more night wakes for 5mo old

[Colin Macs Mom]

Patience?? What's that?   

Is it possible that something else is going on with her? Reflux, ear infection? That sort of thing?

[abbysmomma]

Hey Jessica.. you know you're one away from 3000 posts??

In terms of other things.. I don't think so. She doesn't seem to be in any pain, and her spitting up has significantly decreased.. I'll just have to wait it out, I guess. I can only do my best!

[cjarret]

I'm in the same boat, Abbysmomma... my LO just turned 5 months and she's getting up anywhere from 2 - 4 times after we put her down at 8:00.  Usually she wakes up around 8:45PM and just needs to be soothed, then again around 10;30 if we're not quick enough with the DF!  Then, she sometimes wakes again between midnight and 1AM, sometimes not, then ALWAYS wakes around 4 to be fed.  Thankfully, usually after that feed she goes 'til 8AM.

When she was 4 months old, we'd put her down at 8:00, she'd get up at 4AM and then again at 8AM.  Where did that baby go???

 

We tried giving her solids at her dinner feed, and, boy, you're right, DON'T do that... she just woke up SCREAMING with gas later on. 

She's still on the 3 hour EASY because she's a little peanut (only 12.5 lbs.) and I found that when I tried to stretch it out during the day, she woke more frequently at night.  Maybe I should give it a shot again, I don't know..?

Also, she only takes 45 minute naps during the day, so I think the 8:45PM wake is just a carryover of that. 

Oy... let me know if you come up with any solutions that work & I'll do the same!

 

[Colin Macs Mom]

Hey Jessica.. you know you're one away from 3000 posts??

   Well here you go, my 3000th post just for you Aeri!      If it makes you feel any better we were up every single hour last night 

[abbysmomma]

Woohoo!!! We have a breakthrough!! She got up around her usual time of 11:15, I soothed her back to sleep then stayed with her to see what she would do. She kept stirring and almost waking up every minute or so, then finally settled after 15 minutes. Went back to bed, then she was up again at 12:30am. At that point she seemed really hungry, so I fed her and went back to bed. Then... not a peep from her 'til 6:15!!!!  I let her stay in her crib 'til 6:50 then got up for the day. I haven't had 5 hours of sleep straight since she was two months old. man oh man..

Is poor Colin teething still?? Ugh.. how do you function during the day, especially being at work? And yes, I am very honored by your 3000th post just for me! 

[saree's mom]

Hey abbysmomma, my Lo is 6 mts. old and she does the EXACT same thing as your abby. Thing is you one step ahead of me, you've identified the mantra cry. How do you diffrentiate??? I totally feel like im letting her CIO when i do that. But i think you have hit the nail on the head. I am going in too soon and prob uspetting her more. Because the few times i was at wits end and let her "CIO", she stopped right away, so that prob was mantra cry.
I also try to feed her only once after DF even though nursing her puts her right back to sleep. It is so hard!!!

I was trying to figure out if it is time to eliminate her 3rd nap, or is it too soon? :-/

I cant believe i found this thread because you have described my dd word for word....!  What have you figured out so far, i would love to hear what you've tried, what has worked and what hasnt.

Jessica, any ideas?? I would love your input.
Thanks guys...
-rachel

[abbysmomma]

Seriously, her mantra cry is almost EXACTLY the same as a real cry. I think that's why this was so hard.. When she does a real cry (and you'll know for sure when it is), keep it in your mind, and every time she cries, compare it to that one. Abby almost never gives a real cry when she wakes up, so I usually just let her be for a minute or two, and she usually stops. Mind you, almost 99% of the time she'll start up again, but after two or three (sometimes four or five!) times she'll go out permanently. I don't dream feed 'cause I found it caused her to wake even more, but I really think she's good with one feed per twelve hour night. I view nursing as my one "freebie" - just lie back and let the boob do the work! It's even harder knowing that just soothing her results in another wake-up after about 30 minutes, but the boob will put her out for at least a few hours. *sigh*..  But I know if I keep with this, it WILL get better. I am empowering my child with the opportunity to self-soothe and I am NOT abandoning her by letting her cry (mantra). I repeat this to myself all night...
I've been giving her this "opportunity" for about 4 nights now, and this is the first night we've seen real results. So keep with it!

