Baby waking at night

[phoebes mum]

Can anyone help me?  My 6mo old is waking every 2 sometimes every hour during the night.  This has been happening for a while and I have been trying a few different things but nothing is working.  Her daytime routine looks like this:

7am bottle
8am solids
9am nap (1.5-2hrs no waking)
11am bottle
12-12.30 solids
1pm nap (1.5-2hrs sometimes wakes at 2pm)
3pm bottle
4pm solids
5pm half hour nap
7pm bottle
bathtime
storytime
bed usually asleep by 7.30-8

The problem is during the night she wakes so much and I am nearly having a nervous breakdown!!!!  She uses a dummy but usually only at night (it has probably become a prop and I have tried weaning her off it but she just cries and cries and being so tired i give in).  Why doesn't she need her dummy to sleep during the day? I just don't know what to do.  She can sometimes self settle (more often during the day) but if I leave her too long she gets upset.  Is she getting too much sleep during the day? Am i feeding her too much/too little (4x200ml bottles sometimes night feed at 10-11pm)?  What should I do? (lost and confused)

[M and N's Mom]

Welcome to the Boards!  I'm sorry you are having such a rough time.

I'm wondering if the paci has become a prop.  How does she fall asleep for naps, bedtime?  Independently or with a prop (paci, bottle, rocking, etc.)?  My DS went through a phase around 4-5 months where we were having to get up to give him his paci 6-8 times a night.  We decided to get rid of it by using pu/pd.  It was a very difficult couple of weeks, but in the end it worked and gradually he started sleeping better.  Here is the FAQ link for pu/pd  https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?board=89.0

I read somewhere on here that day sleep, and night sleep are governed by two different parts of the brain which may explain why you see differences in her sleep patterns.

Anyway, I'm sure Layla or Mari will have something great to add, just my thoughts.

[Layla]

I agree, if he's not needing the paci during naps, I wouldn't be offering it at night cause it might become a prop. I've also noticed he's taking 2 long naps & a catnap. It could be that he's getting too much daytime sleep. I would work towards dropping the catnap by increasing A time during the day. Try adding 15mins. If he wakes early from the pm nap, still give the catnap but if he's taking 2 -2hr naps then you could ditch the catnap & do an earlier bedtime to compensate. They also can't do full A time between catnap & bedtime so I would aim for bedtime 7 (to be alseep by 7.30pm).

Also I've noticed he's taking in 3 solids - is that for try or are they fairly well sized meals. When did you introduce solids? At 6 months they should only be tasting them rather than for "filling up" purpose so be careful with how much he's taking. It might be causing him uncomfort at night as well. Milk is the promary meal at this age. As for feeding too much... am I not sure there is such a thing at this age. If he's taking it in then thats probably what he needs/wants. Unless you are forcing him to drink the full bottle, I don't think its too much.

Lastly, what is he like when he wakes. We all wake at night in between sleep cycles so if he's waking & stirring or fussing or just making noises, I would leave it to settle on his own. I would only go to him if he's crying & if it sounds like he really needs you. When you go, try shh/pat or pu/pd rather than giving him the dummy. Is he is your room?

Layla

[phoebes mum]

Thank you guys.  Just because i posted that message last night Phoebe slept for 5 hours from 12.  She is 9kg and eats like a horse so I'm pretty sure its not a food thing.  All her meals get gobbled down including the milk but i make sure milk is always first and i try not to feed solids too close to bedtime so she doesn't get a tummy ache.  I'm thinking of trying a few things.
1. she always wakes at 9.30pm so maybe i should give her a little bottle (say 100mls)
2. she always wakes a  5am so maybe i should give her a bottle then and the solids at 7 when she gets up
What do you think?
The other thing is sometime between 5 and 7am she does a poop so maybe i should get up and let her muck around for a bit and then change her nap and feed her a bottle and put her back to bed.
At the moment I am slowly trying to wean her off her dummy (not brave enough to try cold turkey) but that seems to work better at the beginning of the night and not in the early morning.
When she wakes she makes a weird coughing noise and if i don't go and give her the dummy this eventually turns into crying.  During the day she can usually self settle and I am starting to wonder if this is because she can hear me moving around in the house and knows she is not alone whereas at night it is too quiet.  I do have a CD that I put on for her but maybe I should put on the radio which has people talking and she might feel more comforted - I don't know.  Am starting to think I am over-analysing things a bit but there is just so much information and differing opinions out there that it is so easy to get confused.
Phoebe has always been a big baby and the doctor suggested putting her on solids from 4months as she was so active - always kicking around - and also I lost my breast milk at that time because my husband was away for a month and I became depressed.  I have no family here (I am in Australia and my family is in New Zealand) so I find it hard.  My husbands mother lives 2 hours away and sometimes visits for a few days to take the pressure off but no matter how many times I tell her about the routine and settling techniques she doesn't listen and I find her rocking Phoebe off to sleep. She is one of these people that believes you let the baby run your life without any structure.  Any ideas for dealing with that one?!!!!!  Anyway I was glad to find this message board so that I can pick other peoples brains!!!!

[shanlbc]

I am having similar pacifier issues so I can't advise on that issue but I noticed you said DD was waking at the same times in the night/morning.  I know that a lot of people on these boards have had success with wake to sleep...you would go in the her room a while before her habitual waking time and give her a little tummy rub or straighten her blanket, something to disrupt her sleep pattern but not actually wake her.  I have heard if you do this for three days she will break the patterns.  I am NO EXPERT but I have read about in the BW books and on the boards.

Good luck with everything...I know it is hard not to have family around.  Both of my parents have passed away and I miss them terribly now that I have my new DS and my DD is a beautiful 16yr old young lady.

[phoebes mum]

Well everyone, I tried wake to sleep last night and gave phoebe a bottle at 5am instead of 7 and hey presto she had a pretty good night.  I did hear her wake at 2.30am but she just talked to herself and for the first time got her paci in by herself and toddled off to sleep on her own.  I am starting to wonder if she must have been a bit off colour for the past week because I have now come with a very sore throat - maybe she had one too although she didn't really seem to be in any pain just unsettled.  Heres hoping today and tonight will be as good!