Dropped feed but still waking

[mumoftwo]

Hi I'm new to this website and have only just discovered the baby whisperer.

I have a 19 week old son and have been struggling with his sleeping since I came home from hospital.  He developed a sleep association with his dummy so we went cold turkey a couple of weeks ago, since then things have improved massively.

Then I discovered the BW and put him on the 4hr EASY and he dropped a 2am bottle on his own!  I'm now watering down his 4am bottle so that he drops that too.  However, he still wakes at 2am and so as soon as he has started to stir the last two nights I have patted & shushed him back to sleep.  What I want to know is how long he is likely to need this intervention for and I'm I doing the right thing as I will probably have to do this when he drops his 4am bottle too?

Other info:  He feeds for hourly starting at 7am, has a dreamfeed at 11pm and is currently a short napper (which I'm working on).

Many Thanks
Trudie

[kezzi78]

trudie, welcome to the wonderful world of the baby whisperer..... You may find that his waking at 2.00am is due to habit and you might want to try wake to sleep which is where you go in an hour early than their usual wake time and slightly jostle/rub them so they stir ever so slightly. I did this with my daughter as she was waking at 4.00am every day, we did this for five nights and she never did it again.

She also was dummy dependent and we discovered that if we tied a dummy round her blankie and put it in the cot she was able to find it at night herself and self soothe back to sleep. hope this helps!!!!

[mumoftwo]

Hi Kezia

Thanks a lot for that.  Wish I had known about the blankie thing before.  Am reluctant to give the dummy back now after all of the problems I had before, it was sooo exhausting, things are definitely better know.

Guess what, he didn't wake at 2am last night!  However....... He woke at 4,30am.  Tried for 30 mins to pat & shh then gave watered down bottle, he only took 2oz but wouldn't resettle so I let him suck my finger for 20 mins & he went back to sleep at 6am and slept until 6.30am.

Did I water down the bottle too much?  He only took 2oz, I had watered it down 1 scoop to 4oz of water. Or was it because I let him wake too much by trying patting & shhing?  Also should I not have let him suck to sleep - I was trying to keep him from waking up my husband & son and it is only once a day?

Thanks again
Trudie

[kezzi78]

Trudie
so glad he didnt wake at 2am last night, normally i think it is one scoop to 1oz of fluids...... so difficult to know what to do. Are you breastfeeding or bottle during the day ? What you might want to do is up the intake during the day so he wont wake at night due to hunger, although if he is only taking 2oz it maybe down to habit. Again you could try wake to sleep......

[Inlovew/Charlie]

Mumoftwo,

How long did it take of going cold turkey without the pacifier before your lo didn't cry for it ? We are considering doing it, but a little scared. Would love to hear your experience.

Thanks
Charlie's mom

[mumoftwo]

Hi Charlie's mum

Can't tell you how much things have changed since we got rid of the dummy.  Edward was waking roughly every 45 mins after 2am and approx 7 times a night including feeds, it was killing me. 

I talked about giving it up for over a month but every time I tried I gave in when he cried.  But in the end I figured that he was crying with the dummy too because he was sooo over tiered and I it wasn't fair to go on (not on him, me hubby or his brother).  I sat at the computer one evening crying because I couldn't take any more and that was it, I stopped giving it to.

That night it took about 1hr 15 mins to get him to sleep.  He was screaming, but then he always screamed himself to sleep anyway through sheer exhaustion.  I had set myself up for 5 days of screaming but actually it wasn't like that at all.  I think he actually slept better that night than he had for a long time.  He woke at 5 am crying and wouldn't re-settle for at least an hour.  After that we didn't really look back, it got easier & easier.

After that he only woke twice a night for feeds & since I started following the BW and started 4hr easy, only once.

How old is your Charlie, if I can help through pm support please email me, I had an email support through UKparents online & found it really helpful to pour my heart out to whilst things were bad as well as to share our success's.

Good Luck!

[mumoftwo]

Hi again

Edward still waking at 3am ish & 5.30am ish (he used to have a bottle at 2am & 4.30am before clocks went forward) out of habit.  It's not 3am & 5.30am on the dot though, sometimes 3.15am,  can I still use wake to sleep?  If so can someone explain how to do it?  Do I wake at the same time every night?  I currently use a dummy to re-settle as pat & shh takes too long in the early hours.  Am worried about him becoming dummy dependent, as just went cold turkey to wean him off of it.

Many Thanks

[kezzi78]

yes, the way wake to sleep works is you get up an hour earlier say 2.00am for the 3.00am wake up.... you then gently jostle them so they stir but do not come out of the sleep completly, this is enough to break their sleep cycle so they go back into a deeper sleep. Cant help with the dummy thing as my LO is totally dummy dependent but will find it and put it in herself now it is attached to her blankie

[mumoftwo]

Thanks Kezia, may try it tonight.

Last night was the worst night in ages.  Re-introduced 2am feed two nights ago as thought Edward was hungry.  Yesterdays feeds went completely out of schedule, don't know if the 2am bottle messes it all up but he then feed at 9.40 (instead of 10am), 1.30pm (instead of 2pm),pm (instead of 6), gave top up feed at 6pm, then woke 9.40 (instead of 10pm), then 2am (took 4oz), 5am (took 6oz) and now trying to get all his bottles back in line today.  Any ideas what's happening?  Could it be a growth spurt or is it because I re-introduced his 2am feed (and then 5am instead of 6am this morning).  Dont know what to do last night as he cried for an hour between 4am & 5am.

Many Thanks

[kezzi78]

sorry to hear you had such a rubbish night.... could you write down schedule of bottles, solids and naps please so i can get a better understanding ......

[mumoftwo]

Hi again Kezia

Normally:

6am wake & bottle

10am bottle

2pm bottle

6pm bottle

10 df

He's a short napper so tends to have 5 catnaps 40 minis each all over the place (need to work on this).
Wakes at 2am ish & 4-5ish but didn't feed until two nights ago when I thought he might be hungry.  Then last night woke at 2am, took 3-4oz & 3.30 (gave dummy). woke 4am but waited till 5am to feed and took 6oz.  Trying to get him back on track today.

Thanks for looking.

[kezzi78]

thanks for the schedule how much of a bottle is he drinking in each feed? Has he started on solids yet ?? what time does he normally go to bed?

[mumoftwo]

Oh, sorry, 7oz bottles, but sometimes only drinks 6oz.  goes to bed at 6.30pm, not yet on solids.

[kezzi78]

Looking at your schedule its great to see you on a four hour easy. I was comparing your sons bottle intake to my daughter who was quite fussy with the bottles and the thing that struck me is how many bottles he appears to be having. I do wonder whether he might be ready for solids and hes waking due to hunger.

My LO started on solids at four months although i was desperate to do things the correct way and wait until she reached 6 months... but she had other plans.

Have you ever tried him with a bit of baby rice?

The other thing you might want to do is do another posting requesting people to let you know what schedule their 19 week old is on, so you can get an indication of what others are doing and what is and what is not working.

I would still try wake to sleep....

[mumoftwo]

Hi Kezia

It's 1am, trying wake to sleep.  He woke right up!   He's a very light sleeper.

Is 5 x 7oz bottles (at 6am, 10am, 2pm, 6pm & 10pm) with no night feeds(this is what he was doing two nights ago), a lot for a 20 week old baby then?  Hes about 17lb now.