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Sleep

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Original poster

Waking Every 5-20 mins Throughout the Night. WTF?

23 replies

Bellared · 07/04/2012 12:28

DS2 is 6m and over the past week or so has been doing the above. Will settle between 1 and 3am which is when I get my sleep. So far I have tried:

Lavender oil in bath and on hankie in cot.
Weaning.
Homeopathic remedies.
Feeding.
Dummy.
Leaving him for a bit to settle.
Cutting daytime naps.
Increasing daytime naps.
Moving him into his own room.

We have the same bedtime routine every night and he has 2-3 naps a day totalling no more than 4 hours. I'm also 18w pregnant with DC3.

I don't think its teething as the only symptoms he is having is dribbling and chewing things and seems fine in himself. I know it'll at some point pass but I need to sleep. I can't co-sleep as DH is a restless sleeper.

Close to getting the Cholorform (joke) out I don't know what else to do. I'll get a couple of hours in the day when he sleeps but have DS1 to deal with also.

Any advice would be appreciated!!

OP posts:

loveisagirlnameddaisy · 07/04/2012 12:58

Have you started weaning him?

Is there any pattern to his sleeping? Waking every five minutes would mean he is literally awake all night. What might a typical night look like?

Original poster

Bellared · 07/04/2012 16:19

Yeah, I started the 2nd/3rd night of waking. And been giving him his tea and afters (tea usually root veg) then will build up an extra meal a day once he starts taking his milk feeds fully as this takes 2+ hours to get him to have 6oz of milk. .

Bath - 6.45
Bottle/Bed - 7pm
Wakes up about 20 mins later for rest of feed. Have started filling bottle up to 8oz and sometimes he'll have more.
Sleep til about 11.30 to be fed again (full 6oz recently upped from 5oz).
Then he'll fall sleep on me. I'll put him down after he's been asleep on me for 15mins then 5-20 mins later he'll wake after being put back into his cot. So I'll rub his back for a bit or leave him for a while to see if he sorts himself out and by then the little imp is awake so I'll have to cuddle him back to sleep. Then the waking/sleeping cycle will go on until 4 hours after his last feed then he'll feed again (not always a full 6oz) then its the fall asleep on me cycle pretty much til 5am where he wakes for the day. Then at about 6.30am will be the first nap of the day for 45mins to 2hours (3 hour EASY) then til 6.45. Each daytime nap will last 30mins to 2hours.

OP posts:

loveisagirlnameddaisy · 07/04/2012 18:28

Was he self settling before this started? It sounds like he's waking up mid sleep cycle and has learnt to use you to settle.

Original poster

Bellared · 07/04/2012 18:49

He'd pass out during his last feed so I'd put him straight to bed even though he wasn't fully asleep. They're funny little buggers, used to sleep til 2 or 4am for food then I could put him straight back down afterwards. If only they could talk!

OP posts:

loveisagirlnameddaisy · 07/04/2012 18:55

They are a conundrum. It may be teething or hunger even though it doesn't seem like it. It is strange to go from long spells of sleep to waking so regularly and being unable to settle. I would focus on getting him fully weaned and on filling foods, root veg for example is fine for early stages of weaning but they soon need more than that. By the 6.5 mos, my daughter was eating puréed veggie pies!

He may just come out of the phase as quickly as he's entered it. I do hope so!

CruciFlisspaps · 07/04/2012 19:12

Weaning generally has no effect on improving sleep - if anything, most babies have worse sleep in the early stages of weaning.

Original poster

Bellared · 07/04/2012 19:31

I've been using a base of sweet potato for the purees and toast and rusks for finger foods until he gets the hand to mouth action going . DS1 was fully weaned at this age, the pair are so different. He's just woke for the rest of his milk and I put him straight down again and when he woke just rubbed his belly a little then he rolled over and went to sleep. We did move house and it all started a week and a bit after we moved and unpacked. I'll go to the Dr on Tuesday to see if there is nothing physical making him wake.

OP posts:

loveisagirlnameddaisy · 07/04/2012 19:57

How can weaning have no effect on improving sleep if a baby is hungry? My daughter was weaned at 5.5 months having started to wake for extra feeds in the nights. Solids fixed it.

Original poster

Bellared · 07/04/2012 20:22

How much milk did your DD have? If I add it to his food he knows and refuses it so I've just been sticking to bottle feeding. Do you think to feed more solids? It's been 3 years since I did all this and having baby brain for the last 2 I'm getting forgetful!

OP posts:

CruciFlisspaps · 07/04/2012 21:39

loveisagirlnameddaisy If weaning onto solids fixed sleep issues, then there wouldn't be anyone complaining about sleep issues past 6 months.

