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9mo awake for 2 hours in middle of night...help!

3 replies

tinkerbug · 23/11/2010 18:36

DS is 9mo. He goes to sleep on his own very well at the beginning of the night (so can self settle!) but seems to wake up in the middle of the night and refuses to go back to sleep. Last night he woke up at midnight, had a quick boob and then went back down easily. He then woke up again at 3.30 and would not settle back to sleep. He had some boob and was quiet for about 10 mins but then was whinging / crying for about 2 hours. I tried feeding him again, which didn't work and checked he was clean / dry / warm enough / didn't have any trapped wind. In the end DH stayed up with him for half an hour and he eventually got him back in his cot at 5.30.

This has happened several times in the past couple of weeks and the sleep deprivation is really starting to set in. On nights where he doesn't wake in the middle of the night he wakes up at 6ish, whinges on and off for 40 mins and goes back to sleep till around 7.30 / 8ish.

In his whole life he has slept through 4 times. We used controlled crying to teach him to self settle (I know it is frowned upon by lots of people but worked for us)which he does at the beginning of the night and at naptime. I've weaned him off night time breast feeds twice, but we always go back to it in desperation to try and help him settle, and it doesn't always work!!

Any ideas or has anyone been through anything similar? I am thinking of weaning him off the night time breast feeds and then using controlled crying, but not sure I will be able to hack it in the middle of the night? Any advice gratefully received!

OP posts:
blackteaplease · 24/11/2010 08:47

I haven't got any advice for you I'm afraid but wanted to let you know we are in the same boat with our 11mo.

I'm hoping that someone comes along with some advice for you soon.

NapWhatNap · 24/11/2010 10:19

Weaning our dd off night feeds (at 7 months ish) generally helped her to be much more settled at night, I guess because it meant she started self settling when she woke instead of relying on boob.

She went from having one night feed (occassionally two) and one prolonged night waking like you describe, to sleeping through.

We used the pick up/put down method which doesn't involve leaving them to cry (couldn't hack that at 3am!), and it took two nights. Wasn't too bad at all, surprisingly.

Since then her sleep has been fairly consistent and she rarely needs settling in the night and never wants a feed (til she wakes up at the arsecrack of dawn, but that's another story!)

tinkerbug · 24/11/2010 15:10

blackteaplease, it's good to know I'm not alone!

NapWhatNap thanks for the advice, I think weaning DS off all night feeds is definitely the way to go. Can I ask what method you used? Cold turkey or gradually reducing the amount of mins your DD was bf for?

Last night was a lot better than the night before. Interestingly I sent in DH at 11.30 when DS woke up and he went down with just a cuddle and having his music and lights mobile thingy put on. I got up for DS at 5.30 and he immediately started headbutting my chest trying to get to his milk! After his feed he settled for about 15 mins then started crying again so rather than feed him I put his mobile on and he must have gone back to sleep, then he woke at 7.50. So much better....

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