Wakings at 2am all of a sudden, not hungry, what should i do?

[Mom_to_L&S]

Hi all,

Iīm new to the boards but have been reading and learning here quite a lot

Just a brief sketch of things : My 16-week old daughter has been on EASY since birth and is currently on a 3,5-4h EASY. She eats at 8am-11.30am-3.30pm-7pm-bedtime 8pm-10.30pm (DF). She has 3 naps a day : 2  1,5 hour-naps and a 45min.catnap. She has been sleeping through the night (8pm-8am)since she was 8 weeks old, with a wake-up at 5am at which time she will be satisfied with the paci and sleep on till 8am.
A time is 1h in the AM and 1,5 - 2H in the PM.
So, this is all going great and all the hard work of sleeptraining and EASY has paid off!

For the last 3 nights, she has been waking up at 2am though instead of at 5am. My DH and I will wake up from her cooing and babbling and when she sees us, itīs big smiles  She will settle and go back to sleep after 15 mins though and then sleep on till 5, when she has her usual wake-up.

Does anyone know what can be the cause of this sudden wake-up (and when i say wake-up, i really mean WIDE a-wake-up  ) and how to deal with it? Should we just let her put herself back to sleep? Is this an indication that something in her day is off?

She is a textbook-baby with a dash of spirited.

Thanks in advance for reading and any advice 

[em_here]

My DD does this, i don't know why, but she also eventually goes back to sleep after a period of matra crying and a drink of water.  Its very strange, but I think its because my DD's naps have gone a bit wrong in the day and she is overtired, causing her to wake up at night.  We are working on it, maybe this is the same with your babe?

[Dree]

Hi Lena,

How do you know that it is not hunger ?? When my dd (also an angel baby) would wake up cooing and babbling it meant only one thing...hunger. She would wake up at dif times. A baby still goes through grow spurts every month. She is growing. It might mean that you need to increase her milk intake during the day. That is what I did at 4mths and it worked. 

When it is teething or gas she would wake up crying and I would have to take a few minutes to figure out what it was or is...cause we are going through teething right now.

HTH
Dree 

[Mom_to_L&S]

Hi,

I know itīs not hunger because she has a hard time finishing her 5 bottles during the day, often leaves a bit of milk in them and, when she wakes up at 2am, she settles easily and sleeps on untill her usual 5am-wake up which is when sheīll take the paci and sleep on till 8am.
Lena is very feisty when sheīs hungry, lol, i think sheīd make it known in no uncertain terms if she were hungry 

Oh, and sheīs textbook, not angel  Donīt know if that makes a lot of difference, though in this case.

[Dree]

Huh Well something is waking her up. What time does she go to bed at ? and how many hours does she sleep in the day ?

Could it be teething Are her cheeks red or is she drooling?. Some babies don't freak out as much as others do. Sofia would stick her hands in her mouth and I knew it was keeping her from sleeping. I would then use Camilia (homeopathic product for teething) and then about 20min later she would fall asleep.

Or perhaps her diaper is full ??

Dree

[Mom_to_L&S]

As stated in my original post, she sleeps from 8pm-8am (DF at 10.30pm) and has 2 1,5 hour naps + 1 catnap a day.

I was thinking it might be teething since sheīs suckling on her hands a lot and drooling but how can you know itīs just the oral phase theyīre going through or actual teething?

[Dree]

When Sofia would stick her hands in her mouth, I knew her teeth were bothering her and preventing her from sleeping. I would use Camilia for that and it would settle her and with about 30min max. she would sleep.

They say it takes 3 days for a tooth to break through. But they go through phases were their teeth are bothering them but not hurting them enough to give them something stronger. That is why I felt comfortable enough to give my dd Camilia.

I felt like my dd was going through this phase forever. Her first tooth broke out on New Year's eve. She was about to turn 8mths on the 3rd of Jan.

Did your LO reach a new milestone perhaps like rolling over..That milestone drove me nuts???

HTH
Dree

[Layla]

To be honest, if she is just cooing and puts herself back to sleep in 15mins, then I would leave her. She might just like the sound of her voice (although its not ideal in the middle of the night). Is she in the same room as you or do you have a monitor? I would switch the monitor off.... ( if thats what you use)... she will let you know what she needs you.

Do you find that you have to put the paci in for her to get back to sleep or is that just for the 5am wake up?

[Mom_to_L&S]

She isnīt putting herself back to sleep. We go in there and give her the paci, tuck her in again really good, donīt talk to her and then leave the room.
I donīt know what would happen if we didnīt go in...if she does it again tonight, íīll just wait and do nothing and see if it will turn into full-out crying eventually. Thanks for the suggestion.

She sleeps in the room next to ours, the doors are open, no baby-monitor.

