23 week old waking 10 times a night, WTF?!

[wastingmyeducation]

So he has always slept rubbish, but it is getting worse and worse! He wakes up, rolls over and then won't settle back down. I know he can as he has done in the past, and the only way I can settle him is stick him on the boob. Sometimes he doesn't even go off to sleep properly then and wakes again as I move him back to cot. Normally he doesn't nap for long in the day and I've been working on that, but he's had some long naps this week, but so far no effect on the night time sleep. I'm planning to start having DH settle him at night in a couple weeks when he gets back from a work trip.
He's in a cotbed, in our room, exclusively breastfed, no bottles and we can't cosleep.
What can I do? Will it resolve in time, even though it's this bad?

xx

Anyone? Bit of a rant, I know, but I'm exhausted.

xx

oh it is so hard. Have you been through the usual list? Is he too hot, too cold, could his teeth be moving, have you eaten anything that could have upset him - are his poos normal, is he windy, is he banging into the cot sides, is he having a growth spurt? etc etc.

I am not sure there are any magic solutions but it I promise it really does get better with time and you may be in a bad week.

I struggled and struggled with DD1 and spent many nights on the floor next to the cot patting her back to sleep, tried controlled crying in desperation, hated it, it sort of worked for a few days then she had an ear infection and we were back to square one and I couldnt face it again, didnt feel right to me.DD1 now perfect sleeper (got there about 2) and has passed the baton of sleeplessness to DD2. With her I gave up, coslept and things were much easier. She is also nearly there now (but at 18months!).

Others may come on with better advice, for us it was a matter of going with least stressful solutions and waiting them out. Hope things get better.

All of the above? He is teething, but he didn't seem to be in any pain last night, and I don't want to over-medicate him. He does roll into the side of the cot, but he only rolls in one direction, so I place him as far over the other side as I can, but he still ends up with his arm sticking out through the bars. Don't really know what I can do about that.
I guess it's growth spurt, but it never let up from the 16 week one, just keeps getting worse. He's nearly sitting up, so I'm hoping that it gets better when he can sit up
According to the info I've got he's got the right layers on for the temp, but I think he'd be better a little warmer.
Wish we could co-sleep

xx

is cosleeping not doable at all? You can put cot bumpers up but not sure if they advise them now re SIDS etc. Is he feeding alot in the night or just using you to get back to sleep? With my second she fed loads in the night as we never had a chance to sit down and feed properly in the day. If he's hungry you can start solids about now, is he eating?Does he have a dummy? I know what you mean about the meds there were times when I thought we would never get off calpol. try an extra layer? Is he in a sleeping bag thingy?

Have faith it will pass, I cant really remember my nights with DD1 now but it was all I thought about at the time. It is also hard if your DH is away, mine is back on wed after only a week or so and I look about a hundred. Make sure you get a full night or two when he's back to recharge.

No can do on the co-sleeping, I'm far too large.
Not sure about cot bumpers, he would be right up against them.
I think that as far as actually feeding, he probably needs one or two good night feeds, as he ends up snacking when he wakes every hour like this. He is very distractible during the day now, but I do try and feed often still.
He hasn't had a dummy, avoided it for first month when establishing breastfeeding, then gave it a go, with little success, then we had issues with slow weight gain, and it's advised not to use them for slow-gainers. I'm going to buy some tomorrow, and try them just for sleeps.
He's in a 1tog bag, with a vest and sleepsuit, and the room averages 21-23 degrees. He's in a long sleeve vest tonight, which I think might help. The next size sleeping-bag we've got is a 2.5tog, so I'm going to get that washed and ready.
He's definitely teething, so he's had medicine before bed tonight. We're also developing a cold at the moment which doesn't help, so he's got some Snuffle Babe rubbed on as well!
Thanks for listening! I had a good cry at my Mum earlier, and I'm feeling better to have some plans in progress. Hope tonight is better. He's rolled over and gone back to sleep already, though that may just be exhaustion as he's hardly slept all day!

xx

You sound like you have a plan! All sympathy to you, no one knows how it feels unless they get a non sleeper, and dont believe anyone with perfect sleepers that it is all down to their perfect parenting, you get what you're given in my opinion. When they are this little its always something going on, teeth, colds, sore bums etc, feels like forever now but will get better and better. All the best.

This happened to us around the same age... DS started sitting up, crawling & pulling up to stand on successive days and he started nursery the following week. Oh it was awful. We started co-sleeping so Mummy could get some sleep before work! If you can't co-sleep can you try side off the cot and pushed up against the bed?

Anyway, the "six month sleep regression" is typically a combination of a growth spurt and gross motor development. Teething is often in there too. It usually gets better, though for us we're up to 20 months and now waking twice a night is fantastic! I went to bed at 11:30 Saturday night and woke up at 6:30 Sunday morning feeling refreshed.

Well, he only woke four times last night! At 3am, I changed him and gave him some more Nurofen, and he only woke once more for a feed, and we didn't get up til 7! I think he was properly feeding at all those wake-ups, so its definitely growth spurt time. I wasn't going to get him weighed for another three weeks, but we're rather curious to see how he's doing.

xx

Does he have a sheet on him? If you rolled up a couple of towels and shoved them down the sides of the cot to keep the sheet tightly in place, might that stop him from rolling over and therefore waking up?

Not sure applestrudel, he might get quite frustrated, he never took to swaddling and kicking his legs up in the air is one of his favourite games at the moment.
Took him to get weighed today, and he's jumped up half a centile, from just just below the 9th to midway between 9th and 25th. He's also sitting for a few seconds today, so there's definitely a growth spurt going on.
He had two very long naps today in the pushchair (my legs are killing me!) so I'm hoping for another good night. He settled himself down after rousing slightly when I put him into his cot, whereas he would usually jerk awake at that point.

xx