Bellared If your baby is hungry at night and that's the cause of him waking then the best thing to give at 6 months is more milk, which I understand can be a PITA if he's taking 2 hours to drink 6oz. It's the most calorie (and nutrient) dense thing you can put into a baby. It could be because of the house move and that he's just not settled into the new house yet, it could be a development related regression (much like the one at four months)

loveisagirlnameddaisy · 07/04/2012 21:43

My DD was on 9oz bottles and still looking for more. The thing that rang alarm bells was that she had previously been going through from her DF and then started waking looking for food and was clearly ravenous. Once I started her on solids she was back to sleeping through after a few days. I'm not suggesting weaning fixes all sleep problems, but if the problem is hunger and they are 6 months, weaning seems to me to be a fairly obvious thing to try.

Bellared, not sure what your question is? Are you weaning with the aim of getting to 3 meals a day or holding off in favour of milk?

granule · 07/04/2012 21:46

Could the root veg at teatime be making him a bit trumpy?

loveisagirlnameddaisy · 07/04/2012 21:51

It's important not to sacrifice milk in favour of solids but there is a way of balancing both. I don't think tea is the best meal to start with as it will affect appetite for bedtime milk which can then lead to waking issues. I started with lunch (slowly replacing what was her 11am milk feed).

Flisspaps, think its a bit simplistic to say give more milk. I couldn't have given my DD any more milk without feeding her every 2 hours. Guidance is that weaning is perfectly acceptable at 6 months partic for hungry babies.

Original poster

Bellared · 07/04/2012 22:06

I'm favoring milk more over the 3 meals as he's not interested in milk really during the day but will happily trough it in one go at night. The past 2 nights he's had porridge or rusk mashed with milk for tea as I need to go shopping and still the same. Can root veg make babies grump bags? He didn't have the 4m phase apart from night feed time going back 2 hours. My mum tried to look after him and i had to go and get him after 3 hours he was screaming for me that much. That was the night before the move. Sorry granule i've just read your post again, no he's always been a trumper since he was born and when he does them in his sleep they dont bother him.

OP posts:

Original poster

Bellared · 07/04/2012 22:10

I'm on my phone and not used to it yet. His half a bottle and waking up half an hour or so after for the rest has been the norm for a few months, his brother was the same but an ace night time sleeper.

OP posts:

mermaid101 · 09/04/2012 08:46

Hi Bellared,

No real advice, but I feel your pain. I posted with an almost identical problem a few days ago. I met up with some friends who have babies exactly the same age (we met in hospital when we were having them) and they said the same thing had happened to them. The advice I got from the others on this forum was that it is probably a stage.

My DD did a couple of good nights at the weekend, but woke a good few times last night. She did get back to sleep fairly quickly though.

Hope things sort themselves out for you. I'm holding my breath for tonight being a good one!

Original poster

Bellared · 09/04/2012 11:27

Hi Mermaid. He only woke 8 times the night after. We should have an insomniacs thread I've started him on 2 meals a day now so we'll see.

Fingers crossed for you too!

OP posts:

CheshireDing · 12/04/2012 02:46

How are things OP?

We are doing waking every hour (whereas it used to be every 4) and I have to feed her to sleep. We hsve just turned 6 months. Soul destroying isn't it !

Original poster

Bellared · 12/04/2012 15:16

Yeah it is that! Things are improving thanks, a few nights after he woke 8 times it was down to 5 and its remained that since then but the 1am waking ends at 3am as he'll not settle.

I've removed the sleeping bag which has helped, he's just started sleeping on his side and got his little feets tangled up in it and his legs up his back! And giving him more food hasn't helped as he's feeding at 1ish and 4.30ish.

And here's me putting it down to DH's snoring keeping him awake

OP posts:

GemmaBear · 18/04/2012 07:10

Hi Bellared, I think you have my child as it seems we have identical problems! :-) i am trying to read the nocry sleep solution for tips. I reckon it is a stage.....doesn't make them any less toady though. My DS was going up to 10 hours between feeds at night until Sunday and now he is every 3 hours with moaning in between. Good luck.....!

GemmaBear · 18/04/2012 07:12

Hey Mermaid, pain shared here too.... :-)

Original poster

Bellared · 18/04/2012 13:03

Hi Gemma, Last night was a bigger improvment. The HV came round yesterday as we'd just moved into the area and she was introducing herself and I mentioned what was going on. I thought she would tell me to give him more milk but she said to feed him more solids throughout the day which I did and gave him some porridge before bed and although he woke twice to be fed he only took 2.5oz each on and only woke a further 2/3 times between then. I'm going to have a read of that book too when I get chance to go to the Library.

Good luck too!

OP posts:

EstelleWalker74 · 04/09/2020 03:32

I heard that there was something called sleep training. It is supposed to help your baby to get on the right schedule when it comes to sleeping. I want to know if anyone has heard about this.

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