5 month old waking 1.5 hours after BT

[MiasMama]

Hi,
We are a BW family and are currently working with our 4th child, Blaise and he's 5.5 months old. He has been an angel baby but recently he has become trickier. He popped a tooth last week and started rolling over both ways. Plus He's had a cold for two weeks that He's just starting to get over.  He's always been very much like clockwork with naps and BT but in the last week or so that's disappeared, at least at night.

7am. E and A
9:15m S
11:15am E and A
1:30am S
3/3:30pm E and A
5pm 20-30 min CN or skip it if his naps went late that day
6:30/7pm BT

Yesterday he had a CN and woke up after an hour and my DH did pu/pd for an hour and by then it was almost 4 hours so I nursed him and he slept until 5am.

Today he skipped his CN because it was busy this evening and again woke up around 1.5 hours after and after over and hour of pu/pd I nursed him to sleep.

In the last week he's also refused his bottle while I was gone and didn't nurse for almost ten hours (bc he'd thrown up after a bottle a week before) so we know he has staying power. Also, when we've done pu/pd during the night in the last week or so when he hasn't fallen right back to sleep nursing, it's been over an hour and we then try nursing again. In the last week or so my milk supply (I exclusively breastfeed except use a bottle on occasion when I'm gone) plummeted and I know he wasn't getting enough to eat but that's been resolved as well.

He's been through a lot and had a lot of milestones in these last two weeks but I am hoping someone can help us see maybe something we are missing?

Thoughts? Help? Advice? Thank you!

[FPT23]

Hello!

Well, as you may know, this age comes with a lot of new moments that might start interrupting sleep. Mine was the same at that time and I will share what helped In a bit with us

Teeth, solids, and physical milestones come up around this time and all at the same time it seems ...

Have you begun solids? Sometimes it can disturb tummies and cause nightly discomfort.
Teething... they usually come in pairs as you may know so maybe he's coming on the next one which also causes some pain- i would provide relief before BT like small Tylenol dosage or teething meds if you find teething might be the culprit.
Of course, a new found mobility always causes wakes. They learn to roll and can't roll back. I think hats about when we went through that! He could roll one way but not the other. Sighhhhh ::

Most importantly, let's not forget the beginnings of the 3-2 nap transition too. His easy looks great to me, but maybe as he reaches closer to 6mths, he might need more of a push in A time and slowly start pushing out that CN altogether (on occassion you still will need the CN. Short nap days or EWs etc but ultimately become less frequent) .... here is a link to keep on hand. It is the average A times for ages:

Average A times- BOOKMARK ME!

Maybe he's ready for 2.5 A times and ultimately reaching closer to 3hrs by 6.5 mths or so. The best way is to slowly increase one A time, at a time, by 15 min increments. You want to do this for 3-4 days to allow for adjusting. It prevents big OT meltdowns and is gentler.

My experience; when my LO wakes so soon after BT (1-3/4hrs after BT) it was a sign of UT. It would also take forever to get back to sleep. He just wasn't tired "enough" ...as soon as I was able to push out A times over the course of a week, week and a half or so, he was tired enough at BT to continue sleeping. So from my experience I would suggest pushing slightly. See if that works.

As far as your supply, hopefully he's not hungry. That could also be a factor but that's something on your end. I BF as well and I know we had issues when he started having longer naps and going longer between feeds. Also around the 4-5 mth mark. So just make sure he's getting his calories during the day. I'm glad you were able to bring back your supply! best of luck with nursing!

All the issues that have came up such as his cold etc, it could mean he's just going back to adjusting as well.

Let me know what works! Xoxo

[MiasMama]

Hello, thank you for your response and I'm sorry this is so delayed! It's been a busy month! He will be 7 months next week and goodness gracious he is difficult right now! He's as sweet as can be but NWs and EWs are hard! He just doesn't respond well to pu/pd or any variation that we try. We just got back from a vacation where we got a stomach bug, he's teething like crazy, rolling over like crazy, scooting, and we tried a miniscule amount of his first foods today. Probably not a good day to start that now that I'm thinking about it....anyway, I had the bug too so my supply plummeted and I'm nursing to get it back among other things. DS is waking every 2.5-3 hours at night and then every how starting at 4am or so. Yikes! He is cutting his naps back to 1.5 hours and 45 mins. We stretched him to 3 hours A time too. I am remembering when my other DS went through this that we just pushed him to one nap a day early but that wasn't until 10 months...oy. Obviously he does not need to be nursing this much. He is refusing to go back to sleep without nursing (2 hours plus of pu/pd or a variation if we try). I am really wracking my brain to figure this one out. Since I am low on sleep I feel like I am missing something. I'd love another glance at this from you to see if you see anything I'm missing! What should our next step be? I'm hoping you can help us figure out how to back off on the the night feedings and NWs. But it's crazy how much he ignores our sleep training but instantly sleeps if I nurse....gotta love this sweet boy who loves his mama

6am: awake and nurs
9am: nap
10:30am: awake and nurse
1:30pm: nap
2:30pm: awake and nurse
5:30pm: sometimes a CN or keep up until BT
7PM:BT
9:30/10:30pm: up to nurse
1:30am: nurse
4:30am: nurse
5:30am: nurse
6am: up

I know how much he's going through with so many milestones AND with my milk supply being all over the place this fall including this weekend with my sickness. I'd love some help figuring out the next step.

Thank you!

[lolsyb1982]

Hi there

He does have a lot going on right now doesn't he bless him.

