she still had a lot of NW (but no more than any other night).  They were:
8:30pm
10:30pm
12:15 (fed 3oz)
4:15 (fed 3oz)
6am (resettled and she slept until 7:10)

Most of the night she can't even do a 3hr stretch, she sleeps worse than she did as a newborn.

If I can remember what he say was like yesterday I think it went something like:

WU 5:30 but dozen in/off with me in bed until 6:30

S 8-10:15 (her A was short as I was accounting for her being unsettled from 5:30-6:30.  I also had to resettle this nap mid way though)
S 12:30-2:10 (again resettled halfway through)
S 4:30-5
BT 7pm

[ginger428]

Ughh, sorry to hear Lindsay! So tough! Hugs. I see you fed at 12:15 but that it didn't change that 4:15 nw. I'm not help, sorry to say. The 4 mo. mark was quite traumatic. So more hugs.

Glad to hear the one arm out got her comfortable.

Sounds like FPT, you're struggling, too. Hugs all around. And sending sleepy vibes to your babes.

[Martini~]

If that helps at that age (3mo) we started to have EWU at 5:30 after 7:30bt. Then there was regression... And we did have NWs up to EWU... It all sorted out out of a sudden when I did two things:
- cut his daytime sleep under 3h (and many ladies in me BC were saying the same - more than 3h and the baby is UT for nights): we were doing basically 45-1.5-30min set of 3 naps and it was the only case I could have him existing with so low sleep needs
- we dogged the swaddle; it ruined nap at first for two weeks but nights were extremly good; for the first time in his life he was sleeping 11.5h

Out of my experience with DS after massive regression (4 and 18mo) I needed to cut daytime sleep. But after 4-8 weeks he already could sleep a tad better with a longer sleep a day. To give you an example - at 18mo I needed to cut his sleep to 1.5h as he was fighting BT and EWU buy now at more than 2y he can do 1.5-2h and is totally fine at night.

[FPT23]

Thanks for the advice Martini!
However, what do you mean by "cut daytime sleep under 3hrs" ? I was a bit confused on the 3hrs part...funny you mention naps like that. Today, I had all 45 mins and 1 long nap... And a bit longer A time to BT and it's the first time in a few weeks he's back to his stretch of 6hrs. It's been awhile. Could be due to the longer A times perhaps, who knows! Or maybe longer to BT... Trial and error i guess ...45 min naps worked better than 30 in his day- i feel I can work around them. 30 min naps kill us. I'm still trying to figure his A times as all day we got 45min naps with 1.5 hr A times- he might too be longer A time for 11 weeks. I would love to ditch the swaddle as well- I feel at times too it can cause us more issues but he still needs it for now. Did you wean one arm at a time too?

Ginger,
Thanks for the hugs! We are all hanging in there I suppose I appreciate it xoxo

Lindsay,
Ugh so sorry the nights continue to be hard. And I know how much those EWs can be even worse when you have another toddler around. Im there w you! Hopefully all this ends soon!!! One thing is for sure... It will! Glad the weaning process is looking up!! Xoxo

[Lindsay27]

It was a pretty horrendous night, NW at 8, 9, 10:30, 11:30, 1:30 (fed), 3:30, 5:30, and up for the day at 6:15.  I'm utterly wrecked after so many nights like this and simply beyond knowing what to do.  I can't understand how for the longest time she could do an 8hr stretch and now this is what our nights look like on a regular basis...I'm starting to lose it, especially because by the time I fall asleep free each NW I'm only sleeping about 45mins before she's up again so many days I am literally running on 3hrs of broken sleep.

Yesterday her naps were 1.5 + 45 + 30 (so 2.75hrs) and that is the night we got.  We are working on swaddle weaning, she is 1 arm out right now and I think I will remove the other arm in a day or so.  She did part of the night last night unswaddled.

[Lindsay27]

One thing I just thought of...she started Prevacid about 2 weeks ago.  Before that she was at least doing the 1am and 5am bit, not waking every 2 hours.  When I just did a quick google there seem to be a lot of people saying that they had awful sleep after starting Prevacid.  Since her reflux is mild I am going to stop for a night or 2 and see what happens.

[jessmum46]

Hugs lovely, sounds really rough I'd be wondering about discomfort first with that many wakings, forgive me I skim read your thread but can't see anywhere that you've looked into that?  So thoughts on that front - both mine had teeth by 4 months, do pain meds help at all?  What are poops like? Any troubles with gas/spit up?  What milk is she on?  DS had similarly crazy sleep from about 4 months onwards, I honestly couldn't get it right at all and like you had bad nights even on good days.  I've recently discovered he is lactose intolerant (not saying that's your issue, just offering an example) and for literally the first time ever he is having normal poops, I'm wondering in retrospect whether his tummy was always a problem and may have caused him a lot of the difficulties.  Something to think about? Xx