Hello there,
I really don't know what to do anymore
Please help!
My 16 week old lovely daughter Isabelle started to wake up 3 to 4 times every night.
She used to sleep from 7pm to 4 am and then only needed a short breastfeed at 4am. She usually settled again very easily and then slept until 7am.
Until 4 weeks ago (when we started to introduce formula and after she had her 2nd set of immunisations) - since then she wakes up a few times a night!!! And me and my husband are totally exhausted.
Our daily routine is something like this:
7am: wake up and breastfeed
7am - 10am: awake (2hours)
9am - 10 am: sleep (1hour) (settles very easily with or without dummy)
10 am: bottlefeed
10 am - 11.30am: awake (1.5 hours)
11.30 - 2pm: sleep (2 - 2.5 hours) (wakes up after 45 mins, but can be resettled with ssht/pat and dummy)
2pm: breastfeed
2pm - 4pm: awake (2 hours)
4pm - 4.30pm: short nap (30mins) (settles easily with dummy)
4.30pm - 7pm: awake (2.5 hours)
5 pm: bottlefeed (first half of evening feed)
6pm: bath and massage
6.30: bottlefeed (second half of evening feed)
7pm: sleep (usually moans a bit with dummy in for 10 mins or so, but then drifts off to sleep)
8.45pm: wakes up briefly, but can be resettled with dummy and sssht/pat
11pm: wakes up for feed (bottle) - settles very easily sometimes even without her dummy
thats 5 feeds in the daytime (evening feed is split before and after bath) and 3 naps: 2 short ones and a long one
but then....
1am: wakes up crying, but not hungry. If offered breast or bottle just takes very little and drifts back to sleep. When put into her cot starts moaning, but can easily be settled with dummy/sssht/pat
2.30: same as at 1am, but settling at this time is more difficult and sometimes takes 30-45 mins!!! She keeps rubbing her eyes/face and manages to wipe away the dummy that way and then she wakes up again totally and we have to start from the beginning. Also does not seem to be very hungry at this time.
5am: same again as 1am and usually quite easy to resettle. Usually I do not offer her the breat at this stage.
7am: wakes for feed
I initially offered her the breast in the night because I thought it was hunger. I also tried offering the bottle instead, but she really does not take much when offered either.
My questions are:
Why is she suddenly waking up so often? I am sure it is not teething/illness/growth spurt or hunger.
We have recently (3 weeks ago) introduced formula (bottle) as she did not gain weight properly just with breastmilk - (weight is now going up nicely though on mixed feeds) - could it be down to the change in feeding??? We have also started to introduce an 11pm feed, but this seemed to have made things even worse!!! (She now sleeps from 11pm to 1.30 am, before all this started she slept from 7pm to 4 am!)
What should I do about the dummy? Should I start weaning her off? I am not sure if her waking up is related to wanting her dummy in the night. She sometimes rejects it when I try to stick it back in again - especially when she wakes for the 2nd time around 2am or 3am. She will then have her eyes shut, but cries and throws her head to the left and right and waving her arms - to be honest I am not sure wether she is awake or not...at that point only pu/pd will help.
Please help - I would appreciate any suggestions. My husband wants to try out controlled crying, and I am really not a fan of this method, but we also want our sleep back
Elisabeth
