Two GREAT nap days = two HORRIBLE nights

[alex and danny]

My soon to be 5 month old has had 2 great nap days, where he slept 2 hours in the am (without help through his 45min cycle! Finally after much suppport!) and slept 1.5 hours for the early pm nap and a 30 min catnap at 4:30 or 5pm.  The problem is that in turn he has had two terrible nights - waking up - starts to fuss but then turns into a cry; at least 5 times throughout the night.  We tried to not go in until he cries, he uses a paci to fall asleep and will sometimes take it and fall asleep, but other times he needs to be picked up to be soothed.  I tried feeding the second night, but he only bf for about 8 min, and fell asleep. I tried pu/pd but he still cries in my arms, so not sure when to pd, etc. Could the sudden great napping, be affecting his night sleep?  He gets a df at 10:30, and used to go from 7:30 until about 6:30 am. (Of course with some fussing around 4am) I should mention that two nights before this, he woke up at 4:30-5a.m. and was hard to get back to sleep.
Any suggestions or advice?  Thanks   :?

[KellyC]

Hi there

I don't have any advice but would like some too!  My 4 mo has just started to take consistently long naps following a month long short nap phase and has now started to wake consistently at night.  Whereas previously he would fuss and then go back to sleep, now he fusses and it turns into terrible screaming which I can't seem to stop.  He settles fairly easily using PU/PD if necessary for all other naps and bedtimes but the worst night waking starts at 4am or so and then lasts until wake up time when he's ready to go back to sleep for a couple of hours so we have a very strange routine for the rest of the day!  Tonight I'm not doing the DF (although I can hear him stirring for it) as at least I'll know if (when) he wakes up he'll be hungry so I can feed him and hopefully get him to go back down easier.

Kelly x

[Katet]

I'm not really sure what to recommend as to me an 8min bf is a reasonable feed & enough to warrant that he was at least Thirsty, if not hungry. I am assuming you have heating on in the house & it could be that he is too 'dry' from the heating.

It may also be he is starting to develop a need for the Paci to fall back to sleep, it is normally around the 4/6month mark that babies either become in need of it as a prop, or it just becomes a soothing tool.

Also while "textbooks' refer to growth spurts at certain times, I have found my 7month old "hasn't read the books" & he had his growth spurts at very different times to what the books said.

There are many factors that contribute to night wakeups, but good day sleep isn't normally one, esp as the amount he has slept seems fairly appropriate for his age.