Aargghh... don't even know where to post this...

[Sarah O]

My 6 mo DD is now waking at 4am and doesn't fall back to sleep on her own.  It's been about a week now.  She did this once before when she was sick.  She's also gone WAY down in her food consumption.  Now refuses dream feed where she (and her twin) have been taking full dream feeds for months.  Daily formula intake has dropped way down and the solids that we were making progress with are a thing of the past.  Won't even take a taste.  She's also much harder to put down for naps.  I'm at a loss as to what to do.  This morning I decided to try feeding her after we'd been up for over an hour (then 5:15) and got her back to sleep by 5:45.  So now I don't think she'll be hungry til 9:15 at least.  So what does this do to the routine?  I guess I'll find out today, but two additional problems that are bothering me are a) she doesn't tend to cry when she's hungry.  She'll sometimes go 5 or even 6 hours between feeds if you let her (she's always been this way...it's like she doesn't want to cause any trouble or something!).  So this makes it difficult to create a new routine for her as I can't read her cues; and b) do I start to force her brother onto the same schedule for my own sanity?  I guess I don't know if this is a phase and I should just go with the flow for a bit until she snaps back into her normal self or if this is some sort of transition to a new schedule.  What would you do?  If DD only wants to eat every 5 hours but she takes more at a feed, should I just go with it?  But I can't exactly force her brother to wait that long between his feeds, right??

Like I said, no idea if I should be posting this on the other boards (multiples, etc) but thought I'd start here.  Sorry it's so long...please help us!!

Sarah 

[mcruari]

Hi Sarah,
I don't really have any advice for you except that you might want to post this on the multiples board - they know what they are doing over there and can give you some help.

((((((((((((((((HUGS))))))))))))))))

Sinead

[Sarah O]

Hi Sinead,

Thanks for your reply.  I'll post it there too but in general it's not that great a board because there aren't many people posting on it.  Hopefully somebody somewhere can help me!  Many tears this morning, let me tell ya...and not just DS and DD!!

Sarah

[baby_n]

Hello Sarah!I have exactly the same problem!!!! I just came here to try and find the answer... If I see anything interesting I'll let you know in this post.
Good luck!

[annas mum]

My gut reaction from what I've just read is that she may be brewing an illness of some sort - cold? teeth? ear infection?  - check out her gums with your finger, if no bumps I'd take her to the doctors for a check up just in case.

HTH

Clare

[Judy]

I was wondering about teething too?  I've been thinking on this myself as it seems I always have someone waking at 5am and refusing to go back to sleep.  But it isn't always the same little girl - a few weeks ago it was Kaia waking at 5am everyday and right now it's Hannah waking.  I'd just LOVE it if they BOTH would just sleep till 7am!  Anyway, because my two gals switch off I'm starting to think it is related to teeth (ok, I've considered that they agreed amongst themselves to keep me sleep deprived and each one seems willing to take her two week post with early wakings :lol:)

So I have no suggestions for how to get past that one as I'm still trying to figure it out.

As for the routine... I do my best to keep them on the same routine for my own sanity.  I don't function well when they're schedules are offset to be honest.  So while I no longer wake the second one in the early mornings (although often the crying baby does it for me) this puts their first feed off by about an hour on some days... but second feed is usually at the same time again.  I'm finding that they are just now waiting till 11am for second feed regardless of whether the first one was at 6 or 7am.

[Sarah O]

I suspected she's sick and last night confirms it...threw up twice...I'd call it projectile.    Also, woke up from her nap soaked in sweat but strangely, her temp is LOW, not elevated.  Weird.  She had this exact same thing about six weeks ago (that's why I suspected illness...symptoms were identical)  Doc said it was a gastrointestinal bug - nothing more than a cold really.  And nothing to do for it except make sure she's hydrated and wait for it to pass. 

It amazes me how my DD has zero teeth on the way and DS has three already in!  And yet DD's the one who drools, gnaws on everything, etc...funny little creatures!!

Thanks for your posts!  Judy, you're right, they tend to get back onto their schedule no matter what, huh?  DD certainly did that yesterday.  I'm continually surprised by how self-regulating babies are!

Sarah