Hey guys, after a few weeks of wanting to ask for help I'm finally doing it!
My DD is 18 weeks old, ever since she was 3 months we've gone from feeding every 2 and a half to 3 hours to feeding after 3 hours, then after 1 and a half hours and then waking every hour (or less!) until we get up. The first few weeks there was hysteric crying until she was fed.
Before the 3 month mark she would wake 2 to 3 times a night but go back down to sleep straight away, without her dummy.She normally does a good 3 hour stretch from 7pm to 10pm and this hasn't changed.
Now she is waking very frequently and the only way to calm her is to feed her (I'm breastfeeding so this is really taking it's toll) but then instead of taking her dummy and drifting back off she is absolutely wide awake and ready to play.
Three nights ago she slept a solid 6 hour block (the most she has slept in one go was 5 and a half hours, the one time!). I was pleased but knew from past experience not to get my hopes up because it wouldn't last. The next night she slept 5 hours in a row. Still really pleased but I knew the next night would be worse.
And it was! Last night she did 3 and a half hours! I would normally still be really happy with this, but after each one of these blocks she is up for over 2 hours. She no longer takes her dummy, she just shakes her head and pushes it out. Then continues to talk to herself. We sometimes put her in her own room when she starts this but know we'll be up 20 minutes later when she starts crying and we start the dummy battle all over.
Sorry this is getting really long, I just wanted to get as much info down as possible. So I suppose my question is, is this normal? How can we make her get the message that it's not cool to wake up at 3am and want to play?! Last night by the time she was asleep again at 3:30am (after waking up for a feed at 1:40am) I was wide awake and didn't get back to sleep until half 4.
Ok next part!
She still needs to be swaddled for bedtime and nap time. She's not rolling over yet but I know when she is I'll need to stop. Right now she sometimes falls asleep in her pram but for most naps I need to swaddle her and give her her dummy, I think it's a signal for her that it's time to sleep. Does anyone have any tips on how I can get her off the swaddle?
AND
She always needs a dummy to drift off! She is a very sucky baby and will scream and scream if she's tired until she is wrapped up. Then she screams until she gets the dummy and instantly her eyes will just drop. I don't really want her to rely on the dummy because without being swaddled she knocks her dummy out--but I don't want to swaddle her much longer! The dummy is why her prolonged night waking is also a problem, because she needs it to settle but she won't take it! Any suggestions on how to fix that?
Really just feeling very tired and sorry for myself right now, not sure if her night wakings are just a phase that we need to wait out or if I'm doing something wrong! If you've managed to read this and reply please know I am very very grateful :)