Night wakening - please help!

[Bec.D]

Hi
My little boy is now 15 weeks old.  I have been 'going with the flow' at night, letting him wake to let me know when he is hungry.  He sort of got into a little pattern as follows;
6.30pm bath
7pm bottle
8pm bed
1am bottle
4am needed settling with water
6.30am wake up and bottle
He did need settling a few times as well as he above - sometimes we were so tired we brought him into bed with us - I know this is wrong.

Anyway, I really wanted to try the dream feed as I know so many people that did this and it helped their babies to start sleeping through the night.  I started last night and this is how it went;

6pm bath
6.30pm bottle (7oz)
7.30pm bed
10.30pm dreamfeed (3.5 OZ - which is good as last time I tried he would take no more than 2oz)
1am woke crying.  Gave him some water, then back in cot (cried for a little while)
3am bottle (3.5 - 4 oz)
4am woke crying.  Gave him some water.  Continued crying, put in bed with us.
5.30am started getting grizzly
6.30am bottle (3oz then fell asleep!)
9.30am bottle (7oz)

Please please can someone help me get on track?  I don't mind feeding at 3am as I know this is normal, but its the waking in between.   

Thanks in advance

[Bec.D]

Sorry - forgot to add - I have just started doing the E.A.S.Y routine, though sometimes I find it impossible to get him to stay awake after a bottle (especially in the evening).

[Katet]

Firstly it can take a few days to a week before the dreamfeed kicks in & other night feeds are dropped. But also as your lo is young (same age as my #2) I know the day routine has a big impact on night time waking, so could you post the day routine rough times of sleep & how long & times of feed & how much?
Then I might be able to give you a better idea of things to help

[Bec.D]

Hi Kate

Thanks for replying.  Daytime hasn't really had much structure up to now which I suspedct has caused the problem, however I have started trying the E.A.S.Y routine.  Previous to this, he generally napped for anything up to 1 1/2 hours but this was always after a bottle. 

Now, this is how I am trying to get a typical day to go;

6.30am awake - get up and dressed
7am bottle
8am activity
9.00am - 10.30/11.00am sleep
11.00am bottle
12pm activity
1.00pm - 2.30/3.00pm sleep
3pm bottle
4pm activity
6pm bath
6.30pm/7.00pm bottle
8pm bed

Does this seem like a reasonable routine?  Sometimes the times are slightly out as he may go bit shorter/longer in between bottles - is that normal?

I just feel that doing the dream feed seems to make him wake up more often throughout the night - and not nessacarily for milk, it seems like a comfort thing sometimes.  I don't know what to do about this, feel like giving the dreamfeed up and letting him go with the flow.

Thanks

[Bec.D]

Ooops - sorry, the amount of formula he takes at the moment is 7oz.

[jenbob]

Hi there,

I could do with some help please!!

I have 7 and a half month old twins. My little girl started sleeping through from 11 weeks. My boy needed dream feeds until 6 months when we started weaning and he seemed to be happily sleeping through.....for a few days anyway!! He has been waking up crying in the night for no apparent reason. This normally happens between 2am and 5am and the cry sounds like his whinging most of the time. I normally end up giving him calpol or changing his nappy and then he normally goes back to sleep. I have tried controlled crying (once!!). He did go back to sleep, but it hasn't worked for us and he normally wakes his sister if he cries for too long anyway.

Our routine is this:
7am - 160mls bottle
8am - breakfast
9am - nap for 40 mins to 1 hour
11.20ish - 100ml bottle and lunch
12.30 - nap - 1 and a half to two hours long
2.30 - 100ml bottle
4pm - dinner with water
6.30pm - bath
7pm bottle and bed (always settle within a few minutes and go to sleep)

I really don't know what I am doing wrong, or wether this is just teething??

Any advice gratefully accepted.

Hope I haven't butted in here!!
Jen xx

[Katet]

Bec D
If you feel like giving the df up & going with the flow, do so, I did that because, if frees me up to got to bed early & by 6-8mo you would be working towards no night feeds anyway.

2 things,
* your timing for feeds looks spot on for day time & the amount sounds about right to me (looked up the info I have as I bf)
* Your day awake times seem too long & only 2 of them ideally on 4 hour feeds you would need 3 sleeps 1 between each feed the first 2 being longer 1.5 -2 hours & the last one can just be a 45min catnap (in the stroller or a swing is ok if that works. just so your lo isn't overtired by bed time. I know with my first in many babies less day sleep = more night wakings as they are over tired & so don't relax & sleep restfully

Oh also hop on the EASY forum & join in our post for April/May babies... there is some great info there from other first time mums struggling through issues
HTH

Jen
Do you leave him to try & settle when he whinges?
Are they both in the same room? could you seperate them.
I think the CC may have distressed him more so he "needs" to know you are around.
I have 2 boys & have been reading lots about how boys seem to have stronger attachment issues than girls & doing things like CC can break trust (funnily since reading that I realised the only people I knew who CC worked for had daughters!!)
Does he wake up & stand up? or just lies there? If he lies there have you tried just patting him off to drowsy & letting him go off to sleep from there? If that works you could do that & get less & less involved - can give suggestions if you think that could work

Also it may be his day sleep isn't long enough, the amount of time you have listed seems a bit on the low side to me, at 7mo most of my info puts it at 2 x 1.5 - 2 hour long sleeps & when my ds#1 was that age he had 2 x 1.5 + 1 x 30 min sleep. Lack of day sleep can cause extra wakings too.

[jenbob]

Hi Kate,

Thanks so much for your detailed reply.
I do try and let him settle himself when he wakes, but don't leave him longer than a few minutes. He doesn't go back to sleep on his own if I leave him. I think you may be right about the CC and I wouldn't do it again, I found it very stressfull. We can't really put them in their own rooms yet as we have alot of re-arranging to do for that and new furniture and carpets to buy....and a lack of money!! I do sometimes pat his side and he will sometimes go back to sleep quite quickly when I do that. I don't know why we are having this problem as he is very good at going off to sleep by himslef at bedtime and during the day. I read last night that feeding babies jar/commercial food could result in night waking because it's not so nutrient dense as home-made foods, and contains more water and starch. Funnily enough I gave him home-cooked foods yesterday and he slep through last night  :lol: ....do you think that there is any truth in what I read??

Thanks for your help.
Jen x

[Katet]

Jen, could well be the bought stuff -  I only ever gave Aiden home cooked stuff, apart from the odd fruit jar, partly as I always said I wouldn't give my child something I wouldn't eat myself.
If he goes off patting him & he settles on his own other times, he may well just need your reassurance. Hard as it is they are young like this for so short a time... the other night when I was cuddled up trying to get my 2yo back to sleep after a nightmare, I actually lay there (tired as I was) thinking how nice it was to be able to do that & I would enjoy my little man & if he needed me, I would be there for him.
I think the fact he has slept through before it is probably just a hiccup & with consistant parenting you will get there.

[Bec.D]

Thanks so much Kate for replying.  I have dropped the dreamfeed and last night went with the flow.  He had 2 really good sleeps yesterday, and we had a pretty good night last night.  I went to bed at 9.30pm, he woke at 11pm and took 4oz, the slept till 3.30am and took 2oz then slept till 7am!  I was really pleased!
I will definatley do as you say re: extra sleep - I feel that the EASY plan really helps.

Thanks again and I'll let you know how I get on.

Rebecca