4.5 mo waking 10-15 times a night!!

[erika]

Hi,

I've been reading all the other posts, and it looks like lots of other people are experiencing night wakings with 4-5mos, but I wanted to ask for feedback on my particular situation. My dd starting rolling over a few weeks ago, and was sick with a cold at the same time so I had to give her cold medicine to help with her cough and runny nose. I think the medicine helped her sleep, so she was sleeping the whole night through for more than a week. Then I stopped giving her the medicine, and since then she's started waking all night long! She sleeps very well from 7:30 to midnight, and then wakes up, and especially wakes up between 2am and 5:30am. She wakes up for good at 7am. This is our schedule:

7am Wake, Bottle
8am Rice cereal
8:45/9am Nap
11am Bottle
12pm Rice cereal
1pm Nap
3/3:30pm Bottle
4:30pm Rice cereal
5pm Sometimes a nap while on walk, otherwise won't nap
6pm Bath, Bottle
7/7:30 Bed

The last week she's been waking up 10-20times a night, and she always goes to sleep again right away IF I give her the pacifier. She doesn't use the pacifier for naps or to get to sleep when I first put her to bed at night, so she's not dependent on it really, but if I don't give her the paci when she wakes up in the middle of the night, she can't settle on her own. Sometimes she just moans (very loudly so we all wake up!!) and she can put herself back to sleep, but if she is crying we have to go to her and then only the pacifier works. It works so well, that I don't want to give it up, but am I making her reliant on it and should I try to wean her? Should I be teaching her to put herself back to sleep? She doesn't suck on her hand or fingers, and actually sleeps on her tummy with her arms straight down by her sides.

Also, she hasn't eaten at night (her choice) since 3.5mo. She just drinks an ounce or not even that and pushes it away, so I dropped it with no problems.

I'm really tired, and would love for her to sleep better, but mostly I just don't want to start any bad habits. Any ideas???

Thank you for all your feedback.

[andibig]

just out of interest but when did you start weaning you LO? i'm just wondering if the introduction of solids is making her windy at night?

[erika]

I started giving her solids right at 4mo on my pediatrician's recommendation since she was just draining all her bottles and is so big (over 18 lbs.). She doesn't seem gassy, if you can tell at all. The first two weeks after she started on the rice cereal she slept through the whole night, sometimes because of the cold medicine I think, but other times without. She's always been a good sleeper, just waking up once for brief reassurance since she was about 2 1/2 mo.

[andibig]

could be thats shes overtired as shes not having a catnap. could be too long from her wake up from her pm nap till b/time.
also could be hunger as they have a growth spurt at 4 months. does she seem hungrier than normal?

[Katet]

couple of things jump out at me... the rice cereal could be upsetting - it can in younger babies (under 6mo) (IMO 18lb isn't that big I had 21lb at that age & didn't start solids until 6mo- 23lb with both ds's & actually solids did disrupt sleep for one of them)

Also the rice cereal may have "filled her tummy" but as it has less calories than milk, didn't fix the hunger properly.

& the fact she is settled at the begining of the night & most wakings are from 2am onwards & the sucking helps says it could be hunger... not feeding at 3.5mo doesn't actually mean they always won't need it... she may have had a growth spurt at 4mo (reasonably common) If it was me I'd offer a bottle at the  first or second wakeup & see what happens, if she still wakes lots then you can rule out hunger but if she sleeps you have the answer.
The other thing is as she had a cold... ear infections used to make my ds#2 wake even though he showed no other signs & he slept well for 3-4 hours & then it was horrid. So I learnt ear infections (despite what books say) don't always have a fever

[erika]

Thank you so much for your observations!! You pointed out so much that I hadn't thought of! It's reassuring not to feel so much in the dark now. I hadn't thought about how she might be hungry now, even if she wasn't a month ago. My pediatrician (this huge Russian bear of a man with a heavy accent!) told me not to feed her at night after 4 months, but I don't feel comfortable with that if she's hungry. I've heard that some babies still need to eat at night at 9 months. But he did give some good advice on pacis, which reflects what I've heard on this board, which is to replace the paci with a lovey, so I gave her a little blanket and took away her paci yesterday, cold turkey. She cried for a minute or two before her naps, but went right to sleep at night, and only woke up twice before midnight and then slept straight through until 7am! The best night in a week. When she woke up I just rubbed her back, put her blanket in her hand, and she cried for a minute or two and then went back to sleep. We'll see how tonight goes....

[andibig]

i know DD stopped feeding at night when she was about 10 wks. but if she ever had any night wakings i would feed her as i would assume she was hungry.i know your ped said not to feed her during the night but i would say shes still very young and it would be considered normal for her to feed at night (albeit on the odd occassion).

[silverbullet23]

I feel so much for you!!! I went through the very same thing a matter of weeks ago. I started weaning my DD when she was 4.5 months old, starting with just a lunch. She did well and i felt she was ready to go onto two then three meals a day. around that time, she started waking 10 - 15 times in the night and it went on for 6 weeks! I was at the end of my teather and i needed advice! Once she started eating a solid meal at tea time (a tea and a pudding, just the same as at lunch time) she started refusing her nighttime bottle which was usually around 7pm. My mother told me to stop giving her her pudding after her teatime meal so she would drink her bottle. That has helped sooooo much!! She now sleeps through most of the time. Also, I went to see my GP and they gave me Phenergan. Its a mild sedative that has been used for decades. I used that for 1 week on my DD and it eased her night wakings but it never completely knocked her out.

I hope this has been of some help. Keep me posted!!!