5mo terrible night-time sleeper

[Adelheid]

My nearly 5mo baby STILL wakes up around the clock ALL NIGHT LONG.
I have tried to reduce his feedings at night to just two, but he still wakes up nonetheless.
Actually, its clockwork. He wakes up at 9pm, midnight, 3am, 4am, wake-up is 6am. Its every three hours.
There have been a few nights where he only woke up at 1am & 4am and I felt like the luckiest person alive.

Lately, I've been more tired at night, so I've nursed him more, which is prob making the problem worse. My very useless pediatrician just tells me to keep on doing whatever I'm doing. BUT ITS NOT WORKING.

Here's my assumption: He is still on a three hour EASY routine during the day (which also means his naps are never more than an hour bc his A time is 2hrs) which is re-inforcing the habit of eating every three hours at night too. If I changes his daytime EASY to 4hr, it has to affect his night time pattern. Right?

In the meantime, what can I do to help him re-settle himself? He hates being patted and always arches his back and wakes up more.

[jessmum46]

A few thoughts - are you waking him up at the 3h point to feed him, or are his naps naturally less than an hour?  If you are waking him I would be inclined to let him sleep, and feed on waking and just try to continue EAS cycles on a 'flexi' 3-4h EASY.  If he is waking naturally after short naps perhaps some more A time would help extend the naps a little?  2h might be a bit short for a 5mo.  But a breastfed baby may not get to 4h between feeds so don't try to push for that if your LO isn't ready for it - it could backfire with even more night feeds!  It's more important I think to try to get the A time right for some good naps, and work feeds around that, offering a pre-nap top-up if required.

How does your LO settle to sleep for naps and bedtime?  If he's not sleeping independently yet that would be where I would start, with a modified shh pat (a rub, hand on or similar instead of a pat?).  That said.....given there are so many wakings and he seems to dislike the patting so much, is there anything that could be causing discomfort e.g. reflux or food allergies?  My DS was a very unsettled sleeper as a baby and we only realised he had a milk allergy/intolerance quite late on.  ((Hugs))

[Adelheid]

Hi! Thank you for replying. I haven't had the chance to get back to you.
My 5mo old still wakes up loads but I've pretty much managed to ONLY feed him 2x at night. 1am &4am.
I have also found that after 4am, he only sleeps 45min at a time before waking and needing re-settling.

When I start putting him to sleep, he will squirm like crazy in my arms trying to find a comfortable position. I usually walk around the room a bit at first until he calms down and then stop and stand quietly (or sh-shing) until I think I can move him.
If I put him in the bed too early, he will instantly flail his arms, squirm and start complaining/ crying. So then, I pick him up and hold him again. Is there a better way without patting? I assume you wouldn't consider that "independent" sleeper. Right?

How can I help him transition to the next sleep cycle at night? Naps too, are rarely more than 45min, unless I can get in there and re-settle him. Should I consider a longer A time? He currently does 2hr A time

I have been attempting to extend his EAS to a 3.5h routine which has proven to be a bit difficult as it doesn't fit the other kids schedule as well. His weight percentile has consistently been declining and he's now in the 14th percentile. Seems crazy to try to eliminate night time feeds and frequency of day-time feeds, but I feel like he'd drink more if he's hungrier. My pediatrician recommended that he starts solids. Though I can't imagine tiny amounts of baby porridge really fattening him up, I'm giving it a go.

I hope I'm missing some key thing that I can "fix" and FINALLY get some sleep. This is nuts. My other two were so different.

[Lindsay27]

What is his current A time hun? I see you mention that you are trying to move to a 3.5hr EASY which makes me think that he could be UT for naps, at 5 months I believe the average A time is around 2.5hrs, so I suspect if you push the A times you might get better naps/less resistance which in turn could help the NW.

[jessmum46]

Does he have digestive issues/food allergies/reflux by any chance??

[Adelheid]

His A time is 2hrs
Making it a 2.5hr A will be way better, I think!
He's been getting two tiny in-between meals of baby porridge (Hipp Brand) after "breakfast" and before his final BF. Even though they are small, I'm sure those will help him adjust to a longer EAS, right?

It never occurred to me that he could have reflux or food allergies. Frankly, I don't even know what to look for. Other than waking a gazillion times/ after ever sleep cycle, he hasn't shown any other discomforts or signs typical of allergies (at least based on my google search).

He did just sprout his second tooth and as of today can turn over both ways. I'm sure these developmental milestones are disrupting his sleep too, however, he's never really had good sleep. I guess the only positive thing is that the four month sleep regression went by unnoticed.... 

He also has a REALLY hard time falling back to sleep when he wakes up at 9pm and 4am. Especially the morning wake-up is hard because he will doze for 30min, wake-up, doze again. etc.  If he was having issues with my milk, could this be a symptom? I do feed at 9, at 1 and 4. And what can be done? Start night-time weaning?

[jessmum46]

My DS's only real sign of milk/soya allergy at this age was bad night sleep....it took until properly weaned and well over a year old for any of the more obvious symptoms to show.  It may be worth considering whether a short trial of for example dairy-free (or other) for yourself would be worth a go?  If you are planning to exclude major food groups long-term you would probably need advice from a dietician to ensure adequate nutrients for yourself and baby though x