sleeping through the night

[teezee]

if your lo has a lot of gas - just a thought - have you tried eliminating anything out of your diet to see if your lo perhaps has a sensitivity to something?? if your lo isn't comfortable it will be hard for him to get through night time sleep cycles as he is more active and moving throughout the day once in bed he isn't moving much so the gas will get worse. of course give gripe water or other gas drops but it may go away all together with if it is something in your diet...just speaking from the experience i had with my lo - for me it was 11 months without caffiene and still i can't have very much without giving her problems..it could be dairy, caffeine, hot/spicy foods, gassy foods...if you want to try it - drop something for a week and see how lo is doing...good luck!

[teezee]

oh and if lo already has gas and discomfort - starting solids early is NOT the way to go as his digestive system will surely have issues dealing with the solids..again..just speaking from horrible experiences...

[nicolanorway]

i am so happy, he slept until 5am then fed and i had to set my alarm for 7am to wake him (want to keep on track with 4mth E.A.S.Y.). this is now two nights out three we have had sucess!!!! about the gas, i think it is chocolate but i am reluctent to admit it. life withiut chocolate, arggghh. didn't eat any yesterday and i suppose i am seeing the results. thanks again u all. will keep you pposted.

[Harvey and Theos Mam]

That is great news, so glad you are getting some rest.

He is still only 4 months old so sleeping through isn't a sure thing. My DS has up and down  nights, sometimes he will sleep through until 7am but that is rare.
Babies do most of their growing and learning in their sleep so that can interupt their sleep.

Hope this is the start of many a good nights sleep.

[deenz]

Great news!

[teezee]

  congrats! you and your lo are doing wonderful!!

[nicolanorway]

hey there,
just another question, we started his nighttime routine at 6.45 tonight. dh gave him his bath, massage etc, then i fed him in his room, he started to doze off on the breast so i took it away and tried to burp him. this left him wide awake, i then read a story which he listened to intently, then with the shush/pat for over half an hour. i left him in his room wide awake and happy. dh has now taken over. what sort of method can i use when this situation arises? thanks again and hope i am not prattling on, demanding too much.

[teezee]

never too much!!  you are just trying to sort things out. you did what was right by not letting lo fall asleep eating. i know from my own exp that it can sometimes be harder to settle lo once you wake when they are falling asleep eating, but in the long run it is worth it. just keep doing what you are doing and shh/pat or just shhing or just patting if both together are too stimulating.

maybe if lo is falling asleep like that again, instead of reading a story just make sure he is awake (by burping, soft talking, etc) rather than reading a story as this in itself may have been too stimulating.

[AJs Mom]

Please keep in mind that I use a combination routine from BW and another book I've been reading... My DS is 12 weeks, he's been sleeping 7ish-7ish with a DF at 10/10:30ish without a 4am feed for about the past 4-5weeks.  He's been a good sleeper since the beginning, but here's what's been working for us.  This is his 3-4 month routine that we are moving into...

I breastfeed.

E-7:00
A- after feed
S- 9:00 ish (early morning nap 45 min MAX)
Y

E- 11:00 ish
A- after feed
S- 12:15 ish (long afternoon nap 2-2.25 hours MAX)
Y

E- 2:30 ish
A- after feed
S- 4:30 ish (very small evening nap 15 min MAX) (we've actually phased this out, but it's there if we need it)
Y

E- half feed if necessary (this has been phased out now)
A- after feed or around 5:45 (bath time and massage), then finish feed at 6:15, or full feed if he didn't have the half
S- 7:00 ish
Y

E- 10:00 ish - DF
A- no activity, he's in dreamland!
S- 10:45 ish
Y- (I go to bed)

He used to wake around 4 for a feed then went back to sleep.  Sometimes, he wakes around 5:30 and doesn't want to go back to sleep.

The other book stresses how important it is that he not sleep past 5:00 or he'll be tough to put to sleep at 7:00.  It also mentions helping him to settle with some cool boiled water if he wakes in the night (can also help with constipation).

Sonja

[deenz]

Nicola - if he's wide awake and happy, then just leave him be (or had he started crying so DH had to take over?).

If the routine mentioned above works, then great, but I know a lot of babies that age need more day time sleep than that still (in fact my 8mo sleeps longer than that sometimes, and does 12hrs roughly over night). 

Also, if you are wanting to exclusively bf, then your baby does not need extra water.