As for naps, I've only just recently sorted those out. We're still at 3 naps a day, and I don't think Abby's ready to drop a nap. Dropping naps are hard.. you might have some early bedtimes for a while.. why do you think you need to drop a nap?

[sue]

I'm really sorry I don't have time to read all the posts, but I just wanted to mention that we've just figured out how important good daytime sleep is to keep the nights going smoothly.  She was doing 45 mins naps and I didn't bother trying to extend them since her nighttime sleep was fine, but after a while it caught up with her and started to disrupt her bed time sleep.  She had frequent wake ups at seemingly random times during the night and I thought she was going through a growth spurt.  When I beefed up her calories during the day and the night wakings continued, I realized she was just overtired.  So I buckled down and worked on extending the naps and now that she is out of the 45 mins nap trap, she is back to sleeping through the night nicely. 

[saree's mom]

Her cries are for sure mantra cries and im just not realizing it. The hard part is, if i let her cry (mantra) my DH will view that as letting her CIO. (he'd never understand...guys)
I wonder if not doing the DF would help her sleep longer, i think im gonna experiment tonite, ill let u know what happens.
You are doing great 12:30 to 6:15 is unbelievable!!!
I like your own mantra

I am empowering my child with the opportunity to self-soothe and I am NOT abandoning her by letting her cry (mantra). I repeat this to myself all night...

its a good one, i should print that out and paste it next to my clock as i watch the minutes go by while letting her mantra cry (if i can figure out the diff!)
I dont know if the DF is the prob but i think i have to work on the mantra dry thing bec a few times i let her "cry" or so i thought, im sure now it was prob mantra cry she did go back to sleep very soon and for a nice amount of time.

I dont know that it is time to eliminate 3rd nap, just dont know what else is wrong as her nws have increased tremendously in the last month and thats what my mom suggested (u gotta love 'em

Your posts are really really helpful, let me know how tonite goes please. 
thanks loads...rachel

[Colin Macs Mom]

Is poor Colin teething still?? Ugh.. how do you function during the day, especially being at work?

Yesterday when I checked all those bumps were gone. And I mean GONE.    But last night he was up nearly every hour, screaming.    I'm sooo tired! glad to hear that Abby had a good night though!!!

Saree's Mom, it really is hard to identify the mantra cry for most LOs. Listen hard - the mantra will have a very distinct rhythm on a specific beat. Sometimes it's not even a cry actually. For my DS it's a funny noise like mmm-mmm-mmm as if he's eating something really tasty.    Took me FOREVER to realize it was his mantra and not fussing around.

[saree's mom]

Your LO sounds so cute!! 
Yeah i think once i have the mantra identified it will be a big help, it def sounds like a cry though bec once or twice i let LO cry but she stopped pretty quickly and went to sleep, so im suspecting that was her mantra cry.
You two are scaring me, saree hasnt even started teething (unless u call chewing on anything she sees teething) and she is already up so much at nite, what do i have in store ?

[Colin Macs Mom]

yeah, he's quite a character!     

Don't take Colin as an example of normal teething - he gets at least two in at a time and they go up and down a few times before they come through. It's AWFUL with him.

[saree's mom]

Up and down, what is this jack in the box teething?? Now u see them, now u dont? 
Poor thing, that cant be fun...I'm sad just thinking about him, and dreading it for saree
btw love the pic of him in his onesy, they are so cute and innocent (well innocent looking) like that!

[Colin Macs Mom]

Up and down, what is this jack in the box teething?? Now u see them, now u dont? 

EXACTLY!! I couldn't have said it better myself. That's exactly what it is. The other day he had 4 or maybe 5 huge bumps that were definitely teeth. Now they're not there.  Totally weird. All 6 of the teeth he has were like that before they came through. My mom says I was the same way with teeth.

[abbysmomma]

Oh man, they can disappear??    can't wait..
sending {{{stay-put-colin's-teeth-so-mom-can-sleep vibes}}}
My favorite pic is the one of him in the propeller hat.

Rachel, my DH thinks we should let her cry all the time. He tries to put her to bed when she's not sleepy, then thinks its ok to let her cry. Geez     But he means well. He's the one who pointed out that I should wait before going in when she's crying. I'll let you know how tonight goes. Hopefully last night wasn't some kind of fluke...