10 months lots of wake ups...any ideas?

[tired rach]

Hi

My spirited 10 month old is waking frequently at night.  From 8 weeks until she was 6 mths she slept all the way from 8pm til 7ish ...then we've moved around a bit and she's had a shocker teething and a number of colds etc  so we've fallen off the rails completely and it seems to be getting worse!!

Her routine is:

5.30ish BF then sleep to 7ish
8am Breakfast - cereal or fruit and yoghurt and sometimes toast
10am nap - length varies if she wakes crying i usually try and settle her back down so she's usually down for an hour
12 - lunch , pasta or something then a yoghurt
2pm - BF 10 mins one side ish
2.30 ish (3 hrs after wake up usually) - nap for an hour about.
5pm Tea - sandwich or avacado, fruit
6pm bath
6.30 bf about 15 mins each side
7ish bed

she usually goes down ok but screams if i leave the room before she's asleep.  i've tried a lovie but she's not really interested or she starts playing with it and gets distracted from the whole business of sleeping!! 

She normally wakes between 11 and midnight when i usually feed her before putting her back down again. Then she usually wakes again between 2 and 3 when she is wide awake and thrashing around or standing in the cot and won't be calmed in the cot.  ...so I normally end up taking her into my bed where she usually settles but is sometimes is awake for an hour or more.... Feeding her at this time doesn't seem to make a difference so now i refuse and offer her water instead. 

It doesn't seem to make a difference if she's napped for an hour or three hours during the day or what she's eaten.  I have decided it's time to stop breastfeeding so am going to try dropping a feed a week from this week offering her milk from a cup instead.

She's crawling and standing with support, during activity time we play with toys, she spends time in her wheelie doda, we take walks with a backpack, go to the playground......

I'm absolutely shattered with all these broken nights and getting to loose my tether a bit!  I don't know what to try next.  I have thought about leaving her to cry but that often results in her making herself sick or bashing her head on the cot so it's not really a solution.  PUPD works until 3amish when she's too awake ........

any ideas would be gratefully recieved....or tell me its a phase we're going through and I have to bite the bullet....

thanks

Rachel

[Jo-FrasersMum]

Hi Rachel

Well, I hate to say it but I think that your DD is probably quite fond of being scoped up and taken off to bed with Mummy each night.  If you are wanting to stop it then I guess you would have to think about weaning your DD off her "prop".

My other question is how does she fall asleep at the beginning of the night?  If you are helping her get to sleep it may be that she is unable to transition herself into the next sleep cycle during the night.

HTH
Jo

[tired rach]

hi
Thanks for the reply

yeah...I knew that one really 

So, I've been doing pu/pd for a week now (7 nights last night).  Things have improved in so much as she gets herself off to sleep without pat/shhh now - I'm working on leaving the room moving a bit further out each night.  And she is spending all night in her cot...

BUT on sundaywe started cutting another tooth and it's been going on all week so wake-ups are still frequent and I'm not sure if it's pain or habit or something else, I guess i wait for the tooth to come though and see what happens!  Last night it was every 1.5 hrs, I'm exhausted!  But she does go back to sleep with a pat and some reassurance, so I'm not quitting with pu/pd yet but it's killing me!  I don't rush in as soon as she crys but wait until it escalates a bit and she's definately not going back to sleep. 

I'm still feeding her at 5 and she's taking alot then and seems realyl hungry.  Should I try and knock that on the head?

thanks

rach

[Jo-FrasersMum]

Hi Rach

WOW!  You have come a long way!  Well done!!

Isn't it always the way that you get on a roll and then something - illness, teething, whatever, comes along to throw a spanner in the works.

I think it sounds like you are doing all the right things - get back on track once your lo is feeling better.

Re the 5am feed - well, I still feed my DS at 5am (or 4.30am or 4am) whenever he wakes up.  I am happy still doing that feed so I haven't felt the need to stop it.  I guess the question is are you happy to keep feeding at that time?  If the answer is no then you could continue using pupd to get past that time.  Otherwise, if you are ok with it, like I am, just stick with it.  Your DD will stop waking for it when she decides she no longer wants it.

Good luck and GREAT JOB!!
Jo