Hi all,
I'm new around here, and I'm desperately seeking some advice on getting my LO to sleep better at night. Prior to the 3 month mark, he was waking between 1 and 3 times in an 9 hour period at night. The week leading up to the 3 month mark he was sleeping 8 hours straight. The moment the 3 month mark hit, he became unable to stay asleep more than 45 min-1 hour after his first night feed, generally occurring between 2 and 3AM with a bedtime of 9:30-10PM and a morning wakeup of 8AM. When he wakes he needs the boob to go back to sleep.
We did some reading and have made some changes, with no real progress seen. We have done the following:
Scaled his bedtime back to 8-8:30PM
Began a dreamfeed at 10:30PM
Trying other methods (paci, jiggling, shush-pat, chest pat) before offering the boob
Started him on EASY in the daytime, but were unable to make it longer than a 3 hour EASY
Supplementing with four ounces in the bottle for the dream feed (he wouldn't take more than 4)
We have seen the following changes:
Naps are now almost always 30-45 minutes (he used to be able to sleep for a few hours during nap time, I haven't seen him nap longer than 1 hour 10 minutes since starting easy)
Wake up time is scaled back to 6:30-7AM
First night wake up is at 12:30-1:45AM, and he is up every 45 minutes after
I have a bedtime routine for him involving quiet lap play, warm bath, towel & hair dryer and lotion, PJ's, swaddle and feed.
Our nap time routine involves swaddling and then laying on my bed and singing to him until his eyes are shut. For the first time today I was able to leave him in his bassinet with his eyes open and he went to sleep.
He has been teething off and on since he was seven weeks (we tend to be more like the tortoise and less like the hare when it comes to teething in my family) and I can see two white spots where a molar is coming in (yes I know, it's weird to get a molar first).
I am at my wit's end and I am desperate for advice! Am I doing something wrong? I tried to do a breast milk yield, but my breasts have never responded well to pumping and I have never gotten more than an ounce out of either side, even when they were engorged. Could this be teething and the 3 month growth spurt at the same time? He has been reaching a lot of developmental milestones in the past two weeks also (squealing, laughing, discovering his tongue, grabbing and holding objects, rolling over {can do it both ways now, just learned to roll off his back} and standing supported in our laps) could that mess up his sleeping THIS much? We have tried him swaddled, unswaddled, swaddled with one arm free... I just don't know what to do!
Please Help! I need my sleep!
Freya
