4 mo. old night waking

[maybell245]

I think this is a NW...maybe it's an EW or some of both?

Anyway, my 4 mo. old (18 weeks tomorrow) has transitioned to 4 hour EASY and has been for a few weeks now.  The first week fully on 4 hour with 2 hour awake times she was asleep by 7:30 pm and slept through until 6:00 am or later.

Now, she is NW anywhere from 3:00-6:00 (we wake at 7) 1 time.  She usually wakes up because she gets her arm out of her Swaddle Me and starts putting her hand in her mouth and after a few minutes of doing this gets frustrated and escalates into a cry and does not calm down.  It takes 45 minutes to 90 minutes to keep her calm and get her back to sleep with shush-pat and a pacifier.  She does not seem to be hungry when she wakes at these times.  However, if she is awake 90 minutes and the end of the 90 minutes approaches 6 she gets hungry and her whole mood changes so we just feed her in that case.

She has been taking 2 2 hour naps most days and a 30-40 minute cat nap.  When she doesn't take 2 2 hour naps, they are typically 1 hour 30 minutes at the shortest and may have required some shush-pat or just pat to get over the 40 minute sleep cycle change.

I mentioned this to DD's daughter at her 4 mo. check up and she said ignore her when she wakes up and does this.  I tried that for 1 night and she escalated quickly and I went in to fix her swaddle and shush-pat.  I can't and won't let her cry it out.

What should I be doing?  My DH and I try to discuss it when she wakes and we are so tired (from being in a deep sleep) that it's hard to problem solve.  Days when she wakes at 4:30 often result in that being OUR wake up time because then we get up at 5:40 for work (not me yet...2 more weeks off).

Any advice?

Please help!

[jessmum46]

Could you post her whole day in EAS format for us please?  So something like:

WU 7 & E
A 2h
S 9-10.30 etc

I know you say she isn't hungry at her waking time but I would expect a baby of this age to be having a night feed.  Does she have a dream feed?  What happens if you just try to feed her immediately when she wakes?

[maybell245]

WU and E at 7:00 (unless she is already awake) - BF 6.5-7 oz.
A 2 hours
S 9-11 (or 9-10:30)
E 11:00 6.5-7 oz.
A 2 hours
S 1-3 (occasionally 1-2:40)
E 3:00 6.5-7 oz.
A 2 hours
S 35 or 40 minutes between 5 and 6, most commonly 5:15-5:50
A/E Activity until about 6:15 and then rice cereal (which is new last week)
E 6:30 6.5-7 oz.
A bath, prepare for bed
E top off - usually she eats 2 oz. 7:15
S sleep routine starts right after and she is usually asleep between 7:30-8:00
E 11:00 DF, she usually only takes 2.5-3 oz.

Then she wakes between 3-6.  The last 5 days she woke up between 4:15-4:45.  Each time, she got her arm out of her swaddle, started to look for her fingers and either missed or hit herself and cried and escalated.  Also the last 5 days we shush-patted with or without pacifier and had her asleep again by 5:30 or 6 usually with her sleeping 10 to 15 minutes off an on during that time.  Then, she has slept until 7:00.  I go back to work next week and that would mean that I am just up after that since I get up at 5:40 to shower, dress and eat before my older DD gets up at 7 and then leave when the Nanny/Grandma comes at 7:30.  I won't be able to spend all that time off and on shushing etc. AND get ready for work.

In the past, when we fed her right way it still took 90 minutes to get her fed, burped and back to sleep and then she wouldn't eat hardly anything at 7 and subsequently didn't nap well because she would wake early hungry and then the whole day ended way to early if we didn't want her OT and to spend the evening with an OT baby. 

Also, we are trying to wean off the swaddle during her am nap and that is hit or miss so we haven't tried moved on to pm nap or nighttime sleep.

[jessmum46]

When she was first on the 4h routine was this waking an issue?  I wonder if she could need a bit of an A time push if it's something that has happened more recently?  What about stretching her A times by 10-15 mins or so and see if that helps?