NW due to poops

[carla_s]

Our 5 1/2 mo dd Abigail has always been a great night sleeper (sleeping a 6-8 hour stretch starting when she was about 7 or 8 weeks old). When she woke at night (usually only once between 3:30 and 4:30am), it was always due to hunger (she'd take a full feed) and would go right back to sleep until she'd gotten about 11 - 11 1/2 hours of night sleep.

For the last week or so, she's been waking up between 1:30am and 2:30am because she poops! I can't say there's much of a problem (yet) because after changing her, I put her back in her crib and she goes to sleep with little fuss (maybe about 10 - 15 minutes of soft whining / mantra fuss). In the beginning of these early wakings, I tried to breastfeed her, thinking it was a growth spurt, but she fed for less than 5 minutes on only one side, so I reasoned that she wasn't hungry yet. Some days, she hasn't pooped but just whines quietly to herself with long pauses and eventually falls back asleep (10 - 15 minutes later) so I let her resettle herself and don't go into her room.

So, my question is: is there anything we can tweak in her schedule to prevent night time poops and these early wakings? I don't want this to lead to a waking habit (although after a week, maybe it already is?). Here is our routine (or at least what we aim for; doesn't always work out like this):

8:00am - wake and plays in crib for 10 - 15 minutes
E 8:30 - bf both sides (~10 min each side)
  9:00 - cereal (just started three days ago; night poops started before we introduced cereal)
A Play with toys on floor, sing, jolly jumper, etc.
S 10:00am - nap (have been having huge problems with naps; doing pat/sh for several weeks; will probably start pu/pd this week after finishing BWSAYP). Usually only 45 minutes.

E  12:00 - bf both sides
A play with toys on floor or in high chair
S 1:00/2:00 - nap (time depends on when she woke up from last; generally 2 hours after her last wake up). Again, usually only 45 min max. Have tried w2s but no luck yet.
A

E 3:30 - bf both sides
A
S 4:30 - catnap

7:00pm - bedtime routine and last bf
7:30pm - bedtime (can take up to an hour to get her to sleep these days b/c of AP rocking in the past; hence the soon to start pu/pd)
no DF (didn't want to introduce it when she was sleeping so well through the nights)
b/w 1:30 and 2:30 - poops 
b/w 4 an 5 - full bf and back to sleep

We are on a 3.5 hour EASY because she often gets hungry before 4 hours is up. She's a large, thriving and happy textbook baby (in the 95th percentile of weight and height).

She has already gotten 2 teeth, so teething is sometimes an issue. However, when she was teething with her first 2 teeth, she never woke at night (although was very fussy at nap time). No other milestones at this point.

As mentioned above, we have AP'd her with rocking to sleep, and so have a huge problem with getting her to sleep on her own for naps and at bedtime (she falls asleep on her own no problem during the middle of the night for feeds, etc.). Pat/Shush now seems to annoy her, so I will be starting pu/pd this week sometime after a bit more preparation work on my part (reading etc.).
At this point, we have not introduced a lovie, because she pulls things over her face and then cries because she doesn't yet pull it off by herself.


I'll be posting to the pu/pd board with my specific questions for that later on. For now, I just wondered if there was something we could do to prevent these night time poops and wakings (even though she seems to be able to fall back asleep pretty well on her own).

Many thanks! Looking forward to any comments and help 

Carla

[Colin Macs Mom]

Hi Carla,

Sounds like you have a pretty good little sleeper!! I would have killed for 6 - 8 hours at 7/8 weeks.     Unfortunately I'm afraid there's really nothing you can do about the night poops. It's fairly common for LOs to go through a phase where that happens. It will change. In the meantime just change her with as little light as possible, no eye contact, stimuation, etc.

I think if you can get those naps extended that will help a lot. I would also really encourage you to move to 4 hour EASY. The wakes are surely at least partially related to the routine not giving her enough A time.

[carla_s]

Thanks for your quick reply!! It makes sense that you can't do much for night time poops. Hopefully it's a quick phase.

I'll try moving closer to a 4 hour EASY this next week. I find it hard to make her eat more at each feed because she is so distractable now. Then, she gets hungry sometimes at 3 hours still. But, we'll persevere and hopefully by the week's end, we'll be on 4 hours.

And definitely, the nap extension is my next task, after we find a way to get her to sleep without the rocking. Fingers crossed the pu/pd works; I'm gearing myself up for several hard days (and maybe will be pleasantly surprised).

Thanks again. I appreciate your comments.

Carla

[Colin Macs Mom]

   Check out the  PU/PD forum if you haven't already. There's a lot of good information and support there.

Where do you feed her currently? If you aren't already it can help to do it in a quiet, out-of-the-way room.