Is this seperation anxiety?

[debo620]

How old is your child?8months
What’s his/her daily routine?
e6bf
solids 8am
s9-10:30
solids 11:30
ebf 1pm
s2-3:30
esolids5pm
bath, bf, bed starts 6:30pm--asleep by 7:15pm
What’s nap routine? books,song, aussie swaddle--bed
How long are naps? 1.5hrs each usually
What's bedtime routine? Time? bath, bf, song, bed asleep by 7:15pm
Do you bottle or breastfed?? bf, occasional bottle
How much? or how long? 10min,  7oz
If breastfed.. one side or both?? (at each feed) one, offer second
How many wakes per night? 1x
What’s your LO like when waking at night? fussing progress to cry
How long is he/she up? 1-2hrs
When you go to him/her is she fussing or crying? Or is it a mantra cry?crying
What have you tried to settle??recently fasing out night feed, have been feeding after 2am with watered down bottle (3oz formula, 3oz water)----will be going down to 2oz
What do you do for A time and how long is it? 3-3.75hrs, errands, practice crawling etc.
Are there developmental issues such as teething or milestones? trying to crawl
Have you introduced cereal? Why, how much, and how many times a day? (for LO’s under 6 months) 3 full meals
Do they have a prop? If so what is it? aussie swaddle at naps only?
Do they have a lovie? aussie swadde at naps

Last night was bad-----lo woke at 2:45 am went in with bottle (3oz formula/3oz water), he layed in room awake/talking etc until 3:45 then started crying. I went into room, turned wave machine on and calmed in crib by rubbing his back---this happened several times. Only pu once--rest of time calmed in crib---son was calm but when I left room he started crying again. finally I stayed in the room until he was asleep for 5min or so and then left. Is this seperation anxiety? This is not a problem at the beginning of naps or nighttime. I am fairly sure he is not waking from hunger but thought that gradually reducing the amount--ie 2oz then 1oz and then pu/pd may be a better option. Now I am thinking that either way---even with a feed---he is going to be awake for awhile so maybe I should just jump right to the no feed and pd instead?
He also seems to have a cold right now.
How do babies make up that lost sleep at night? ie some nights he only gets 9hrs where as our routine usually has about 10.5hrs night
sleep.

any thoughts?

[Peek-a-boo]

If it starts happening consistently it may be a sign that he needs less sleep.  I certainly wouldn't jump to this conclusion after one night, but if it happens over time that might be it. 

I've just been reading Ferber's book (don't worry--not planning to use CC).  He describes this is a section called "The too-long-in-bed Problem:  Long Middle-of-the-night-Wakings." 

Here's a quote:  "In my experience when a child is consistently awake for a long time in the middle of the night and is happy if he is allowed to do what he wants during that time, the reason is almost always that he is in bed for more hours than he can sleep."  He recommends figuring out how many hours your child is actually sleeping before and after the wake up and adjusting his routine to call for only that amount.

Again the key here is consistently.   Please note that I am speaking from very little experience on this.  However, I recently discovered that my LO was havin gthe too-long-in-bed-problem and was creating more awake time for himself with a long middle of the night waking and early waking.

If this is just a random thing I might suspect teething or illness more than SA--since going to sleep went fine.

Good luck!

Bethany

[Colin Macs Mom]

Deborah,

I know you've been working really hard at the sleeping thing so good for you for sticking with it!    I think that the trying to crawl is a factor, although how much of one who knows. Crawling is often a rough milestone for sleep, like rolling. I suspect though that the cold has more to do with it though.

[debo620]

Hi Jessica, things have just been awful the last few nights. This is what has happened last night, any thoughts?

bf  and bed at 7pm, asleep by 7:15pm easily
woke at 4:15am----fed with 2oz formula,4oz water, did not finish it all--1oz left and seemed satisfied
layed in his room awake
crying by 5:15am--went in several times and he calmed down only to start up again 10min later
still awake at 6:15am---by this time he is hungry again (usual wake and feed time) offered full breastfeed but then put him back in his bad instead of getting up for the day
finally back asleep from 6:40am until 7:25am
now the day has been shifted forward but I know that he will be tired today and probably won't be able to handle usual A times.

what can I do to get him go for 10.5hrs without a feed? I am happy that he is going the 9-10 hrs but he  has such a hard time going back to sleep afterwards.
do you think he is not satisfied by the watered down bottle? maybe I should just go back to bf for these feeds and then start decreasing the minutes?

[Colin Macs Mom]

What happens if you don't feed him then? Meltdown? I'm just trying to figure out if he actually needs it or not.

Have you tried extending his A time a bit? You might try 15 minutes or so and see if he's ready for longer.

[debo620]

I think if I didn't feed him he would probably just be awake and crying..... but really he is not getting that much actual formula.  I was hoping to wean down to only giving him 1oz and that he would stop waking for it.?!?
honestly though.....not feeding will probably be just as bad as feeding him---seems as though he will be losing alot of sleep either way.
maybe I should just bite the bullet and not feed him when he wakes? I am always so concerned that I am not feeding him enough solids----seems as though he could just eat and eat , and eat...

What do you suggest doing when the night waking becomes morning?? ie last night awake from 4:20 until 6:45am , usually we are up for the day at 6/6:30am?

I am concerned about him losing sleep overall in the longterm... how do babies make up this sleep? he certainly doesn't nap any more during the day.

on a good night sleep---his A times are about 3hrs,3.75hrs. 3.5hrs. How will adhusting these help?

TIA

[Colin Macs Mom]

Have you been reducing the amount of what you offer, or watering it down? I think that you might have more success by watering down. Do you think he might be having a growth spurt? Has he always been so hungry or is this a recent thing?

As for the early morning, I would keep trying to get him to go back to sleep, and if he doesn't, then start the day at 6:30 like you normally would. Stick to your routine as much as possible and he will readjust himself to not waking so early. It will throw things off a bit for a day or two of course, but if you don't allow him to change the routine to starting the day at 4:30 then he'll get the point. I'm not an early waking expert, but we had a small blip with DS when he was younger and that tactic worked fine.

on a good night sleep---his A times are about 3hrs,3.75hrs. 3.5hrs. How will adhusting these help?

Sorry, I didn't calculate the A times right from looking at your first post and the routine there. Math was never one of my strong points.    Never mind, that's quite sufficient for his age.

[M and N's Mom]

do you think he is not satisfied by the watered down bottle? maybe I should just go back to bf for these feeds and then start decreasing the minutes?

I am definitely not an expert here, but is your lo as comfortable with the bottle as he is with a bf?  I'm just wondering if he has to wake up too much to take a bottle, whereas he might still be drowsy after a bf (or is he used to the bottle enough?).  I decreased the minutes for my ds to night wean him from bf and it seemed to work.  If we have the odd night during a growth spurt where I still have to feed him I still watch the clock and don't let him have more than 4-5 minutes and then do shh/pat to help him back to sleep.

Just a thought....