We have started to do PU/PD with my 15 week old son together with ditching the paci. Reasons to do that is all kinds of night issues that started to appear during this crazy 4th month:
- He has been waking for a paci re-plug almost every 2 hours and sometimes that didnīt help either.
- He also started to wake up 30 minutes after I put him down at night.
- His night sleep is very restless. Often just whimpers, but doesnīt really cry.
We have also switched to 4 hour routine (We have been on it last 10 days). His daily schedule looks like this:
E: 7am when he wakes up. This is not every day though. Lately he has been waking up as soon as 5:30 and couldīn fall back asleep (again, paci stoped helping). So we started the day at 5:30.
A: 1,45 - 2h wake time. He has always been sleepy but we try to stay awake at least 1h45min. Sometimes we would manage to stay up as long as 2 hours
S: 8:40 - 8:50...he has always been falling asleep with a paci. Today is the second day without the paci and although it takes him a little bit longer to fall asleep, he managed to fall asleep without it and without PU/PD (reaaaalllly exited about this, first real success
). In the past even when his paci would come out during daily naps, he didnīt seem to care, just kept on sleeping. So paci was never problem during daily naps. He sleeps for 1,5 -2 hours usually, sometime I even need to wake him up.
E: between 10:30 - 11:00
A: awake for 1,45 - 2 hours
S: anywhere between 12:00 - 13:00. It really depends on when he wakes up in the morning and on his morning nap and how long is he able to stay awake before the 2nd nap. I sometimes have to put him down after 1hour and 30 minutes because he is super fussy and cries. He again sleeps well between 1,5 - 2 hours.
His afternoon catnap is usually only 30 minutes. When we first switched to 4 hour routine and stretching his awake time was a challenge, he would wake up from his second nap as soon as 2pm. Although he woke up after a beautiful 2 hour nap, 2pm still seemed way too early to be done with the naps for the day. The 30 minute catnap then came at about 4 and I would have to start putting him down at 6pm. So between 2 and 6 he only had 30 minute catnap.
I cluster feed right after the 30 minute catnap and then again at bedtime, starting around 6pm until 6:30 at which time he is super tired and usually falls asleep at my breast. I always wonder if he is not getting enough milk at this last "tanking up" feeding because he is so tired. I have to burp him and so he partially wakes up and is going down awake. Last night was a great success as he fell asleep without the paci by himself (yeeey!)
Night issues:
- sometimes waking up 30 minutes after he goes down at night
- he also lately started to wake up 2,5 hours after the last feeding, so about 9 pm. He simply couldnīt wait until the dream feed which I tried to do anywhere between 10-11pm. Last night he hasnīt woken up so it was great. But if he does again, do I PU/PD until the dream feed or do I just feed him at 9 and consider it a dream feed?
- since he has been waking as often as 3 times a night (except the dream feed), I first fed him. He really did seem to go through a growth spurt between week 14 and 15 because he took a full feed every time. But last couple days I am pretty sure it was feeding for comfort. Thatīs why I decided to do PU/PD. My goal is to feed him at 10pm adn then only at 4am since I think he could do a 6 hour stretch at this age (and he has managed to do it couple times before this crazy 4 month night issues). If he wakes up anywhere in between, I do PU/PD.
Our problem is that when he wakes up in the middle of the night and I am all ready to do PUPD he does not necessarily cry. He whimpers and whines and screams out once at which point I get up to sooth him but then stops again and whines quietly again. I decided not to intervene because it was not a genuine cry but more like a scream out of frustration. When I come to check on him after he screams, his eyes are closed and again he just whines. What do I do? Do I PUPD or just comfort him somehow in the cot? (shush pat never worked for him). Or I donīt do anything? As I said, I decided not to do anything, just went to take a peek. But the whining went on for like and hour or so. After one hour, he finally started to cry and I did PUPD which lasted another half and hour. But I just donīt know what to do when he doesnīt cry but screams ones or twice and whines on and off.
Thank you so much ahead!
