exhausted and hoping for an answer

[Mom2Pearce]

HI.
I wanted to see if anyone had any suggestions for my soon to be 10 month old. seems like it has been weeks that he's been getting up at the 8.5 hour mark after i put him down.  but that has not always been the case..he USED to sleep 11-11.5 hours a night. now he's waking me between 8.5 and 9.5 hours after he's put to bed. i thought at first that he was hungry so i fed/nursed him.  then i discovered that it looked like a habit was forming so i started reducing the amt of time i would nurse then the next tooth came in and i was back to square one....i have been pretty blessed so far as i have an textbook/angel baby, all i'm hoping for is like 7-8 hours of unbroken sleep...

This has been the routine for the last few weeks

between 7:00-8:30 wake up (solids)
between 9:30-10:30 nap #1 after nursing approx 10 min (usually lasts about 1.5 hours, occasionally 1.75 hours) (lunch/solids)
between 1:30-2:30 Nap #2 after nursing approx 10 min (here lately only an hour, sometimes more) Wake (nurse)
between 5-6 dinner
7 bedtime
and then the night waking has been at 4:30, though this morning at 3:30


what's more, i can never go right back to sleep, though he does.  I mean i nurse him and boom he's asleep, but i'm awake an hour and half later SO, if anyone has suggestions that would end this, i'd be so grateful.

jenni

[FrasersMum]

Hi Jenni

Hmmmm  :?   What's going on with your little guy??

2 things pop to mind I guess - either a looming developmental milestone (or a recent milestone) like walking perhaps??  Or the feeding to sleep at nap times (and nights??) is becoming a problem.

How long were you feeding during the night (how many nights?)  Do you think this is a habit that needs to be broken.

If your LO goes back to the regular 4.30am wake up you could try wake-to-sleep.  Otherwise you could go back to square one with reducing the time of the feeds, or you could try offering water instead.

[Mom2Pearce]

well, ...he DID just start scooting (jan 1) but even before that he was waking at 5:30...now it's just gotten earlier and earlier and earlier...so that is part of it, i think.  really what i was hoping for is at least 10 hours for him in unbroken sleep...

i wondered if keeping him awake a little longer at nap time in the a.m. would help...but i don't think that'd work.

What i don't really want to be awakened before 6 to tell you honestly...he's pretty married to the daytime routine...i mean, he gets pretty tired about 2 hours after waking for the day and about 3 hours after waking from nap #1 yet, they continue to be shorter...maybe he's ready for a change in the routine?  ANy suggestions for weaning from the naptime feeeding...(i really only started that within the last 6 weeks ---for a time he napped longer)

looking for a plan of action
jenni

[FrasersMum]

Hi Jenni

Sorry I haven't checked back in for a couple of days.

Has there been any improvements??

[SophieB]

Someone suggested to me putting Ellie to bed earlier when I was having a similar drama.

Seems counterintuitive, but it seemed to work.

Good luck.

Sophie

________________

[Mom2Pearce]

things are looking better...last night, he slept almost 11 hours straight
*about 10 hours 50 min* WOO HOOO! 

WHat i think is happening is he's trying to get the next batch of teeth (number 7 and 8 in the front) as he is drooling like a faucet. I gave him motrin before bed and that seemed to help. (and i put him to bed earlier than normal as well,...some of it seems to be sleep problems compounded with teething, and a cold (which i have as well) so it's like a triple whammy. 

I did think that maybe he was interested in trying to change his nap routine, but this morning proved that not to be the case...he started winding down from big play about 1 hour and 40 min or so from his usually 2 hour mark(which gave me enough time to nurse him and put him awake in his bed to wind down further and nod off to sleep at the two hour mark [he woke up at 7:45 after waking at 6 (!?!?!?) to nurse for only 8 min so he fell asleep at 9:45]

in addition to all this, i've stepped up my prayer life and have been desperate for God's help as he was the one who made this little dear and gave him to me to take care of...which i believe has quite a bit to do with the change of events...

At any rate, thanks for all your comments.
If anything else comes into your mind as far as advice, please don't hesitate.

jenni
Wife to Dan *8/11/01*
Mom to Pearce *3/16/05*