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Teething, sleep regression or something else??

5 replies

redelephant · 14/07/2011 11:36

Hi all

My DD is 22 weeks old (17 weeks adjusted age) and up until a few weeks ago she was down to one feed a night. Now on a good night we have 3 feeds, sometimes quite unsettled and hard to get back down again, sometimes just full of beans!

Last night she was asleep by 8pm, up at 10 and hard to settle so I bf her and she went off quickly. Then she was up again at 11 then 45 mins later. The up again at 3 (feed), then 4, 4.50.. is a blur after that so not quite sure exactly what happened. I don't think she was hungry as a lot of the times she was calm and almost back asleep as soon as I picked her up. But if not in a deep enough sleep when I tried to put her back down she would wake up (and cry). On one occassion after a few attempts at putting her down she just started screaming and got very upset. Very unlke her.

So although a bit inconsistent the nights on the whole have gone haywire. I know this is common for this age and hoping it will pass soon. What i was wondering was is last nights behaviour (only settling when I hold her and sudden screaming) classic teething? Should I be giving her some of those powders or similar?

Also I had her weighed a few days ago. She has dropped ever so slightly on her chart although has still gained weight. She is now on 25th centile but has always hovvered between 50th and 25th anyway. I am not worried about this but when i mentioned her wakefulness at nights to the hv she told me to start weaning her. My inital thought is to ignore this as she is not a very hungry baby (generally) and to my mind isnt always hungry when she wakes at night. And surely if she needs more calories (to put on more weight) then I should be giving her more milk at this stage as this has the most calories going. I was planning to start weaning her (blw) in a few weeks.

Has anyone had similar night experience and any thoughts on weaning? She is a very happy, bright and alert baby during the day.

Thanks in advance x

(sorry if this post seems a bit disjointed - I spent ages writing it out only to find that I had been automatically logged out when I trued to post it..so I lost the lot!)

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narmada · 14/07/2011 19:37

I think you're absolutely right about the weaning - and it not being about hunger necessarily when she wakes. HVs seem to trot out the old weaning line whenever sleep is mentioned.

Lots of babies start sleeping worse at around the 4-month mark. That's prob no comfort to you, but it is completely normal and even the NHS guidance says that this is not a sign that your baby is ready for weaning, it's just something developmental. If you can encourage your baby to go to sleep by herself (eg, not sucking on something, in her own bed) then that might help, but no guarantees. DS was particularly bad around that age, as was DD, but they improved without me doing much after about a month or so.

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HumptyDumpty1 · 14/07/2011 19:41

My DD has had exactly the same, she's 16 weeks. HV has also told me to start weaning as she has all the other signs, well she told me to give her formula first even though I can easily pump 4oz at the end of the day (?!) then said baby rice...

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narmada · 14/07/2011 19:47

Bloody health visitors. Honestly, they should send the job lot of them off for retraining. Well, apart from my one nice one who actually knows what she's talking about.

There is no point whatsoever giving formula as it has similar calorific content as BM. Baby rice has very few calories. God, they peddle such rubbish sometimes.

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HumptyDumpty1 · 14/07/2011 20:06

I actually laughed in her face when she told me to give her formula!

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redelephant · 15/07/2011 08:19

Thanks for the advice.

narmada I have been implementing pupd for a few weeks now. This was mainly for her naps in the day as she used to only nap on me. Now she will usually go off to nap in her cot after a couple of pick ups and a bit of shhing so thats great. She has (seemingly until recently!) been able to self settle during the night before. She has gone all night a couple of times and did get to the point where she was only waking once.. so I know she can do it. I think thats the only thing keeping me sane right now..haa.

But it does seem to have gone backwards a bit! Last night was less unsettled but still lots of wake ups... so I guess I will just stick it out and fingers crossed it will pass soon.

And yes I totally agree. I can't believe the things the hv's spout sometimes. Needless to say I am following my own instincts there!