more night wakes for 5mo old

[Colin Macs Mom]

Boy I guess she was ready for real food, eh?! That's fun    I loved trying new foods and all that.

Hang in there Aeri, you can do it, I know you can. But remember, you need to be confident when doing PU/PD or she will sense it and it won't work. So believe in yourself as much as we believe in you, and it'll be GREAT!

[saree's mom]

Aww so cute with the spoon, im visualizing it...so happy she likes the cereal (i started giving it to saree alot bec she enjoyed it so much and it gave her constipation, so perhaps keep an eye out for that, consider giving her some fruits or veggies not only cereal. i mix the cereal with her fruit, she loves it).
Saree also wails when i dont feed her fast enuf, im practiacally shoveling food into her mouth, she doesnt even give me enuf time to scrape her chin, its a whole mess....but she loves it.

Thank gd im done with dragging saree around, we had to do so much visiting this past weekend...actually this weekend we are going away oh man. But we wont be in the car as much. Im wiped ive been running to the hospital to visit my grandfather these past few days. Between saree, work and the hospital.....

So the big question is, am i doing wrong by having her falling back asleep with paci rather than me feeding her??? The sucking gets her right back to sleep. 
Jessica i read the gentle removal thing. i have to re-read it to make sure ive gotten it, but it does sound interesting. Its just hard, because i have to spend alot more time with her at night and i cant catch up during the day....Im just nervous that if i try that, she will get more awake when she doesnt get what she wants and then ill have an even harder time getting her back to sleep. She needs something to help her back to sleep, how do i eliminate that ? I have no guts. 
Aeri, on the other hand, im cheering u on girl, ur brave!! Me, im a chicken, sarees fingers didnt do as good a job as her paci does...she is starting to find it on her own sometimes...Let us know how tonite goes....! i need some inspiration!

[abbysmomma]

Hi Rachel and Jessica!

Yay Abby! I'm so proud of her! Last night went waaaayyy better than I thought it would. Here's the run down

I decided that she can go 5 hours from the last feed to the one night feed - so feed at 12:15am at the earliest. She got up at 10:45 and I proceeded to do pu/pd. She fell asleep probably 4-5 times during the process only to wake up 5 minutes later. It definitely started out ok, then she got pretty hysterical crying, then she fell asleep with the saddest little hiccups. When she woke up from that last sleep 10 min later, it was 12:15 so I fed her. Back in bed, then up again 3:20am. This time I laid my hand on her chest and sshh'd a bit, then she fell asleep after wailing a little. And she stayed asleep until 5:10am!!! I laid in bed listening to her, and she fell asleep on her own!!! Wake up again 6:10am, I went and soothed her a bit, and she fell asleep again for about 15 min. She then fussed and babbled, and I think she fell asleep again for a few minutes until 7am. I got her up and started the day. I did it ladies!! I didn't cave, and she ate only once last night!!

So pretty much I did pu/pd (or my version of it!) for only 1.5 hours. And I was still awake when I did it, so it wasn't nearly as hard as doing it in the middle of the night, which I thought I would be doing. We'll see how tonight goes, but hopefully it will be as good or better!

Rachel, I'm thinking of giving her pears with the cereal tomorrow 'cause I'm so worried about the gas and constipation. I'm also going to look into one of those mesh bags you were talking about in your other thread! I love feeding her. She's so cute. And Saree sounds adorable too!

I don't know how you do work and Saree's nights as well. I'd be wiped! Is your grandfather ok? Hopefully not too serious, esp. with Christmas next week!

In terms of the paci, it might be that you will have this problem until Saree can find the paci on her own at night. This is why I prefer Abby sucking on her fingers instead 'cause she has no problems finding that. It's why I stopped with the paci when she was 2 months old 'cause it was driving us batty! Seriously, if you think about it, you can suffer the way it is for the next couple of weeks, or you can clamp down and really suffer for 2-3 days, but then have bliss afterwards. I really had to mentally prepare myself to do this but I stuck to my guns and it worked (i think). I too was really scared, but something had to change. Take the step Rachel! Jessica and I will be right behind you!! 

