Night wakings - driving me crazy!

[jodileigh]

How old is your child? 7 months old

What’s his/her daily routine?
7am: wake up
Activity until 9am
9am: feeding (6 oz EBM or formula) and 30 minute nap
9:30 -12:30: activity
10am: solids (cereal and fruit or veggies)
12:30: feeding (6 oz EBM or formula) and 30 minute nap
1pm - 3:30: activity
1pm: solids (same as above)
3:30 or 4pm: feeding (6oz EBM or formula) 30 minute nap
6pm: solids (cereal, veggies, fruit)
7pm: bath
7:30pm: feeding (6-10 oz EBM or formula) and bedtime
Night wakings: either wakes up at 11pm and 4am (those are good nights); or 9pm, 12am, 3am, 6am then up at 7am; or 11pm, 2am, 5am, then up at 7am...really not consistent.

What’s nap routine? How long are naps?
Three 30 minute naps most days - sometimes (very rarely) these become 45 minute naps or 1 hour - very rare! I have tried everything to extend them but nothing seems to work. She is wide awake and happy after 30 minutes.

What's bedtime routine? Time?
Bath every second night and then reading books and bed - feeding after reading books and she will fall asleep in her crib while I rub her back. Sometimes falls asleep eating. Most nights 7:30pm. If she misses the 3rd nap, this is earlier (6:30ish), which makes her morning wake up around 6am. I have tried putting her to bed later (8-9) - still wakes up during the night and still up for the day at 7am.

Do you bottle or breastfed??
I have been pumping, so she gets expressed breastmilk. I started also giving her formula one month ago.

How much? or how long?
During the day about 24 oz; during the night 10 oz.

How many wakes per night?
Two to four. Usually 3 hours after bedtime, then 4-5 hours after that (sometimes 11pm, 3am, 4am, 5am, 6am, 7am - that is when I go crazy!)

What’s your LO like when waking at night? How long is he/she up?
She never opens her eyes. She eats 5 oz within 5 minutes and is back asleep. There have been a few times where she is awake for 45 minutes (only twice so far).

When you go to him/her is she fussing or crying? Or is it a mantra cry?
She is crying. I don't go to her for the mantra cry - this usually happens 2 hours after she goes to sleep, but it lasts a few minutes and she is asleep again. I have tried to leave her crying, but she gets hysterical. She really seems hungry. I have tried just giving her a soother (which she has never consciously taken), but whe wakes up 5 min later crying again.

What have you tried to settle??
Rubbing her back, soother (as above), feeding her is the only thing that has worked so far.

What do you do for A time and how long is it?
Play with toys, read, jolly jumper, exersaucer, she gets into crawling position and can slither, so she moves around quite a bit when we are playing with toys. A time lasts 3 hours between naps. The morning nap is after 1-1.5 hours of A time. I have tried to extend the morning nap to 3 hours after wake up, but this has not had an effect on night wakings or nap length.

Are there developmental issues such as teething or milestones?
She has been teething for 4 months! With no teeth yet. Part of me is hoping this whole sleep craziness will end when she gets a tooth/teeth. She was napping very nicely until the teething started (back then, she would have a 3 hour naps and a short cat nap).

Do they have a prop? If so what is it? No
Do they have a lovie? No - well, a face cloth, but she never keeps it with her in the crib. She rubs her face with it while she eats, and I leave it with her to fall asleep. When she wakes up, it is on the other side of the crib.

RE. food - I just started feeding her solids 3 times a day three days ago - to see if it helps with sleep. She is just more gassy, so I give her gripe water before bed now.

I am not sure what to do during the night wakings. I have read a few different things about night wakings and am confused, but am also going a bit crazy from lack of sleep for over 7 months. It was a lot easier before she was 3 months old because she would sleep the same during the night (same bed time), but wake up for the day at 11am. Those were the days!

What am I doing wrong??

[debo620]

A couple of questions:

I noticed your daughter eats before naps---does she associate eating with sleeping? generally the routine should be eat, activity, sleep
rubbing her back at night time sleep until she is asleep may be a prop.
I wonder if these two things are interfering with independent sleep skills and thus causing the short naps and nightwakings?
 
at 7months--this was our routine:
wake 6:30, bf
a
nap9-10:30
bf 10:30
a
nap 2-3:30
e 3:30
a
eat, bed 7/7:30

HTH

[jodileigh]

Probably. She does also eat a bit after she wakes up without sleeping, but she seems to need to eat to fall asleep - or at least to get into the sleep mode. How do I change that?

[debo620]

do you have the baby whisperer books?
basically your routine should be eat, activity, sleep

if possible, I would reccomend you set your day up so that she eats when she wakes in the morning and then every 4hours or so after that.
you then have normal activity
you should have a windown before naps, to set your daughter up for nap mode-- ie. books, song, bed---this is what we do: books, song while his wave machine is playing and then nap. basically something to help her relax (not feed). if when you lay her down she is crying and unable to soothe herself---you would want to do either patt/ssh or pick-up,putdown. These are the two forms of teaching independent sleep skills. There are seperate forums directly focused on these methods. You have to adapt them to your daughter's age.They are not quick and easy and will require a lot of hard work on your part. I would start this new routine/methods when you know that you will be at home and can devote some time to it as consistency is very important.
HTH

[jodileigh]

Thanks, I'll try that.
I did try to do it in that order before when i was just breast feeding, but I never knew if she had eaten enough. Now that I see how much she is eating, I can tell if it's hunger or tiredness - although she always seems hungry. I think she is really hungry in the middle of the night because she gulps back 5-6 oz within 5 minutes - and I can hear it in her belly.
I have tried the pat/shush, and the other baby whisperer methods for naps - not much luck though. The swing works but she's growing out of it. If she is full and tired, she will fall asleep on her own. I just have to switch the order around. I worry though that she will wake up because she is hungry if she hasn't been fed in 4 hours - would that not happen?

[debo620]

For the most part, she will still eat q4h. This is where solids come into play, especially when the A times get longer. KWIM?

ie.
7am wake, eat
8 solids
nap 9:30-11
11eat
12solids
nap 2-3:30
3:30 eat
etc....

as far as the night feeds....
my ds is almost 9 months and I am still weaning 1 night feed ( 4 am or later)aaaah and I am embarressed to admit it.
I think that there is a learned hunger in the middle of the night at this age.  I think it reasonable for your daughter to go at least 8hours without a feed. What times are you feeding at?

[jodileigh]

At night? Whenever she wakes up. The past 2 nights have been a lot better. She has gone to bed around 7:30pm, wakes at 9pm (so i feed her then 5-6oz) and then she slept til 3am one night and 4am last night (eats 5-6oz). She wakes up again 2 hours later, and then at 7am for good. This is better than it has been, so maybe solids have been helping. I don't know. At one point a few months ago, she was sleeping 7:30pm -4am, then 4:15am to 7am. That lasted a week. Part of me thinks her teething has something to do with it - she's been teething for 4 months!