Before I get going on my sleepless rant, I will say that Rowan is finally taking two decent naps a day after hitting the 30 or 45 minute naps around 4 mo. Yeah!
But, he's back to waking 2x a night--typically around 1 a.m. and 4:30 a.m., give or take 15 minutes. I let him fuss up to 30 minutes. I'll hear him sucking his thumb and sounding like he settling, but then it escalates, and I have to intervene.
The weird thing is, when I pick him up, he pushes away from me. He's not crying. He'll put his head on my shoulder but keep his legs locked (so his bottom is sticking out--if it weren't 1 a.m., it'd be funny). He'll even try to turn around and face forward--kind of like he wants down! He's a very snuggly baby and loves to be held with his lovey and thumb. So, I wind up feeding him and he takes a full feeding from both sides and goes back in his crib happy as a clam.
What I REALLY can't figure out is the next waking about 3.5 hours later. Same thing: locks his legs and makes it hard to hold him. I have put him back in his crib when he does this until he'll finally let me hold him and rock him. Then he settles in with his thumb and goes to sleep. I put him in the crib and he's awake 20 min. later. Soooo, I feed him again because I'm so tired. He eats okay, but more like because he has nothing else to do.
I can't believe he's actually hungry at the second waking. What I've noticed is how restless and alert he is. Fidgety is the word. Moving his legs, his toes, just a wiggle worm. If I get real desperate and put him in the guest bed with me, he will lay there and suck his thumb and fidget indefinitely.
He's on a 4 hr. schedule with solids 3x a day and snacks. He is very distracted by my 2.5 yo., so sometimes I wonder if he gets enough at his feedings. He is also a fast eater unless really hungry and then he'll take more time to eat.
The other night I bf him, followed by a dinner with a snack, then a 3 oz bottle of formula, then a bf at bedtime and added some Motrin in case he was teething...and STILL he was up at 1 and 4. :roll:
Some thoughts:
:arrow: He's been trying to crawl for over a month. Could this be part of it?
:arrow: Separation anxiety?
:arrow: Real hunger at first feeding and then wakes again later looking for the breast for comfort?
:arrow: Lost the ability to put himself back to sleep because I've intervened too much?
My gosh, I've written a novel, but a few more things. He has always woken a lot at night since birth. I think a lot of it had to do with me keeping him in our room too long and attending to every noise he made. But, this improved at 4 mo. when he went his crib all night. At 5 mo. my m-i-l kept him for the weekend and did half formula, half breastmilk. He started sleeping through that weekend (11 or 12 hours) and did so for a month until his 6 mo. growth spurt.
Better wrap this up--thanks for reading if you made it this far!
Tru & Rowan's Mommy