[Colin Macs Mom]

No Rachel, you're definitely not doing wrong with the paci. Granted it usually becomes a prop, but if you do that by choice and it works, then there's nothing wrong with that. Most LOs are able to find it themselves around 7 mo and Saree's not far off from that.    But if you really do just want to get rid of it that's fine too! And Aeri's right we'll be right behind you. 

Aeri I'm so glad that things are going well - I told you that you could do it!!

[saree's mom]

Hey guys...
Abby is gonna  love the fruit, it is a blast feeding them. I love trying new foods and watching their reaction, saree makes this hysterical face when she doesn't like something (did i mention there is a list...peas, string beans, carrots  sounds like my DH, imagine never being able to cook w/ mayo  ) like ew what are u trying to feed me...but when she likes it, its like love she immediately starts humming and whines when it isnt coming fast enuf. So far saree hasnt taken to the mesh bag, but we havent given up yet....
So saree is sitting, yay! She is all wobbly, so i have to stay next to her, she fell backwards when she grabbed a toy earlier and wasn't too happy about it. 

So i know this paci thing isnt the greatest, however i think that perhaps i should conquer the nightwakings first and then work on getting rid of the paci. Concentrate on one thing at a time, ya know? For the most part that is really when i use it. My nanny doesn't use it much with her naps. So if the nws are pretty much a non issue the paci will be used that much less and it'll be even easier to get rid of.
Am i convincing anyone other than myself that this is a legitimate reason ?? 

Aeri, dont even ask about my days, i dont know how im functioning, i went to the hospital yest, left work a lil early and spent 4 hrs. there, got home 8:30. DH took care of saree who was sleeping by the time i got home   Grandfather not doing well, he is 94, a holocaust survivor, hard life but a long life.
Under normal circumstances though it is hard balancing work and family, you learn to appreciate the weekends so much 

In any event getting back to our night saga....she woke up once in between her DF and 5:45 feed, gave her paci and went immediately back to sleep. if only she didnt wake up then it would be awesome! Id also feel more confident pushing up the 5 am feeding if that was her first nws. Tonight she cried out  at 9:45 for some reason and didnt sound so mantra so went in and gave her a snuggle (i love them all warm and sleepy) gave her paci and she immediately calmed and put her head down, so layed her down and walked out. Didnt nap so well today so we'll see what happens.
I see that her morning nap is always on the shorter side and pm nap always long, half the time we have to wake her up, i wish it was the other way around... but then that would make things easy, wouldnt it.

Btw jessica, did those bumps materialize into anything?? Ive seen ppl mention in other threads abt something called humphreys for teething and ive seen it in the store, what is that??
Your right abt saree with the paci thing, sometimes in the morning when she is awake and happy she does find it at nite though not yet.

[abbysmomma]

Hey Jessica and Rachel!

So, mixed goods and bads with last night. The good (must focus on positive!) was that I didn't have to pick her up at all last night (my back says thankyou!). Not once. And she slept 'til 7:15am! yay!

The bad... she woke up at 10:50pm, 11pm, 1am (feed), 3:20am, 3:40am, 3:50am, 4am, 4:05am, 4:10am, 4:20am, 6am. Obviously the spurt between 3:20-4:20 was essentially one giant long waking with snatches of sleep inbetween. I always waited a minute before going to her to see if she would put herself back to sleep (which happened a few times last night). And when I did go to her, I put my hand on her chest and ssshhh'd, and she'd fall asleep within a few minutes. The problem was staying asleep. But, hopefully as I keep doing this, the wakings will decrease (right? RIGHT??). I feel it's progress even though I got waaayyy less sleep.