[Layla]

Do you think the paci is becoming a prop? I would let her be and if she will ONLY settle with a paci, I would think she's becoming dependant on it.... Would you be willing to get rid of it and use pu/pd instead?

[Mom_to_L&S]

Hi,

Well, who would have guessed....she didnīt wake up last night untill her usual 5-am-ish wake up 
I donīt know if this was a one-off or what, weīll see tonight.

As for the paci, it is definately a prop, yes, at that time of the day. I am not ready to wean her yet, though and when I start, Iīm gonna start with naptime first. It just seems that she would have a really hard time in that half asleep-half awake time of night to settle without it. Or have you had other experiences?

Dree, as for the toothing : She has been suckling on her hands for weeks now, can that last that long or is this just her oral phase? She puts everything in her mouth. She hasnīt been trying to roll over yet

[mikiweiser]

other cues to look for
- gas - when she wakes at 2am (if you are awake before her) see if maybe she woke herslf up because of gas
- flipping - sometimes being able to flip wakes them up (goes hand in hand with teething)
- water - usually does the trick, it is the sucking motion without the food...
- mobile - maybe she just needs something to get her m ind off whatever woke her up - try turning it on (i do this at 6am and it works for 2 hours - my lo is almost 6 months old)
- paci - if it's a prop and you don't want it - turn to water.
maybe she needs a blanki to grab?

hope it was a one time thing
xx miki

[Layla]

Yeah, it will be interesting to see what she does tonight, lol.

As for the paci, it is definately a prop, yes, at that time of the day. I am not ready to wean her yet, though and when I start, Iīm gonna start with naptime first. It just seems that she would have a really hard time in that half asleep-half awake time of night to settle without it. Or have you had other experiences?

Jasmine was a paci addict and at 4 months I took it away from her. She wasn't very happy at the start but it took about 2 weeks for her to get the hang of it and now she sucks on her blanket. I've heard of giving water for nightfeeds so that their daily food intake increases but not of water to replace with paci.... not sure how that would work (do you mean giving her a bottle to sleep with/suck on???). I would use shh/pat to get rid of the paci. Yes, the naps might be a struggle but then again, she might catch on fairly quickly & it will over and done with in a week. I did shh/pat for nightwakings and she settled fairly quickly with that.

The av age for teething is 6 months so I would say putting everything into her mouth is not necessarily a sign of teething but rather that she is curious about her environment.

Anyways, let us know how tonight goes!
 

[Dree]

I knew I would get alot of mixed reactions from other mothers and I will probably again. I think there is nothing wrong with using a paci. My dd still uses one and other members in our large family have weaned their LO's when the time was right. I strongly believe the cut off age should be around 2yrs.

If you control the paci-use then there should not be a problem. All babies need suckling time. I prefer the paci way more then the thumb. I heard stories where children were still sucking their thumb til they were 8yrs old. I don't think it is cute. I know what some of you are going to say. It is an exception. But, I want to prevent that if I can. I would prefer a paci then a thumb, blanket or anything else. But that is my personal belief. You should go with your gut. Babies need to be babies. It is for such a short amount of time. I am sure my dd won't be sucking on a pacifer in elementry school. But she could be still sucking on her thumb like some children still do. I have seen this first hand.   

Teething is a very long process. When I would see my dd use her paci to use as a chew toy during nap time I would give her Camilia. It worked. Obviously in our case it was her teeth. Now I don't want people to think I give my dd something everyday. Only on days where it is obvious to me that she is teething.

At night if I hear my dd crying out loud it is because of two things. Gas or teething. If she (for lack of a better word ) farts when I pick her up it is gas but if she has not calmed down after a while then it is most probably teething. I give her orajel (I hate giving it to her) But if she is hysterically crying I need to calm her down. I give her a little bit and I try not to give it again. I only do this in the middle of the night. She calms down immediately, I hold her for about 10min to calm her and put her back down in her crib.

Turning over can start around 5mths. Sofia started that but never completely rolled over until much later. That is another story in itself. (Torticollis).

Good Luck
Dree

[Mom_to_L&S]

Thanks for your insight, guys 

My feeling tells me that itīs too soon for weaning the paci. I mean, itīs not a real problem yet and she only uses it right before naptime/bedtime and spits it out as soon as she enters her deep sleep. Losing the paci doesnīt wake her up, so itīs not a constant game of running back and forward to give her the paci. Itīs only when she wakes up during the night, that she needs it to go back to sleep and frankly, i am fine with that. She is still so small and has been sleeping through since week 8 so I am very proud of my little girl  and if the paci is what she needs to settle and get a good 12-hour sleep at night, then I donīt see why she shouldnīt have it.
She will have to wean at some point, but now is not that time.

Iīm very curious what will happen tonight. Iīll keeo you posted