5.5 mth old consistently waking

[Hayden's mom]

Our son has never slept for very long since the day he was born but now we're having a wake up frequently at night and he's screaming from the get go.  He would usually stir and we would leave him but it always escalated so we would have to go in and soothe him back to sleep.  Now, however he starts off completely screaming as if something is terribly wrong and he won't calm down with me.  He refuses the paci and it only makes it worse if you try to get him to take it.  We've tried swaddling again but he's rolling over so that makes it futile.  My husband can get him to calm down but he just continues to scream with me no matter what I do unless I nurse.

Here is our schedule:
6:30 -7 am - feeding
8:30- 10:30 - nap
11:00 - feeding
12:30 or 1 - nap until 2:30
3:00 - feeding
5-6 catnap

The thing about him is that he sleeps great during the day and I can usually get him to go to sleep on his own for naps and at night.  He sleeps great from 7 pm or so until 11 pm and then it's every hour or so.  I quit doing the dreamfeed b/c that only made things worse.  I was nursing twice a night but am trying to get him to only once which is around 12 or 1.  He will sleep about 2 hrs straight after I nurse but he's back to waking up again every hour or so after that.

He does have reflux and takes Zantac twice a day.  He seems to be OK with it during the day but maybe that is the cause of this screaming at night.  He's almost 18 lbs so should be fine sleeping 6 hrs at least with no food.  He's also teething but things seem to have settled with that just a bit -- no teeth as of yet.  We also feed him oatmeal cereal twice a day.  Any help would be appreciated!!! I'm so sleep deprived and can't nap during the day as we have another child!  I had a textbook/angel baby the first go around and now have a very spirited one.  Help!

[Colin Macs Mom]

I think you have a lot going on here. When do you feed the cereal? That might be causing some gas and/or tummy upset that is disturbing sleep. Also, I think you should limit the last nap to 30 or 45 minutes. An hour is too long to really be a catnap and it's probably interfering with his night sleep.

When was the last time he got a dosage increase on the Zantac?

[Hayden's mom]

He hasn't had an increase in the Zantac dose.  He is due for his 6 mth check so I was going to discuss that at his visit.  I think you're right about the catnap.  It also seems that if he gets more than 2 two hr naps in the day he wakes more at night.  I feed the cereal either after the morning feeding or when he goes to daycare (2 days a week) he gets the cereal at the 11:00 feeding.  Then he gets the nighttime cereal around 6 or so then I nurse him before bedtime.

I have to say that the instant screaming has subsided for now.  He is still waking frequently but at least it's not the blood curdleling scream anymore.

[Colin Macs Mom]

Well that's good!    Sounds like he's ready for the 3-2 nap transition and I bet with a Zantac dosage increase things will straighten right out.

[momofclaire]

Hi, I just wanted to add that you may think about not giving cereal at the dinner (6pm) feed and see how that goes.  Sometimes it takes a while for babies to get used to the cereal and night feed can really upset the tummy.  Let us know.

[Hayden's mom]

sorry it's been so long since a post but things are looking up.  We increased the Zantac dosage which helped but we did 3 nights of the pu/pd, leave the room, go back pu/pd.  I leave the room b/c it gets so much worse with me in there.  He's able to calm himself with his thumb much better without me in the room.  So... we've stopped the 2:30 wakings and I'm back to the dreamfeed around 10:30 or 11:00.  Occasionally he sleeps until 7 or 7:30.  As of late, he's up at 5, i can feed him and he's back to sleep.  I'm trying however to do the pu/pd thing for the 5 am wakings as well and maybe we can get those gone too.

Thanks for the help and support!!  There is some sleep in sight!  I never thought it would come after 6 mths of constantly waking 2-3 times a night.

[Colin Macs Mom]

That's great!!!