Have you tried pushing that pm nap a little later? If that morning one becomes shorter than 1.5hrs he might need a little push there too. The cn at this age will probably be causing problems and if he doesn't have it it's quite a long stretch from 2.30-7pm bedtime.
I would suggest trying an earlier BT on a 2 nap day to see if it helps with any of the NW as sounds like he's OT (which is inevitable in any transition or teething etc)

[FPT23]

Hello sorry I've been MIA!

Aww love there just seems to be so much going on, it's very possible that's why he's off track some but no reason why with consistency and patience, you all could get some much needed rest back

I must say I agree with Lauren 100%! Thank you Lauren

I would say by this age he's slowly transitioning to two naps. By 7months or 7.5 I would safely say he should be on a solid two naps. I would push out that 2nd nap a bit. And if he short naps (anything less than 1.5hr) l wouldn't stretch him to a 7pm BT, but opt for EBT and asleep by 6pm. Sounds crazy but it helps sometimes to catch them up from the day. Especially with new physical milestones! They get quite tired! New found mobility will also disrupt your nights hun. It'll pass though! Just make sure he is as best rested as he can be.

I see you are nursing quite often. Howevr at this age one NF is fairly normal. Sometimes 2. If this wasn't common prior to now, then it is something to ponder on. When he NWs, is he crying? Are you giving him time to resettle on his own first or just going in and offering him a nursing session. Now in this case, it could be he's hungry as you say your supply went down- how's that going? Have you tried pumping in between or right after nursing to help supply? ...you want to make sure he is getting enough in his day so he's not making up for it at night. So for now I would continue to nurse on demand if he is seemingly hungry at night, until your supply is up to normal.

As far as solids, it's ok to begin by this age I think. Small amounts and a good balance. Be careful with the straining foods such as apples bananas and carrots. Slowly adjust him as with everything and all should be well. Do expect little changes of course as they adjust to new foods.

Hugs

[MiasMama]

Thank you for the support and encouragement! It's been a bumpy fall for us. Definitely the most difficult of the four after 5 months. We had been down to 2 NFs and then they ramped up (I presume with my milk supply drop). I am taking my supplements, eating the foods I need to, and drinking water. I'm having trouble figuring out if my supply is fully back. I think I'll try to figure that out this week. Because these nights are just. so. hard. It was 8:30pm, 11:30pm, 1:30am, 3:30am, 5:30am and then up for the day at 6:30am. Yikes!! It's been a rough few weeks with alot of disruptions because my dear Grandfather passed away the other week in another state and we were traveling. We also just celebrated Thanksgiving and had all of those busy days. Phew. And a top front tooth is almost through.

When he wakes up, we see if he will settle down and once in a while he will. If not, we try his paci, if not, we bring him to bed to nurse. I try to keep him to nursing on just one side and then put him back down. Every single time he goes RIGHT back to sleep with no fuss for 2-3 hours. Buy oh man these NWs are getting to be too much. We are now settled at home for the forseeable future and are hoping to help him get good good sleep.

His DAY looks like this:
6:30am: A time and nurse
8am: Eat solids
9:30am: Nap
11am: nurse
12noon: eat solids
2:00pm: nurse
2:30pm: nap
4:00pm: A time
5:00pm: eat solids
7:00pm BT

And then our intense night begins. I'm nervous to try PU/PD or something like that because of how bad it was a month ago. I want him to be well fed and well rested. Thank you SO much for your suggestions!

I suppose I really need to figure out if my supply is at a good level before we do anything....what would be the next step if it is? Any suggestions?

Lisa

[FPT23]

So sorry your post was missed!!

Hopefully things have improved by now! If not, many hugs! That sounds so hard! I'm so sorry about your grandfather too btw

Yes with the holidays it has to be hard.. so I think allowing time to settle for that would be best as they don't sleep as well when away. If you are back home...

I want to mention that his EASY looks fantastic.

As far as supply, you always need to know about that and that's all on mamas intuition. I BF myself and if I felt hunger was the culprit I nurse... I would make sure he's getting enough nutrition in his day. I believe there is a growth spurt around the 5/6 months. May I reference Kelly mom.com! There is a method to check on your supply. I would def consider adding pump sessions if you can in between!

How about any new developmental skills? New found mobility can cause disruption in sleep as well. Crawling? Rolling? ...how about teeth? They start to pop up around this time too! I would offer teething relief before BT if you think pain might be an issue.

I hope this helps in some way!

Many hugs xo

[MiasMama]

Hi,

Thank you for your response! We made a giant leap forward when we did had DH get up with baby at the 10:30pm waking and hold him/ bounce him, just calm him down and put him back to sleep and he slept until 2am to nurse. Then he's been going back down fantastically and sleeping until 5am. It isn't working for DH to put him back down then, so I've been nursing him then as well. He's a rocky sleeper until 6:30am or so. It's really tricky to only get 3 hour chunks at a time of sleep! I'm racking my brain trying to figure out how to avoid the 10:30pm wake up and push the 5am one out...

Lisa

[FPT23]

Hello!

So, MY personal experience....... having a wake shortly after BT... such as that 10pm business... meant he needed an A time push. I guess they aren't tired enough to continue sleeping straight.. it has happened to me a few times and each time, I push, and in about 2-3 days it stops.

Why don't you try pushing ONE of his A times by 15 mins for a few days? Consistently. Just one A time and stay there for 3-4 days. Then you can try another A time the same.

Causes for EWs can also be bc he's UT in his day... this might go hand and hand so try pushing his A times slowly. See how that works. Also, make sure there is nothing causing discomfort. We rarely have EWs (knock on wood) but when he did i found it was always teething or discomfort.

Others, it could be developmental with all the new changes! Many babies at this age start rolling like pros, maybe even start crawling or scooting etc. teeth appear around this time too.

Hugs!