I need some help to figure out why my 5 months old wakes at night. I know at this age they can be hungry at night, but I also suspect he is getting up out of habit as well. Here it how a typical night goes:
Goes to bed at 7.30-8 Usually falls asleep without the paci. If he is very tired he sucks it until almost asleep then spits it out.
First wake 11 p.m. He stirs and some times wakes up completely. Sometimes goes back to sleep on his own, sometimes I have to put in the paci for a few seconds.
1 a.m. He breast feeds. I put him in bed awake and goes back to sleep on his own.
4.30 a.m. Wakes again. Breastfeeds and goes to sleep as above.
7 a.m. wakes for the day
If I do not feed him, I have to give him the paci but he will get up 1 hour later anyway.
To be honest I think some times he is not that hungry but is very used to this routine- pick up, breast and then back in bed. I suppose he needs the breast to relax enough to go to sleep and the milk is just a bonus. Same thing happens if I offer a bottle.
Below are our background details:
4 months and 3 weeks old
He is on a 4 hour routine. Still working on extending his A times. He currently does about 90 minutes.
Nap routine: close blinds, put on a lullaby and dance slowly with him in my arms.
Naps: 3 naps of 1.5 hours and sometimes cat nap of 30-45 minutes before bedtime
Bedtime routine: bath, massage, bottle of EBM, bed. Goes to bed around 7.30 p.m.
He eats EBM during the day and BF at night
Eats around 5 Oz per feeding during the day. For the last feeding he takes around 7 oz. During the night, he empties the breast pretty well
Wakes 2-3 times per night
When he wakes he is fussing. If not attended he gets louder and louder until I come in. After I go in, he is back asleep in about 15 minutes (BF included).
He sometimes gets up and practices different sounds he learned how to make during the day. He can do this for a long time (last night he did it for 45 minutes until I gave in and offered the breast and he went back to sleep in 10 minutes.) and when I go into his room he gets very happy and excited. I never look him in the eyes, never talk to him or smile back at night.
I tried to ignore him and hope he will go back to sleep but usually does not work. Pat shush gets him more awake and alert.
For his A time we take walks, tummy time, play with his rattle toys, sing.
He is not rolling yet (neither front to back, nor back to front), not teething yet.
No cereals.
For the night I do not think the paci is a prop since he does not need it always or spits it out quickly when he uses it. But it definitely is for naps.
He has a soft toy as lovie but does not seem interested of it at night.
When he was younger he slept much better. He could take 7-8 hours stretches of uninterrupted sleep. It all changed about 6 weeks ago all of a sudden.
We also extended his naps from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours.
Since he is fairly easy to calm I don't mind getting up at night, but I am afraid he is getting into some dangerous habits and would rather stop it now than later.
Any ideas?
