Hello, I need help with my DS2 and his night wakings. I can not seem to figure out what is causing it and how to help him sleep better. I am getting very tired and it is affecting us. Here is our background. DS2 is 3.5 month old, healthy, happy and quite alert boy who up until about 3 weeks ago slept pretty ok .He used to take DF, woke up twice per night around 2 and 5 am, day naps used to very but were ok considering that his almost 2 year brother kept interrupting. He now shares a room with his older brother, I moved him about 2 weeks ago as he was outgrowing his pack and play and the mattress there is not the best one (that was also one of the ideas why he was waking up). I gave up dairy almost 2 months ago because I saw he is sensitive to it and it was causing gas, erratic feeding and frequent spit ups. He is chewing on his hands very often, when he is waking up he pulls them out of the swaddle almost immediately and pulls them up to his mouth.
So the more frequent night wakings started just before he turned 3 months. At first I thought it could be growth sprout and fed him each time he woke up, also nursed him more often during the day, but I quickly noticed he was not eating much, just few minutes and he was falling back asleep or was pulling away. I stopped the frequent feedings and just reswaddle and gave paci until was time for his regular feeding. I thought it could be teething and twice tried to give him something for pain but it did not help. I also tried to stop to swaddle him thinking he does not want it anymore, that is why he was pulling his hands so fiercely, but found it was cutting his sleep even shorter. He wakes up minimum 6 times per night at various hours, sometimes 2,5 hours after feeding and sometimes as little as an hour. He also wakes up right before his dream feed which he did not before. I saw him starting to toss and turn and kick his feet, than he pulls hands out of the swaddle and shortly after will start to cry. At the beginning you could just reswadddle him and give a paci and he would go back to sleep but now he is fully awake and is fighting to go back to sleep and I need to pick him up and hold in my arms to get him back to sleep. He also started to wake up at 6 am but I see that he is still tired and I try to get him back to sleep. In recent days I also started to take him with me to our bedroom in early morning hours and if necessary to my bed. I know that if he continues to wake up he will also wake up his brother and than I will have two overtired babies
to deal with.
Below is our day routine from past 4 day which is not regular EASY routine as he is napping only 30-45 min and I am able to get only one longer nap out of him when his brother is sleeping as well. Managing it is hard because he wakes up early from the nap and next nap would than fall when he is suppose to eat again. DS1 was the same but he slept at night very well. I am finding it difficult to extend his naps mainly because his older brother keeps interrupting. He will march into the room and will not stay quiet. If I close the door he will start pounding on them and cry. Also, keeping him occupied is not working, even if he will get new toy that is interesting he will bring it with him to the room and start playing there
. I can possibly occupy him with TV but it would mean he would be spending over an hour (between DS1 naps and feedings) watching TV each day and I do not think is healthy for such a young child.
Maybe it is sleep regression or some sort of mental leap or teething
Or quite possibly a problem with his day routine, short naps and him getting overtired but I do not know how to adjust it to make it work. Maybe someone can point me in right direction before it wears me out
2/2
E: 8:00
A
S: 9:30- 10:15
A:
E: 10:50
A:
S: 11:30- 12:10
A
E: 12:50
A
S: 13:30- 15:30 ( woke up 14:15, needed to resettle him in my arms)
A:
E: 16:00
A
S: 17:00 - would not settle for sleep, moved to swing, no crying
A: including bath
E: 18:30
S: 19:00
DF: 9:45
2/3
E: 7:00
A
S: 8:30-9:05
A
E: 9:50
A
S: 10:30- 11:16
A
E: 12:20
A:
S: 13:00- 14:45 ( woke up after 40 min was able to extend the nap without picking him up)
E: 14:50
A:
S: 16:10 -16:45( on a walk)
A: including bath
E: 18:40
S: 19:00
DF: 21:40
2/4
E: 7:30
A:
S: 9:00 -9:40( did not settle until 9:15- toddler running, dog barking etc)
A:
E: 10:10
A:
S: 11:10-11:40
A:
E: 12:50
S: 13:30- 15:00 (woke up after 40 min, rest of the nap slept in my arms)
A
E:15:50
A
S: 16:30- 15:15 (did not settle until 16:45)
A: including bath
E: 18:30
DF: 22:20 ( needed to go in to resettle him at 21:40)
2/5
E: 8:10
A
S: 9: 25-10:00
A:
E: 10:50
A
S: 11:30- 12:05
A
E: 13:00
S: 13:30- 14:40
A
E: 15:40 ( fall asleep while feeding)
A:
S: 16:30-17( in a stroller on a walk)
A: including bath
E: 18:30
DF: 22:15
