Help me come up with a strategy to stop my baby waking up so frequently.....pleeeeeeeaaaaaaase!

[beatie]

So, I'm going to ignore the fact she doesn't nap and concentrate on her poor nighttime pattern sleep first.

dd2 is 20 weeks old. Fully breastfed. She slept well (11 - 5) until appx 11/12 weeks old. Then she suddenly added a few more wake ups to her night and now wakes at least 4 times between 7pm and 7am. Last night she went to sleep at 7, woke at 9.30, 11.30, 1.30, 3.30, 4.30!! I fed her during each wake up except the 3.30 one when DH rocked her back to sleep.

I assumed her sleep problem was that she needed to suck to go to sleep, so I worked on putting her down for the night awake. She goes down to sleep at 7pm fully awake... and until this week, was going down for a nap that way too.

Now I don't know what to do. She's not hungry when she wakes in the night. She has a pathetic feed and we both drop off to sleep. She doesn't need to suck to get herself to sleep, as I manage to put her down to sleep whilst awake at other times.

So, what is her problem and how do we solve it? DH is on half term this coming week so it's a good time to deal with this as we can both catch up with sleep in the daytime.

Please help!

Do you have a baby monitor? If so turn it off.

Dh and I took it in turns to sleep where we could hear ds - the other one got a night's sleep in our conservatory - had to sleep on the floor - but we did get sleep. After a week it had got better.

I've got two poor sleepers! We got four full nights sleep out of DS1 first year, DS2 is yet to let us sleep through!

Whilst I don't have any advice for getting your DD to sleep through, are you sure she's not poorly? I think my DS must've had a sore throat the other week as he followed a similar pattern to your DD. He fed so much that it cancelled out my period! Anyhow, the point being he is better now as the feeds and waking has stopped and he's almost going through the night.

Hope it gets sorted out for you quickly!

I found that sorting out my ds's naps actually helped him sleep better at night. One thing I will say is don't even think about doing controlled crying yet as she is too young to be really effective. I would send in your husband a bit more often as it's possible she may just want a cuddle from you and since you smell of breastmilk it's extra lovely when you go into her at night. If she needs to suck have you thought about a dummy just for bedtime. I know some people are dead against them and I was like that too but some times it does help for a baby to have that extra comfort. As she is only 20 weeks she probably does still need feeding at night especially if she is exclusively breastfed I'm afraid there is no getting away from that but not as many times as you were up last night. Don't forget about the bloody growth spurts either!

mumatuks ~ I don't think she's poorly as she is contented and perky during the daytime.

I don't want to do CC - certainly not before 6 months. We did that with dd1 at 6 months to get her to sleep through the night and it worked well. But, at the time she was only waking once in the night.

I'd be happy if dd2 were just waking once in the night but we cannot go on with her waking every 2 hours. DH and I are desperate for a longer stretch of sleep. I'm not against dummies (now!) - dd1 had one from 4 months to 3 years! But dd2 won't accept one.

So, if DH goes into her during the night should he feed her from a bottle (I've got some ebm in the freezer) to ascertain if she really is hungry? Should he rock her to sleep? Should he do pick up put down? Should I go in at all? At what point should I feed her?

Beattie Don't think this will really help but it might let you know that you are not alone ! We have been through exactly the same with ds. He slept 7pm till 2am then till 6.30 from birth till 11 weeks exclusively bf.We thought we were blessed as dd was and still is a poor sleeper.At 11 weeks ds caught a severe cold/chest infection which nearly hospitalised him. this resulted in hourly waking for 2 weeks then 3 - 4 times a night as he got better. he also stopped napping. We ended up doing shush / pat to get him napping but couldn't resolve the night waking. We tried a dream feed with a bottle at 11pm. this reduced the feeds to 7pm, 11pm, 2am and 6ish. Then we stopped waking him at 11 and just let him wake whenever. He now wakes once in the night has a small bf then sleeps till 6 ( only for the last week though )If he wakes we just pat or now even put him straight down if he stirs as we know he only needs a small feed. For a while dh went in to calm so ds couldn't smell me this definately helped. We also started and still do swaddle him in a thin sheet as his moro is still quite strong. He's 21 weeks by the way. One reassuring thing is that your dd2 can put herself to sleep regardless of your poor sleep at the moment you will so reap the benefits in years to come. Like i say sorry I can't offer anything else but i think it will get better. good luck

beatie we're going through exactly the same thing. DD2 is 22 weeks, previously fab sleeper (could sleep 8h at a stretch up to about 3 months), happy to fall asleep on her own in her cot - she even naps well. From 3 months she's been waking twice between 7 and 7, which was definitely do-able, but lately she's been waking about 4 times - usually every 2 hours from about 11/12 onwards. NOT do-able, especially with a 2yo to look after in the daytime.

I've just gone with it and fed her the last few nights, and am too knackered to put her back in her cot. Now worried I'm setting up bad habits as I know from experience with DD1 that these can set in around this age. DD2 is exclusively breastfed so far but I was considering the gradually-diluted-formula method and will prob start a separate thread on this.

Will watch this thread with interest and keep you updated. GOOD LUCK.

Beatie- Have you posted somewhere on her nap situation ? If they sleep well in the day they sleep well in the night.
What is she like in the day?
Where does she sleep at night?

Belgianbun... ready for solids is not a hunger issue but a developmental one. Replacing a milk feed (about 80 calories) by a few teaspoons of solids is NOT going to feed her more. Try increasing her milkfeeds in the daytime.
Don't forget guys that from about 14 to16 weeks babies are much more active and interested in life.... so they are more active brain wise and therefore may not sleep as soundly but that doesn't mean they need to feed. If they wake and are use to feed hey can't blame them for trying to get back to sleep with that "cuddle".

Beatie, I would add... get DH to go to baby EVERY time in the time and see how often he can settle the baby back to sleep without a feed. I am not a fan of cool boiled water but you could try that in the night.

Unfortunately its a common problem with babies of this age. My DS started the same sleep problems about the same age and is still not sleeping well. We haven't resolved it yet but are seeing some improvement with pick up/put down technique.