waking for paci or is it something else

[SylvieA]

Hi there
In the past couple of weeks My DS has been waking a few times at night. Anywhere between 2-5 times. It seems like he is getting dependent on his paci. When I go into his room he is crying with his eyes shut and I give his paci and he settles. Just last night he didn't want to sleep so  I tried feeding him at midnight but only took 3 ozs of ebm which he didn't guzzle too quick. He then went right back to sleep for about an hour, resettled with paci, and the same an hour later. He's also been waking earlier in the morning(at around 6am) I just leave him in his crib until 7am as he is just talking to himself.
Is there any way I can wean him a bit from is paci without going through a lot of crying. He used to sleep through and fall asleep on his own if he woke in the night. With the occasional NW problem every once in a while which would only last for a few days or a week max. I'm posting our routing as I know you're gonna ask.

he wakes at 6ish on most mornings
start the day
7  get up, change and feed
730 oat cereal and fruit (or new food)
9 or 930 nap (about 1 1/2 hrs)
11 feed
1 or 130 nap (about 1 1/2 hrs) sometimes 45 min
3 feed
4 solids veg & rice cereal
430 catnap (30 min)
7 bath and feed
730 sleep. (8 at the latest)

I'm tying to stetch out his awake time but having a hard time. He gets overstimulated too quick.
I've also notice too that he wants to be held more than usual ( if this is relevent to his NW). I don't know if there is anything else I could add. Oh he's been teething on and off for a few months but doesn't seem to bother him much in the day.
 I just need help resolving what is causing this. TIA

edited as I forgot to put his age. He'll be 7 months on the 14th of June

[teezee]

firstly i think it is time to cut off the catnap. when lo's start having night wakings/early wakings it usually signifies that it is time for some naptime to go. keep trying to extend that A time some and keep it very low key. if needed you may/more than likely will need to opt for an earlier bedtime till lo is able to do longer stretches of A time so he doesn't get overtired before bed. i think this will solve the problem with the earlier wakings and also with the night wakings. if it doesn't solve things totally you may want to limit that first nap to a shorter amt of time and and also have a longer nap in the pm or check out the props board if you think the paci is the problem. good luck!

[SylvieA]

Thanks teezee for the reply. I think you are right, I thought he had too much nap time, but affraid to reduce them. He can become very hard to deal with when he gets tired and stimulated. I am acually looking forward to his naps as he is very needy lately, if he's not paied attention for a few minutes he just screams and whine. I'll just have to go with the flow and see what happens, and deal with his fussyness for a little while. My used to be angel has become a bit touchy, oh well thats another topic.
I'll try putting him in bed early tonight instead of his catnap but I'm affraid he'll be awake at 5 instead of his 6am wake.
Isn't it funny how you have a routine that works great and all of a sudden it doesn't anymore. 
I'll tweek his routine a bit and wait a week and see where we are. If it doesn't work I'll knoe its a paci addiction.
oh and what would be a usual awake time at his age.

[teezee]

all lo's are really different so it depends - extend it by 15 minn for a few days and see how that goes - if it seems like he can go longer then go a bit longer. it's just a balancing act and you just have to find out what is good for lo.

some days might be better than others but try to keep as consistant as possible without letting lo get overtired/overstimulated - like i said keep that extra A time as low key as possible. good luck and keep us posted

[victoria1]

Hi there,

My dd was born on Nov 5, 2005. Interestingly enough my dd has gone through a similar phase...When I began following Tracy's methods my dd was 2.5 mo and by 3.5 mo she was sleeping 12 hours a night w/out waking up. Then suddenly at around 5.5 mo mark we began running into these problems they are off and on. She has suddenly started waking up once a night for about 1 hour. She is not hungry she just lays there wide awake but if I am not in her room with her then she cries. This is what frustrates me as I have to be up with her. I have been trying to figure out what suddenly started these night wakings at first I thought it was maybe due to the fact that she began rolling over front to back as the issue was that while in her crib she rolls on her tummy but doesn't like to sleep that way. She knows how to roll back however for some reason in the crib she doesn't she cries until I roll her back over. She doesn't do it herself. From your post our similarities seem to be that recently our dd  has suddenly become very dependent on me, and when she is awake goes through very cranky periods. She does play by herself for a while but then wants myself or my dh to be with her. We have wandered if maybe it could be that she is bored with her current toys.  Sometimes it seems like she is just fussy for no reason. I also wandered if it could be teething but she already has 2 teeth and this has been goiing on what seems like forever and no 3rd tooth appears to be in site. Anyway is nice to know other babies of similar age are suddenly having problems. Not that I wish problems on anyone but nice to know I am not the only one... It seems like when you finally get it all figured out they through a curve ball at you and you have to start from scratch.

[SylvieA]

Hi there
Victoria1 : It is good to hear there are other babies out there like mine. Thank goodness he doesn't roll yet. That will be another issue when that arises  i guess. ( he only rolled a few times during play time and he didn't like it. He doesn't like being on his belly) My DS started 10-12 hour stretches at about the same age as your DD. I remember the first night he did it and I felt like I had been sleeping forever
I also hope that dependence thing goes away, it would be nice if he could amuse himself for longer like he used to. Not all day but for a few more minutes so I can get a few things done. I try speaking to him trough the walls but only makes it worst. Oh and for new toys, I tried and didn't work for us.
Teething can have an affect on behavior. He's been teething since he is 3months and nothing came out yet. I heard it's supposed to get better after the first has come out as they are used to the feeling of teeth pushing through. Has it gotten better for you.
Well he didn't wake up last night so I may have a few days of rest. Maybe wishfull thinking but we'll see.