Waking 7 times in one night!!! HELP

[MackMum]

Please please help! I don't know what on earth has happened to my LO who used to sleep so well! He's one week shy of 4mo and the past few nights he has been waking more and more often during the night - last night was 7 times, excluding wakeup at 7am  11pm, 1am, 2am, 3am, 4:30am, 5:30am, 6:30am (1, 2 and 3 he settled himself, the other times I had to give him the paci  ).

I can't decide what the problem is and how to go about fixing it cos it could be any number of things.

Daytime feeds - about 1.5-2weeks ago we got down to 4 feeds during the day 7am, 11, 3 & 7pm (we dropped the 6pm feed since he'd hardly take anything and just eat lots at 7pm). He seemed to do ok and for a week was managing to go 10hrs at night before needing a feed (around 5am) and even then I'd keep it short, with only a couple of minor wakes around midnight or perhaps an hour or two after bedtime. So I figured that he must be getting enough during the day to be going longer at night.

Nightime feeds - a couple of nights ago DS woke around 4am and I decided to see if he could last an extra hour (around his 12wk growth spurt we got into a bad habit of having extra feeds at night - to the point that he was tanking up at night and not bothering during the day. We finally got that sorted so I wasn't about to creep back to it) - so I gave him the paci expecting him to wake me again an hour later - but he slept till 7am!! Ditto the next night. So haleluljia we were finally going 12hrs between bedtime feed and wakeup feed!! He was still waking every couple of hours around midnight though, but resettling easily. I've been trying to make sure that each daytime feed is as good as possible (hard when he's very distractible and invariably has nappy filling issues when eating).

Daytime sleep - since he was 4weeks old DS has been an awfully consistent 45min napper. Then, amazingly around 12weeks he suddenly started being able to extend his naps. He now sleeps great during the day.

Awake time - generally DS can manage 1.5-2hrs awake happily

our routine:
7am-7:30am feed
Awake 1.5hr
9-11 nap

11am feed
Awake 1.5hr
12:30ish-3 nap

3pm feed
Awake 1.5hr
4:30-5:20 45min nap (cannot extend!)

Awake 1hr
Awake undress, bath, dress 30min
7pm feed
7:30 bedtime (DS is well tired by this time, it would be nice to fit another nap in but I don't want his bedtime any later).


So. what should I do??? I don't want to get back in the habit of night feeds if I can help it. Today I gave DS a topup 1hr after each feed (though he didn't take much). and toyed with the idea of waking him at 9pm for a topup - but he woke at 8:30, just 1hr after bedtime (and it was hard to settle him then too), so I don't want to mess him up anymore. Is he getting too much sleep during the day? Is he not getting enough food - where can I fit this in? Should I bring bedtime earlier? All I know is that we can't keep this hourly waking up!!! I figure that if he's waking at 11pm and the early hours like 1 and 2 it can't possibly be hunger that's waking him at those times. And in the past if he was truly hungry he'd spit the paci and holler loudly. Now his wakeups are more like grizly mantracries that don't really escalate, but often don't settle themselves either (unless he has the paci - which he never needs to settle for naps and bedtime).

Oh, and one more thing - after 3 weeks of perfect settling at bedtime, last night and tonight he has suddenly been hard to settle - am terrified we're regressing on all things we had finally got sorted.

Please help before I lose my mind from sleep deprivation!! 

[Katet]

My first thought is if it isn't a paci issue, take him to the Dr & get his ears checked as if he was sleeping really well & it all stopped to wakeups pretty much every sleep cycle he either has a prop or he has pain (ear infection) - at least that is why my ds#2 always woke frequentely - he had ear infections... for tonight maybe try some pain meds?

[MackMum]

Thanks Kate - I hadn't thought about pain cos his cries when he woke weren't very intense or distressed, but just went on and on. And he was still sleeping fine during the day. However, if it was pain perhaps sucking on the paci was providing enough of a distraction to get him back to sleep?

I don't think it's a paci prop issue cos normally he virtually never needs the paci - not for naps, or bedtime, or anytime really unless he's very unsettled in the evening or if he's woken during the night and pat/sh doesn't work (which until recently wasn't very often).

Last night was better, he only woke 5 times - 8pm (presumably overtired at bedtime), 1am, 2am, 4:30am and 6am (he woke when our alarm went off at 7). Sounds a lot of wakeups but I only had to get up and give him the paci at 4:30 - all other wakeups were pretty minor and within a minute of quiet grizzling he was back to sleep again on his own. The 6am one was just a few seconds. Am hoping that maybe we're over the worst and his wakeups will get smaller and less often. Oh I so so so hope so!!

Do you think I should wake him at 9pm for a topup feed? I think I might bring his bedtime back to 7pm (30min earlier) to see if that helps with the early night waking.

[Katet]

Sounds like he is just a noisy re-settler, in time you will learn to sleep through those noises... I know I do & they are very normal... even in a 3yo - although his is talking

Honestly at his age, so much will change so quickly, I'd just work with what you have, as from my experience it is a bit of a rollar coaster ride in that you get things working & teething or developmental issues change things.

[MackMum]

Thanks for the reassurance! Last night was just 3 wakings - I only had to get up for one of those (he'd kicked his covers off  ). Also we put him to bed a half hour earlier than normal and even though he was hard to settle (has been for past 3 nights, after 3 weeks of settling perfectly), he didn't wake again before 12:30 so hopefully that's what we need to do to prevent him getting overtired.