Author Topic: Awake Every Hour  (Read 1551 times)

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Offline Augustdays88

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Awake Every Hour
« on: April 11, 2017, 13:25:27 pm »
I started weening my son from his swaddle a few weeks ago. He is now 5 1/2 months old. I started with just one arm out of the sleep sack and it didn't bother him a bit. He continued with his 2 hour daytime naps and waking only 2 times at night. But as soon as he started doing 2 arms out, sleep went out the window. He started taking very short naps (1 hour or less) and we had to go back to 3 naps a day (he had been taking 2). He also started waking up every hour at night and was sometimes inconsolable. We tried the pu/pd method and that worked the first few times. But he soon caught on and now will only cry harder if I pick him up.

I thought it was teething at first, but have since ruled that out. He seems to like his blanket laid over him and tucked under the mattress. I think that has helped a little. How do I help get him back on a good sleep routine?

Offline jessmum46

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Re: Awake Every Hour
« Reply #1 on: April 11, 2017, 16:26:31 pm »
Sorry to hear things have gone off track.  Could I ask you to please post your routine, or at least a typical day right now?

Are there any other reasons he could be in discomfort?  I ask because waking that frequently tends not to be purely a routine issue.  Have you for example started solids recently or has he been unwell?

Does he fall asleep independently at the start of the night and naps?

Offline Augustdays88

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Re: Awake Every Hour
« Reply #2 on: April 11, 2017, 23:21:30 pm »
On better days he wakes up at 7am.
E: 7 - 7:15am
A: 7:15 - 8:45am
S: 9 - 10:30am

E: 10:30 - 10:40am
A: 10:40am - 12:30pm
S: 1 - 3pm or 3:30pm (he usually takes a while to fall asleep, then wakes for about 30-60 minutes half way through)

E: 3-3:15pm or 3:30-3:45pm
A: 3/3:30pm - 6:30pm (I usually give him a snack at around 5pm, because he gets hungry)
S: 6:30 or 6:45pm

That would be an average typical day at the moment. It's so hard to tell, though. Each day is so different at this point! (ex: If he had a particularly bad night, he won't be able to make it for 2 hours of awake time in the morning. Then that completely throws off timing for the rest of the day and we end up doing a cat nap from about 4-4:45pm)

We have not introduced solid food yet and he hasn't been sick. But he does have a Doc Band helmet for plagiocephaly (flat head) that gets adjusted once a week. He's had it for several weeks though. These sleep-time changes began about 2.5 weeks after he got it. That's one of the reasons we had to ween him from the swaddle: in addition to him rolling over, he was getting too hot in it. They recommend no swaddle and footless pajamas to help regulate body temperature and prevent over-heating.

He does fall asleep on his own after I lay him down. He rarely ever falls asleep in my arms anymore. Sometimes he even cries and fidgets until I lay him down and then he calms himself and snuggles with his blanket.
« Last Edit: April 11, 2017, 23:35:09 pm by Augustdays88 »

Offline KBolton

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Re: Awake Every Hour
« Reply #3 on: April 12, 2017, 18:13:55 pm »
It sounds like he's having s tough time transitioning between sleep cycles without the swaddle. My LO did the same. As she was still tired and like your LO liked to be put in the crib to sleep, we left her in the crib but soothed her with our voices or stroking her hair or back or held her hand. If we picked her up it seemed to jolt her awake further. We had 2 days of soothing this way and she went back to her long naps and night time sleeping.

Good luck! I know how painful getting rid of the swaddle can be.

Offline Augustdays88

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Re: Awake Every Hour
« Reply #4 on: April 13, 2017, 13:10:33 pm »
Is it usual for the adjustment to take so long? It's been 2 weeks since we've had him completely out of the swaddle. I haven't been this exhausted since he was a newborn. Is there anything else I can do to help him along?

Offline jessmum46

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Re: Awake Every Hour
« Reply #5 on: April 20, 2017, 15:26:22 pm »
Hi there, I thought I'd already replied to this some time ago regarding the routine and possibly needing to extend some A times, as well as considering other reasons for him to be waking - have some messages disappeared ???

How are things?  Is he still waking hourly at night?  What do the daytimes look like now?

Offline Augustdays88

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Re: Awake Every Hour
« Reply #6 on: May 02, 2017, 13:55:08 pm »
Sorry for the delayed response. We traveled out of town. My LO has gradually started sleeping more at night. He slowly went from 1 hour wakings to 2 hours to 3 hours. Now once in a while he'll go 4 hours for the first stretch (about 8pm to 12am) and about 2.5 to 3 hours for the second stretch (waking around 3am). Then he gets up for good at 6am. Still not ideal, but way better than it was before!

I've gradually lengthened his Awake/Activity time from 2 hours to 2.5 hours. He still doesn't always sleep much during the day. He's down to 2 naps and for both he wakes after about 30-40 minutes and can't settle back to sleep. Yet, on some occasions, he'll sleep 1.5 hours straight (usually when he wakes up extra early in the mornings). Our average day now looks like this:

Awake by 6:30am
E - 7am (nursing) 8am (baby food)
S - 9am

A - 9:30 or 10am
E - 11am
S - 1pm or 1:15pm

A - 2:30pm (sometimes 3pm)
E - 3pm (nursing) 5pm (baby food)
bathtime routine 6:30pm (6pm if he woke from nap early)
We lay him down to sleep by 7pm (6:30 if early nap), but sometimes he doesn't fall asleep until 8pm

Night time:
12am feeding
3am feeding

Offline jessmum46

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Re: Awake Every Hour
« Reply #7 on: May 03, 2017, 18:33:23 pm »
I wonder looking at your day whether your LO is rather overtired?  I think you are counting A time from the start of E, but you really need to count it from eyes open to eyes closed.  If we do that, your A times are more like 2.5h, 3-3.5h, 4-4.5h which are super-long.  If he's only having short naps you probably need to try to get another one in there, I suspect a lot of his disturbed nights might be to do with tiredness as much as anything else. 

I would keep your first nap at about 2.5h A for now, and then bring that second nap right back to more like 2.5h from waking from nap 1.  Hopefully that might mean a longer nap, and you'll probably need the 3rd nap too for now.  It may be you need (eventually) to push the first A time to get a longer first nap, which will move your second nap later in the day and allow you to drop the 3rd nap properly.

What do you think?

Offline claredm

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Re: Awake Every Hour
« Reply #8 on: May 11, 2017, 22:16:06 pm »
What about a zippede zip. It's safe once they can roll over. It helps with the transition from swaddle to no swaddle. Lots of people rave about them. In the USA Amazon and Etsy has them
« Last Edit: May 11, 2017, 22:22:45 pm by claredm »