Another night waking baby

[Fishies Mum and Dad]

Hello all 

Our 5mnth old is waking a lot over night.
From the day he was born he was only waking once, but that changed around 3 and a half months, as is common.

The night wakings got ridiculous and my darling DH started sleeping in bubs room, to try to get things sorted...
Things rapidly improved (within a day or two), but a week later our bub is still really inconsistent about when he wakes and how often.

DH is doing PU/PD, I guess we are just wondering how long till we see some real change (that lasts more than a night or two).

He is BF, and we are happy to feed him once overnight...

Any success stories, advice??
thanks

[Fishies Mum and Dad]

forgot to add...

How old is your child? 5 months

What’s his/her daily routine? 4 hour EASY (i have to be flexible though as his wake up time varies and so does the length of naps, but i try for 4 hour EASY)

What’s nap routine? first nap usually one and a half hours, second and last time alternate one will be one and a half and then other will be 45 min, diff on diff days)

How long are naps? as above

What's bedtime routine? Time? bath, feed, usually story, wrap, bed at 7pm

Do you bottle or breastfed?? breast

How much? or how long? v. efficent boy (also v. big boy), about 5 mins per side

If breastfed.. one side or both?? (at each feed) both

How many wakes per night? 1 (rare now) - 8 (bad night)

What’s your LO like when waking at night? How long is he/she up? Again inconsistant - sometimes I can settle him in a minute with a shh pat, other tims it is an hou of PUPD before finally getting him settled.

When you go to him/her is she fussing or crying? Or is it a mantra cry? At night, fussing, which turns to crying if I leave him, and then can sometimes turn into a banshee wail :|

What have you tried to settle?? Put dummy in (sometimes works), shh pat (sometimes works), PUPD sometimes works - he is very inconsistent. One thing will work one time, then not the next.

What do you do for A time and how long is it? play on floor, jolly jumper, play with toddler sister, go out

Are there developmental issues such as teething or milestones? rolling a lot - like, around the room

Have you introduced cereal? Why, how much, and how many times a day? (for LO’s under 6 months) no

Do they have a prop? If so what is it? dummy

Do they have a lovie? no

[M and N's Mom]

You said you are doing pu/pd sometimes?  That is usually used when you are trying to teach independent sleep, and trying to remove a prop.  I'm pretty sure they don't recommend using pu/pd sometimes, while giving a paci other times as it confuses the lo. 

Does he put himself to sleep at nap time? Bedtime?  Can he sometimes put himself back to sleep, or is he relying on you/prop in one way or another to achieve sleep?  If you or a prop always help him to sleep, he is likely waking up looking for something or someone to help him as he doesn't know how to do it on his own.

[Colin Macs Mom]

Definitely - consistency is critical. Doing PU/PD only sometimes will not achieve anything except confusing LO even more.

[Fishies Mum and Dad]

You said you are doing pu/pd sometimes?  That is usually used when you are trying to teach independent sleep, and trying to remove a prop.  I'm pretty sure they don't recommend using pu/pd sometimes, while giving a paci other times as it confuses the lo. 

Does he put himself to sleep at nap time? Bedtime?  Can he sometimes put himself back to sleep, or is he relying on you/prop in one way or another to achieve sleep?  If you or a prop always help him to sleep, he is likely waking up looking for something or someone to help him as he doesn't know how to do it on his own.

I dont always go to PUPD unless I need to, if just popping the dummy back in, will calm him then that is all I do... When he really has a good wail happening then I do use PUPD to calm them.

I am consistant, I just vary it depending on what stat he is in? Is that wrong??

[Fishies Mum and Dad]

PS:
yes, he can put himself to sleep at bedtime and nap times (about 70% of the time, when he doesn't we sing to him and maybe rub his tummy...)

[M and N's Mom]

Pu/pd is used to teach indep sleep.  If you are using a paci for him to go to sleep, he will think he always needs the paci to fall asleep because he has a suck-to-sleep association.  When he wakes at night, as everyone does, he won't know how to put himself back to sleep without the paci.

If you want to do pu/pd you have to get rid of the paci and not use any props so he learns to fall asleep on his own.  He won't understand if you use different methods.

Here is a link of faq's for pu/pd.  https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?board=89.0