Author Topic: Broken evenings after successful PU/PD campaign...  (Read 1067 times)

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Offline catty47

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Broken evenings after successful PU/PD campaign...
« on: October 07, 2005, 08:15:48 am »
Hi

We have recently successfully employed PU/PD to get nearly 6month Isla to sleep independently, (without boob prop) and she's very good now at both naptimes and bedtimes, going down usually without any trouble.

However, she has started waking between 1 and 2 hours after going to bed (this has happened for over a week now) and then again at around 10.30.  I am tending to feed her in order to get her tanked up, but I'm not really sure whether she needs it or if I'm just reconditioning her to get boob in the night.  (I don't really put her back in her cot asleep - I tend to make sure she is awake so we don't fall into the boob trap again!)

She had been able to put herself back to sleep in the night, and the other night, even after a broken up evening she slept from 11 till 6.25.  So I thought we were getting there!

However, last night was a complete mess - I was doing PU/PD or various other strategies for two hours from about 10, having fed her again when she woke at 8pm.  We restarted bedtime, tried to go through the routine again, changed her nappy, sat quietly etc but she just went nuts!  Eventually I managed to get her down with PU/PD but had to hold her and pat her for about half an hour to get her through the ragged breathing etc  This was on the 3rd PU/PD attempt, Isla having woken up 10mins after the previous two attempts!

My question is - why is she doing this waking up?  And since she now seems to be losing the habit of putting herself back to sleep again when she wakes, should I start a nighttime PU/PD campaign again?!  Or is there a slightly different technique for babies who have otherwise learned how to go to sleep.

I have to say she is struggling a bit with her bowels, is a little constipated, and I wonder if she is sometimes woken up by tummy ache, but in general I feel like it is more behavioural than that since she should go down again once the pain passes - also of course having a feed gets her back down again.

Any tips as to what strategy to employ to nip this broken evening sleep in the bud would be appreciated.

Her routine is as follows (usually)
6.30 - 7am wake and breastfeed
8.30 solids
9.30/10.00 sleep (50 minutes)
11am breastfeed
12.30 solids
2.30 till 4 sleep (I used some sleep extending techniques to get this from 45 minutes to 1.5 hrs)
5/5.30 solids
6.30 bottle feed
6.45 bedtime

Thanks!

Offline Katet

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Broken evenings after successful PU/PD campaign...
« Reply #1 on: October 08, 2005, 02:04:25 am »
two things I can think of, firsly babies that are overtired at bed time, often wake up in the first hour or 2 after going to bed, so maybe she needs more day sleep or an earlier bed time.
the other is did this start after the evening solids were introduced? maybe her tummy is not coping with the solids in the evening, given her age I would cut out the evening solids until she is about 7mo (2 solids per day is fine until about 8-9 months. & offer her a milk feed when she wakes up from the afternoon nap, then another milk feed before bed, as at this age she should still be having at least 4 milk feeds/day + at least one night feed (minimum total of 5 milk feeds), that would also help with constipation. She may well be thirsty rather than hungry, so that is why the feeds help!
dc1 July 03, dc2 May 05

Offline catty47

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Middle of the night wakings....
« Reply #2 on: October 10, 2005, 09:16:25 am »
Thanks for your help - I've been giving it a go.  I think you're probably right about fluids - she is so distracted at feeding!
Struggling to up her intake but we'll see.  One good night (slept from 11 till 6.30 after an 8 wake, 9 wake and 10.30 df) and last night bad - 8, 9, 11, 12, 3 and 5.30!

I still don't think it is always about the liquids - should I revert to some PU/PD in the middle of the night, or are there any other methods?  I'm pretty sure she's not putting herself back to sleep when she's coming out of a sleep cycle.
If she was more consistent, I did think of trying dreamfeeds in the night to stop her waking but it's difficult when she is not predictable with her waking up...

I'll check her weight today to see if she's back on track - maybe she's having a growth spurt but not getting enough calories in milk!