10 wk old nightwakings frustrations!

[nona]

I'm sure these issues have been addressed but I guess I need some moral support!

My almost 10 wk old (boy, 15 lbs) was going to sleep w/o much problem. We may have soothed him once before a df but now his nights are frustrating us and I'm completely exhausted. He was waking up about twice but now is waking up several times during the night - more in the early morning hours. I read the  FAQ about frequent nightwakings but wonder if there is more I can do.

Here's our rough 3h schedule:
E7ish
S8:15ish
E10ish
S11:15ish
E1ish
S2:15ish
E4ish
A diaper change/daddy time/walk
S catnaps - this works if we take a walk in baby bjorn 45-60 min
A 6:15ish  start bedtime routine w/ bath, etc
E 6:45ish
S 7-7:30ish
E df 10:00ish (now is waking up before this time!!!)
nightime
1:30-2:45
5ish - if its later than this, i'll try to soothe him until 6:30 or so.

Re: Naps
usually 1.5 hrs, occasionally one 2 hr nap.
1. early evening naps - how long should this be? sometimes i can not get him to take this nap. should we wake him for bedtime routine if he does fall alseep? if he naps, its usually when we go for a walk and about 45-1 hr catnap.
2. i use paci for naps. he drops it before he's in deep sleep. most of the time he will self-soothe himself to sleep if he wakes so i don't re-insert unless absolutely necessary.
3. very few sleep noises when napping
4. he takes naps on his tummy

re: bedtime routine
1. daddy has now started playing w/ our lo after the bath. LO loves the freedom w/o diaper, etc. My husband encourages it. Do you think he is getting overtired from this? i feel bad making my husband stop but wonder if this is contributing to our problems. don't want to be a nag.
2. breastfeeding at 6:45 - is this a prop if he falls asleep during nursing?


re: nightwakings
1.my lo is starting to wake BEFORE the usual DF time of 10ish. Should I feed him earlier? I feel if I feed him earlier, his little tummy will be too full and he'll be more likely to spit up when I put him down.
2.. when my LO spits up, he always wakes up and its hard to resettle him.
3.he has started waking up more frequently after his "df". i can usually re-settle after first waking (will nurse him), but not after the second. the second waking is only about 2 hrs later. he will drift back to sleep but keeps waking up. nursing does not put him back to sleep. i get no sleep from this point until morning.
4. he sleeps in a co-sleeper in our room. his room is upstairs so we have not moved him yet. he is a VERY noisy sleeper and I am having a hard time understanding his noises  (and sleeping through them)- are they hunger. diaper change, transition? i'm so confused  - how do i know??? I don't know what to do at night but daytime is so much easier. I never let him get to the point of crying at night.  am i not letting him self-soothe? when i do wait, he seems to be unable to self soothe at night.
5. swaddling isn't helping anymore. just tried the miracle blanket - he can't kick out of it but he still wakes up w/ the swaddle. i'm thinking of stopping the swaddle at night since its not working (?).

Sorry for long email, just getting frustrated. We are also going on a trip this weekend and not looking forward to it since it'll really screw us up

[Karin3]

You may have already said this somewhere, but is your lo breastfed.  It's very common for breastfed babies to wake up to eat at night.

Your lo may be getting overstimulated during the wind down.  Can you encourage low-key play after the bath?  Maybe reading a couple of books or something.  I would go with your gut on this one.  We had a really hard time with overstimulation with Mimi when she was younger.  As your lo gets older, they'll be able to handle more. 

Co-sleeping is a personal decision so it's really up to you what you and your family are comfortable with.  I know, for us, our nights did get easier once we transitioned Mimi into her own room.  I got more sleep and I think she did too.  The N/Wings are a little more pronounced though once they go into their own room.  When Mimi slept with us, half the time I wouldn't even wake up, I would just stick my boob in her mouth. lol    But, you definitely wake up if you have to get out of bed and go to his room.  On the other hand, I don't think she woke as much because we weren't waking her up with our sleeping noises.  (Dh snores really loud. lol   )

Regarding knowing if he's hungry or not at night, I've heard that some moms give them the paci first.  If they go back to sleep and stay asleep for a length of time, then they weren't hungry, they just wanted to suck.  If they wake up again rather quickly, then you know that they're actually hungry.

I hope this helps some!  Let us know how things are going.