night waking

[lisa282]

Up until a couple of weeks ago E was a really good sleeper and naturally fell into her own pattern of sleeping 7/8pm to about 5am without much effort from me Id then feed her and she would go back to sleep till around 8am. However she then got a tummy bug and was having diarrhoea every couple of hours which was clearly uncomfortable for her and kept her very unsettled. She has been better now for 10 days or so, although has also had a sniffly cold all this time. Anyway now her night wakings are getting worse rather than better, and tbh Im getting to my witts end with it. I havent slept more than 2-3 hours a night for about 3 weeks, and just dont get chance to nap during the day either, especially at the moment as my son is home from nursery for the holidays

I am so,so tired and its taking its toll. We have all been ill with terrible colds this week and whilst my OH and both kids have recovered quite quickly, I am still suffering as Im getting run down and no energy to fight it. Obviously this isnt helping with the night-time issues either. At the moment E is still in her basket at the side of our bed, but will have to be moved very,very soon as she is touching both ends of the basket now. I intended to move her into her cot over the next few days, but this also raises issues as her cot is in T's room - we only have 2 bedrooms

So first of all, some help with the wakings. At the moment she is still breastfed and feeds roughly every 3 hours during the day. She is a pretty good feeder and we have never had issues with her bf at all, although is getting a little fussy now we are approaching the 4 month mark as expected. Nothing major though, she still feeds well. She has her last feed at around 7pm and is generally asleep by 7.30-8. She usually falls asleep whilst feeding but not always, and then is placed in her basket. She will settle herself quite happily if she is awake so faling asleep on the boob isnt the problem here. Previously this would have been her last feed and she would go until around 5am but since being poorly she is waking constantly throught the night. First one is around 10-11pm, I try not to pick her up at first and will use other methods to try and settle her - ssshhing, rubbing her face, dummy etc. Sometimes she will just need to burp and will go back to sleep, other times she will require feeding after Ive tried everything else and it failed. Then from here on in, she will pretty much be up and down all night long. Last night was probably one of the worst, although it is becoming regular every night now

So last night, we had bath, boob, bed by 8pm. She went to bed awake but quite content and was asleep within 10 minutes. Then she was up at 10.30pm, popped her dummy in and she went straight back to sleep. Then we were up at 1am, 3.30, and then almost every half an hour until 5.30 this morning when she finally went into a deep sleep until about 8am. I really dont know what to do with her, which isnt helped by the fact I am sleep deprived and ill myself and not thinking straight. I tried everything with her last night, was trying not to pick her up and stimulate her or feed her, as I knew she didnt need it. The couple of times I did try her on the boob she suckled for like 30 seconds and passed out to sleep so was basically just using me for comfort

Somebody please help me!!! I also want to wean her off the dummy, but Im begrudged to do it at the moment as its the one tool Ive got to settle her for a little while I snatch 20 minutes sleep here and there. But then Im also wondering if perhaps this is part of the problem? Im just so tired I dont know what to think!!

 

[Mildly]

Sorry not really any advice to give but just wanted to see whether things are improving?

Is it possible that she might be too hot or cold when she wakes? Is your OH off over xmas? Perhaps he could spend one night going to Eden and settling her with a dummy. Having him do it rather than you might break her habit of waking up, also he doesn't smell of milk and so perhaps she won't expect a comfort feed if she can't smell it

 

[Becs]

Hi,

I think the night waking could be a to do with one or a combination of the following. As babies approach the 4 mnth mark they sometimes start waking at night where they slept well before due to hunger. Would you consider introducing a feed at 10/10.30pm? The idea being you gently wake her enough for a feed then settle her straight back to sleep. I had to do this feed with Austin until I began weaning but it did mean he then went through the night from 10.30pm to 7am. Also how much day time sleep does she have? Overtiredness and too much day time sleep can both contribute to poor nights. Eden probably needs around 3hours sleep a day and really not much more to get a good nights sleep. If she is coming nowhere near this she could be overtired but also too much more than this could be the cause of her poor nights. The other thing is that her illness may have given a bad sleep association, but normally an illness will not effect the poor sleep after they are better unless they were ill for a very, very long time, so I think the trigger is hunger/ daytime sleep related. If you aren't up for waking her up, I would reccomend seeing if she will feed when she does wake and if a newly filled tummy makes a difference to her sleep. I say 10.30pm because I found Austin would wake at 1pm if I left him but if I fed him before I went to bed he made it through again. You may need to consistently do this for a few nights to make a new sleep association but it could equally work from day one.

Best of luck,
Becs x x

 

[GBLiz]

Anjali is the same! She has always slept well only waking once a night, but she got a cold last week and started waking more, so for the last week its been 3 or 4 times a night!!! But i dont think its just because of her cold- she's waking up HUNGRY

I think they go through phases at 4 months and 8 months where they get restless and hungry because of all the brain work going on before they reach a particular milestone..

 

[lisa282]

Thanks for the advice ladies The last couple of nights have actually got a little better so I think she is starting to settle down again She has woken at about 11pm both nights so I have attempted to feed her, and she has had a small snack, but will fall asleep before drinking much. But then she has gone back to sleep until about 4/5am and then will snack again I do think she is starting to get hungry when she wakes, but I dont believe it is the hunger thats waking her iykwim? I think it is just literally the end of the sleep cycle and so she stirs but cannot completely go back to sleep. She is rooting for food when she wakes, but then will only suckle for a couple of minutes before falling asleep so I know she is not having a full feed. But tbh even this is an improvement from the past couple of weeks, so Im not complaining!! Im hoping that if this becomes a new habit, then soon enough she wont bother waking at all for the small amount she is drinking, as it really isnt worth it. But then tbh I really dont mind feeding her in the night, when she is genuinely hungry and will go straight back to sleep afterwards....its the fussing about that was driving me mad, as she just wouldnt settle after waking and so we would get stuck in a pattern of pick up-put down etc for a couple of hours some nights

As for her daytime sleeping, she is pretty good there. We generally get up around 7.30/8 - depending on the days my son is in nursery, and she will feed then and we will either play for an hour or walk to the nursery. She generally falls asleep then at around 10/11am after another feed and will have anything from 1-2 hours. Then we will feed again at lunchtime, play for a bit or go for a walk and she will sleep again around 3pm, for 1-2 hours. Sometimes she will have a couple of power naps for like 10 minutes after a feed as well but not everyday, so I would say on average her daytime sleeping is about 3 hours or so. I dont have any problems with her during the day, she is rarely grumpy and is generally very happy and settled. She feeds well and will let me know when she is tired, she settles to sleep without much effort from me at all. Just need to sort out the nights really. Here's hoping the last 2 nights arent just a fluke and she is finding her new routine