5.5 month DD up 11 times last night!!

[Crazybaby1]

Hi guys, I'm back again! DD has never slept well. Went through 4 month sleep regression and finally started only waking 2-3times per night...yay!! She got a cold about 2.5 weeks ago, after the 2nd week as she was getting better she had what I call a "super snooze"...she slept all day and all night. And the following night seemed to sleep much better than normal!! ...only waking twice through the night. Thought we'd turned a corner...but over last few nights she's been waking 8-11 times per night between midnight and 5am!!!! I found after months of trying different bed times, 5.30-6pm bedtimes works best for getting her to sleep with no fuss. She always wakes at 5am, which I hate but can't change?! She sleeps solid until her nxt feed which is 10pmish, then sleeps for a couple more hours then starts with the waking? She keeps crying fo dummy plugging back in, but when I do it, she keeps it for a few minutes and then spits it out again. This isn't her usual behaviour, I normally plug and go, and she's fine. She seems really unsettled and wide awake. Also tossing n turning in sleep. She has 3 naps per day...1hr, 1.5 hrs, then 1.5 again. Something seems to be off with her sleep schedule presumably, but what?? Please tell me this isn't another regression??!!! ????????

I would get rid of the dummy. She obviously can't put in back in herself so will be easier after a few days without as can settle without.

I would also move bedtime so she goes to bed later, so that those first few blocks of sleep are more when your also are sleeping. So 8.30pm bedtime, 11pm wake her gently and dreamfeed. Back to bed. Then hopefully she sleeps another 3-4 hr min before first wake up when your asleep

If the dummy won't do and she keeps crying, the tiredness isn't the issue. I'd go for hungry as the next option. Might be too hot or too cold too.

She's just had her 3rd full bottle today, so do u think its a growth spurt? Has slept loads too? She normally would drink 4-5oz but had 7oz bottles. She's been crying a lot also, like she's in pain, but I think it could be tiredness? I hate all this guessing, wish I just knew what was wrong so I could help her. I'll give her six feeds instead of five and see if that'll do the trick. I put the thermostat in her bedroom last night to regulate the temp, so don't think its that. Thanks guys. How often do they have growth spurts?

I would feed more. Mine breastfed but that 5 months still fed every 2 hrs throughout the day (8am-11pm)

I was formula feeding my 5 months and was feeding every 2 to 2 1/2 hourly through the daytime - 7 feeds a day.

It's all a bit hazy now but I'm pretty sure DD would have been on at least her 4th bottle by 4pm ish. Agree it's probably hunger. Mind you, DD was (and still is) a gannet.

I would also say hunger ... or teething. My DS got his first tooth at 6 monthd and we had 2 weeks or horrendous nights leading up to it. The record was being up 15 times one night (the tooth cut through the next morning).

I feed every 4 hours, 3,7,11am and pm except the 3am bottle, she dropped that naturally. So I tried on her unsettled nights to see if she was hungry with a bottle and she only took an ounce and she didn't really seem bothered about sucking? I did feed her it last night, and she took 2.5oz. She seemed to sleep better in the run up to this feed, but I put her to bed at 7pm, so might just be that. She didn't pop her dummy out once!! I have no idea why she's just changed again?! She naturally fell into eating bigger bottles every four hours, she had reflux so I used to feed little and often until she settled down on meds. Should I be feeding every two hours at this age? Hv seems to think it was ok? Do u think she'd sleep better?

I wonder about teething too, could be. Through her reflux she used to try and over eat through the pain, so could be doing the same. 15 times!! I Won't tell DD Incase she wants to try and top that record!!! Lol. Thanks everyone x

Should I be feeding every two hours at this age?

Maybe. Maybe 2 1/2 hourly will be better for your DD, or maybe 3 hourly.
My DD is a big baby (91st centile), she had 7 or 8 bottle in 24 hours at this age. Wouldn't always finish the bottle, but I was making 7oz bottles.

Point is that the most obvious and simple answer to night wakings is not enough milk over a 24 hour day. Then easiest way to resolve this is more frequent daytime feeds (so that encourages sleeping in the night, rather than feeding).

Thanks FATEdestiny, I've been feeding more frequently during day, she's still waking and feeding at 11pm and 3am through the night, but I'm happy with that as she's going straight back to sleep no problem AND hasn't popped her dummy out and cried for it once!! Yay!

Let's see how long this lasts before the next lot of crazy changes!! Everyone keep their fingers crossed!