I didn't get to the fruit yet Rachel, but I'm going to try and get some today. I can't wait! And that's awesome that Saree can sit! So many more things you can do with her now that she can sit! I love the new pic of her! And about the paci.. you do what you have to do in order to function, right? I just keep thinking that the paci and the nightwakings are related. Regardless, you have lots on your plate right now (poor grandfather!). Hopefully being consistent with the nw-ings will help.

Anybody doing anything fun this christmas? You don't have to work, do you Jessica and Rachel? I don't miss that at all 

[Colin Macs Mom]

Nope, I have the 25th and 26th off so a 4-day weekend!   

Rachel, those bumps are still hanging around but not doing anything.    Sooo annoying but it's nice to have him sleeping again. I'm not sure what humphreys is either - I suspect it's a UK product.

[saree's mom]

I just have the 25th, but ill take it!

You really think the nws and paci are related bec she was waking up before she started taking the paci which was only recently....so im not sure 

Saree's nite is off to shaky start went in to check on her at 11 and she was up cpuldnt get her back to sleep till 12, wasnt even crying so much, just whining every so often, lookin for lost paci few times...she was struggling to put herself back to sleep..{sigh} we'll see how the rest of the nite goes....

[Colin Macs Mom]

Colin woke a few times last night too, and had a snotty nose this morning.    But he got his second flu shot yesterday so I suspect it's related.

[saree's mom]

It prob was releated.  Hope he is feeling better...
Rest of the nite not too bad...woke up once in the middle of the nite dh went to her and of course took her into bed
He always does that, i beg him not to, the only thing to do is to get up myself every time 
She woke up again at 6:30 when i shooed him back to our room and tried moving her into crib but went back to sleep after a few minutes..other than thast and her 11-12 playtime i mentioned in pp she was good.
Saved the best for last....here goes....she didnt eat from 11pm until 8am ...whoohooo!!!

[Colin Macs Mom]

Congratulations Rachel!!   

[abbysmomma]

Hello gals..

So i'm trying to decide whether last night was good or bad. She woke up a TON last night, more than ever. 11pm, 12:30am, 1am, 2am, 3:20 (fed her), 5am, 6am. Pretty much at 6 she was awake until i took her out at 7am. I did pu/pd at 6am but she cried until i took her out. ugh. I guess the good thing is that she put herself back to sleep for every other waking. I didn't do anything except for feed her and go to her at 6am. I don't know how she feels rested 'cause i sure don't.   

So. Is this progress, or a step back? i was wondering if her daytime sleep was affecting her night wakings. she currently is getting between 4.5-5 hours of sleep during the day. i have to wake her from every nap. i know it's a lot, but i figured it was to let her catch up from being awake so often during the night. but if it's becoming so that it's robbing her night sleep, i don't know what to do. she can't stay awake for more than 2 hours at a time, and we've figured that she doesn't sleep for more than 11 hours at night. so that's a lot of time during the day to fill! *sigh*....

what do you think? i'm feeling pretty discouraged right now..

[Colin Macs Mom]

I still think it's progress. Changes don't happen overnight (haha) but it seems to me that she's definitely figuring things out. It's great that she's putting herself back to sleep - it wasn't that long ago that she never did that.    Personally though Aeri I would try and keep her day sleep no more than 4.5 hours, maybe even 4. She might be really cranky for a couple of days, but otherwise she'll never straighten out nights because she's getting that sleep during the daytime.

[abbysmomma]

oops.. might be hard to do today. she's already slept for 2.5 hours this morning.. ok. i will do my best to have more A time. thanks for the encouragement jessica.

[weatherlyn]

Today is the first time that i have read this thread and i am just wondering how you are getting on. Sorry i dont have any words of wisdom, my 5mth old is pretty much starting to do the repeated night waking thing and i am also clueless. I just wanted to say that it sounds like you have patience in abundance and that you are doing a great job. We mummies are only human, and there are only so many hours in the day (and night) and we get so fed up doing the same thing over and over and over.....lets hope they appreciate this all when they get older!