Night wakings - tried wake to sleep - not working! need help

[LissaK]

My DS is 18 weeks old and up until a couple of weeks ago he was sleeping thro 7pm to 7am, he has now decided to wake at 4am, 5am then 6.30am for a feed.  When he wakes at 4 and 5am he is crying altho not really awake and I just give him dummy and he usually goes back to sleep.  But he wakes every night on the dot at 4 and 5am!!  He doesn't seem hungry. I tried wake to sleep method for 3 nights but it didn't seem to have any effect.  Any help would be appreciated!!

[Katet]

It could be a growth spurt, but you say he doesn't seem hungry, he may be just hungry enough to wake up, but not to need a big feed, so can be settled back. Does he have any feeds between 7pm & the wakeups, if he doesn't then think it could well be hunger, he may have made it through before, but age & probably more active, he definitely has a right to being feed... an 8-9hour stretch is really good at this age.

The other thing I have noticed with my 4.5mo is that he is waking earlier, so I plan to increase his awake time & activities ever so slightly, as I don't think he is quite tired enough to make him sleepy enough to sleep the last few hours properly.

[LissaK]

Thanks for the reply.  Altho he does have a dream feed at 11pm which he usually takes about 5ozs, so thats why I thought it wouldn't be hunger, but maybe it is - I might try giving him a bottle and see what happens.  He is on a 4 our routine during the day altho he has trouble sleeping for longer than 45 min naps too.   perhaps this maybe the reason for him not sleeping properly at night too? if I could extend his daytime naps do you think that would help?!?  I didn't think it was a growth spurt as it has lasted a few weeks and thought they only lasted a few days?  Anyway, will try the bottle and see what happens!

[shem2005]

my DD was doing very similar, always waking about 4- 4.30am and then she would be on and off again until we woke her at about 7am. We would never go to her cause she was mainly talking and a little whinge, never full on crying. Still even without going to her it really did wreck our sleep hearing it all.

We thought because we were swaddling her and she kept getting out of it that that was the problem. Sometimes just to quieten her we would go and rewrap and that would work a treat.

We have now decided to try and wean her from the swaddle and have been swaddling her arms only and putting her in a grobag. First night was the same but then last night (DH did the swaddle and she didn't get out) she was so peaceful and only one small noise at about 5.30am.

I was going to try wake to sleep but after last night i am thinking that maybe around that time of night it is the coldest and she was waking up because she was cold. Could your DS be cold?

We will see how she goes tonight.

[LissaK]

Thanks - I had wondered if he was cold, come to think of it we did stop swaddling him about the same time as he started waking up!! perhaps thats the answer! Maybe I should swaddle him again?! 

Last night was different he woke at 5.30am only and I gave him a bottle - he took 4ozs and went back to sleep until 9am.  These babies really know how to confuse us eh!

Thanks for your replies.

[Little Bear's Mum]

Lissa, how are you going with night sleeps now? I've been going thru same thing with my son who's 6 months. Slept better when wrapped, but can't wrap him now. Wondered about the cold waking, about habit, about everything and anything that could be causing 5am wake ups! Have you found any solutions yet?

Kate - I have also wondered if I need to drop the afternoon catnap so my son only gets about 2.5 hours total naps during the day. I've wondered if he's getting too much sleep during the day causing unsettled sleep at night. How has it gone for you keeping your lo awake longer in the afternoon?

Hope you don't mind me asking about your efforts in changing your LO's sleep at night, just hoping there might be some clues for me!

[LissaK]

Hi there!  The swaddling seemed to be working, however, this week Alex has been poorly, he went down with a tummy bug and he has been sleeping for 1.5hr naps morning and afternoon and all through the night - so I'm not sure if he's sleeping well as he's poorly or if its the swaddling!

Sorry to hear you're having the same problems, its really hard to know what to do.  Do you have one of those sleeping bags? I have heard they are very good for keeping LO's warm all night.  I hope you manage to find a solution.

[Little Bear's Mum]

Thanks for your reply. It's not good to hear Alex is unwell, but if it helps him reprogramme his sleep patterns it could be a blessing in disguise! I had some success last night by changing his end of the day feeding around and not having too much sleep during the day. Daniel slept from 6.30pm - 4.30am! Then a quick feed and back to sleep until about 7.15am. I hope I can replicate this today!