Won't be settled at night...Why?

[riuliani]

My little Campbell is 7 weeks old.  We have been doing EASY since the day he came home from the hospital.  We are just now getting regular times down.  Below is our typical day.  Campbell has started to become a very good napper.  I catch his sleep cue and can usually have him in the crib within 15 minutes.  He lies down awake and then falls asleep.  However, he is a little bugger to put down at night.  Shhh pat doesn't work.  He screams to the point that I have to call him Tomato Head that he has gone so red.  Generally he won't go down until after his "dream feed", which means he is up until 11:30pm.  How can we get him to go down earlier in the evening?  I'm am thinking of breaking the cluster feed timing and sticking to the 3 hour routine for the evening.  Has anyone else tried this with success?  It is like waking him at 6:00pm to eat throws him off.  That is when he starts his Senor Cranky Pants act.

E 7:00am 25 minutes
A 7:30-8:15
S 8:15am- 10:00

E 10:00am 25 minutes
A 10:30 - 11:15am
S 11:15am - 1:00pm

E 1:00pm 25 minutes
A 1:30pm - 2:15pm
S 2:15pm - 4:00pm  (This where things start to go off the rails.)

E 4:00pm 25 minutes
A 4:30pm - 5:15pm
S 5:15pm we try to sleep till 6:00pm, sometimes he seems like he could go longer, sometimes he has trouble sleeping until 6:00pm, I usually need to bring him into a noisy room with me to get him to sleep until 6:00pm

E 6:00pm 25 minutes
A 6:30pm - 7:15 (Bathes every other night.  We have some playtime, then a story, swaddle and we try to put him down.  He doesn't usually require anything but a swaddle for nap time.)

7:15 - ? He fights and cries and won't be laid down.  If this is still happening at 8:00pm I usually do another feed but he only needs 15 minutes.  Then he will cry and scream until the dream feed between 10 - 11.

He was in the ICU for his first week (born with unexplained fever and air in and around his bowels, was very colicky until week ago).  He wasn't allowed oral feedings, so they gave him a soother to encourage his sucking reflex.  He is very attached to his soother for sleep purposes.  Otherwise he doesn't need it.  Once he is asleep he lets it drop from his mouth but until he is asleep we run in and out putting it back in his mouth.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[Johanne]

I'm having the same problem - my baby is 4 and a half weeks old (but 2 weeks overdue) and was 10 lbs 7 ozs at birth (now 10 lbs 10 oz due to big weight loss) so can hold his own. He sleeps well during the day, gets woken up 3 hourly for feeds (though I have been bad and not this afternoon - I've let him sleep for once) and goes straight back down after some A time. But from about 6pm it's all hell let loose. He won't nap and only stops feeding to get ready for bed. When I put him upstairs in his carrycot at around 7pm he cries until I get him up again and start feeding - the same carrycot he has napped in downstairs. He will go to sleep but this is at about 9 pm after almost constant feeding and he is almost fed to sleep. I can't get the hang of shhh patting either - he just gets more and more hysterical. No idea what is going on It's been like this for about a week. Then he'll have another feed at 3 / 3.30 am and sleep until morning. I have no trouble getting him to sleep then.


Jo

[Johanne]

Just to update - i used Shhh pat tonight after giving LO his first ever expressed breastmilk (2 oz) and topped him off with some actual breastfeeding. I put him in his carrycot at 7.55pm and he cried blue murder but I did shh pat and at 8.15 he dropped off to sleep. I carried on doing the shh pat until 8.40pm and he is still asleep!  My husband is very impressed and I am so pleased with myself. I am amazed it worked because at 15 minutes I was really wondering if I should pick him up! There is hope!  I did the shh pat with him on his back though and just patted gently on his chest. So that's the only thing I can think of that works at the moment. I'm assuming it gradually takes less time to do as they get used to it. I hope that helps!

Jo

[Missy Lou]

riuliani:

before i post, i wanted to know if the routine you first posted has changed.  are things more or less the same? 

right now, i'd worry about getting him a solid routine and then once he's able to sleep better on his own, we'll worry about the pacifier.  honestly, my lo has decided when she's ready for different things, so you never know what your lo will decide.  if after we help him sleep better, you're still concerned about the pacifier, try posting on the prop board.  the mods there have great suggestions for weaning props like a pacifier.  but your lo is still really young so i wouldn't be too concerned yet.  but that's also from a mom whose lo likes a pacifier at 27 weeks both for chewing on when teething and for sleeping.

[riuliani]

Thanks for the info everyone!  I went on holidays for a couple of weeks and the sleep issue seemed to work itself out.  Mind you we were with Grandma and she had no problems holding him until he fell asleep.  He now requires some holding starting at about 7:30pm but most nights he is in his crib by 9:00pm.  I think I can handle that.  He also seems to have naturally weaned himself off of the 8:00pm cluster feed.  I am hoping this keeps up.  Now I have to work on the middle of the night feed.  He is still up at 3 or 4am to be fed even thought he has a dream feed at 10:45pm.  I would like to stretch him until 5am if possible.  It seems like a lot of work to get him to 3am.  He is very active in his sleep and if he comes unswaddled he wakes up.  We will see how it goes.

[Missy Lou]

if you're happy, i'm happy.

waking once during the night at what about 12 weeks isn't bad at all.  if he dropped the 8 p.m. feed on his own, he'll probably do the same with the night feeding. 

please keep us posted.
melissa

[riuliani]

Campbell seems to have dropped his night feeding.  He still wakes twice a night but he just needs reswaddling and his soothie to go back to sleep.  His dream feed is around 10:45pm.  He is taking 6 ounces expressed milk.  He is now twelve weeks.  He is usually able to sleep until 7 or 7:30am.  I am much happier.  It would be nicer without any night wakings but he seems to be progressing through these milestones naturally.  I won't push him on the nightwaking issue just yet.

We are getting better at going to bed.  He lays down at 7:30pm.  After 2 or 3 replacements of the soothie he is usually asleep by 8:30pm.  Once he is out cold the soothie falls out and he doesn't wake to get it back.  At the moment he just needs it to get into the deep sleep.  I am hopeful that he will naturally wean himself off of the soothie as well.  He seems to know what to do with everything else so far.  Sometimes I think he is whispering me rather than the other way around.  Keep your fingers crossed for continued goodness.

[Missy Lou]

i will definitely be thinking about you guys.    i just read your post about weaning the swaddle and paci.  i wouldn't touch the swaddle just yet.  12 weeks is still pretty young and it may be too soon for him to be able to control his arms.  as far as the paci goes, i'd wait and see what those moderators suggest.  my lo is almost 7 months and we play the "put the pacifier back" game several times a night so i don't know. 

that's great he's sleeping so long at night, even with the wakings.  did you check out the night wakings board also?  they should have some good tips for you also. 

i agree with you - i have never learned so much as i have with my little angel.
melissa