[nicolanorway]

hey you all,
just wanted to update you all on our horrid day, christian (baby) woke at 4am for his feed then slept again till 7am  (i love that bit). then everything went pear shaped during the day, first we did a wind down session with him in the bedroom about 8.45am then dh got him to sleep using his modified shush/pat (shushing and a little rocking in his arms). christian fell alsleep about 9am only to wake up at 9.25am. between us we spent 1.5hrs trying to get him to sleep again (i fed after the 45min mark) and nothing worked. i had made arrangements with the MIL to go out shopping at 11.30am and he fell alsleep in the pram at 12 and slept until 1ish whilst we were in the mall (by the way he had/has a rocking/fed to sleep prop addiction which we are weaning him from). i really didn't want him to fall asleep in the pram. when we got home about 2am, i fed him gave him a little A time then a wind down session, he fell asleep at 3ish and woke 10 mins later. this went on till 5.30 at which time i had given him a napppy change, a short feed and a full massage. at 5.30 i thought sausage to it, and got him up as we were about to have dinner. his little eyes were all red from tiredness and it made my heart bleed. as soon as we ate dinner, we bathed him and i feed him. the feed only lasted 10mins, he was flat out, i tried to burp him but he was just out like a light. i put him in his cot (crib?). he has just woken again, i gave some more infacol (stuff for wind) and let him nurse again as he had taken so little before bedtime. i spoke to him the whole time to keep him awake whilst feeding which resulted in some very annoyed looks from baby (quite funny). i then burped him, wallked a little and put him down whilst shushing and held my hand against his chest, he eventually fell asleep.
i really don't know when to go in to him to help his naps get longer, sometimes he awakens after 30mins,40 mins, 45 mins and sometimes 1hr. it is nice to have people who are in/were in the same boat to discuss this with. we have made progress though wiyth early mornings/night waking. should i post this question/s on props?
thanks again, you lovely mothers.
nicola     

[teezee]

seeing as you have made some changes to lo's routine would you mind reposting it? it sounds like lo may have gotten overtired... hope this even goes better than the day..

does he seem uncomfortable? could it be gas??

[nicolanorway]

i am trying to follow the 4 hr EASY, but with modifacations to suit my lo. it goes (on a good day) something like this.
7am      E wake and feed (he doesn't normally take that much milk)
7.30     A morning routine, wash, dress, little playing
8am      E a little top up
8.45am S we trying to calm him down for a little while by sitting in his room with low lighting, some days he can take 1.5hrs sleep, but it has been 30mins, 40 mins, folllowd by us trying to get him to sleeo again. i think this is gas and have now given up chocolate.
10.30   E both breasts if he'll take them.
11am   A out for a walk trying not to let him sleep, toys and singing etc at home
12.30  S if he is tired and we see signs we will try to get him to sleep, this can also be an ordeal, lasting over an hr of shush/pat with lots of 10min naps
2-2.30 E both breasts if he'll take them
3pm    A toys, bouncy chair with baby gym
4-5pm S we watch for signs and he can get really grumpy and overtired if his naps have been bad all day, this can sometimes be 1hr if he needs it but i try not to let him really long as it is close to bedtime, he can also skip this nap (yesterday for example)
6pm E try to give him a good feed
6.30-6-45 A depending on his day (rested or not) bathtime, massage, pj's, singing.
7pm  E a little top up to make him sleepy although i would like to cut out feeding before sleep completly as it destroys his sleep because the whole wind issue.
7.3o S this can be interupted the first hr or so because he has a burp or fart working it's way round.
10.30-11pm DF
3am-5am E nappy change and right back to bed, this is the progress we have made
7am wake today it was 6am.

christian had/has colic since he was born, he has been treated by a chriopractor and a homopatheic therapist. we did see some improvements and we keep up with the anti-gas massages. i know what i have to do but i suppose i am reluctant, i am not willing to do PU/PD yet, i never know if it is wind he is suffering from so this would be mean to him. he is so used to getting fed before nap/bedtimes and i know if i just stop the feedings and kept at the shush/pat religously it probably would solve our problems. it just requires a lot of willpower and stamina.
see, i should be a mod, i just answered by own questions. it is great having support and i just have to set my mind to doing this.
nicola

[teezee]

have you noticed any improvement with the lack of chocolate in your diet? have you tried eliminating all caffeine? i know it is hard but may be what is bothering your lo?!

imo opinion your lo needs that feed before sleeping to help get through the night..or even some of the night. i agree that it would be mean to try pu/pd or other sleep training if there may be some undlying pain there..so i think first and foremost that is what you have to figure out.

what else do you do for gas?

[nicolanorway]

i have stop eating chocolate and only drink 2-3 cups of tea a day, tea has a lot less caffine than coffe (sure, you know that). anyway his night waking are okay now, only up at 4ish and back down after that till app. 6am. that i can live with. now (the last 2 days) he has been a nightmare to get to sleep. i have tried the shush/pat and that was working fine but then yesterday, he objected so much to being put in his cot, he want the breast and if not, then if wanted to sleep in my arms, each time i put him down his little arms and legs went into a frenzy, he is a strong little man and he caught me a few times in the face. we have been walking with him around his bedroom, he then fall asleep and the minute we put him dowm he screams. like they say, 2 steps forward, 1 step back!!!!