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does you lo wake up in the early evening too?

13 replies

IHeartIona · 07/11/2008 13:03

my dd is just under 8 months and wakes up regularly say 30 mins or 1 hour after going to sleep in the evening. this might happen 2 or 3 times before I go to bed. she had a period a couple of weeks ago where for a week she went to bed then was silent till she woke for a feed at 12-1am (what joy, watched some films, spent time with dh etc!). but now she has gone back to waking in the evening. she goes straight back to sleep usually when I pick her up or if I pat her in the cot. she does have her first two teeth looking like they might be coming through shortly so do you think that is the cause?
by the way, she used to be a dream pre the 4 month growth spurt which lasted about 6 weeks, sleeping through to 4am with only one night feed - aahh those were the days! now I usually bf her twice during the night, the second one being early early morning really, around 5-5.30.
please let me know it isn't just me. my nct friends babies all seem to sleep very well apparently!

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babyOcho · 07/11/2008 13:50

My DD is also unsettled in the evening - need to go and comfort her a couple of times before I feed her and go to bed at 10/11pm.

But she has always been unsettled around this time, got better for a few months (ie no noise in evening).

She has rarely slept through (whatever that really means), usually waking for milk in the middle of the night despite having a dream feed at 10/11.

This hasnt bothered me until the past few weeks when it seems that all babies are sleeping better/longer, but DD has remained the same! And now I feel as if I NEED to train her to sleep better... do I? Should I? I mean, I'm not working and have no other children so I can dedicate my time to her.

babyOcho · 07/11/2008 13:51

Sorry, just realised that I've been a bit ranty on your thread

RNW · 07/11/2008 13:56

I'll join your club! My baby does exactly the same thing, apart from a few blissful nights about a month ago when she slept until about 11-12!

VeryHungryKatypillar · 07/11/2008 14:41

Yes! DD (6 mo) will wake up 45 mins after going to sleep and will be quite upset (usually if she wakes in the night she'll be in a fairly good mood, cooing and kicking about, but early evening wakings she is grumpy). A few times this has definitely been night terrors as she is inconsolable and her crying is like a blood curdling scream. But usually she is just very grumpy, very tired.

I used to go up and feed her back to sleep within minutes, particularly when we suspected teething or a cold, but recently DH has been going up and resettling her (usually by rocking her back to sleep) and last night was the first night in weeks that she didn't wake up until much later. So who knows, that might have been a fluke, or we might be beginning to crack this particular phase...

I hope I haven't placed the curse of MN on this...

IHeartIona · 07/11/2008 16:03

Thanks for your replies! Glad to hear it isn't just me....
babyOcho - no worries, this is the place to rant after all! you sound just like me, I keep hearing about friends babies who sleep through and my dd has only done it twice, back in June! how old is your dd?
RNW -it is blissful when they do sleep a bit longer isn't it, and you don't have to stuff down your dinner or eat it cold...
VHK - hope this doesn't put a curse on the sleeping for you. great that your DH can settle her. for us, if he goes up she just keeps crying and wakes up even more...

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IHeartIona · 07/11/2008 16:03

Thanks for your replies! Glad to hear it isn't just me....
babyOcho - no worries, this is the place to rant after all! you sound just like me, I keep hearing about friends babies who sleep through and my dd has only done it twice, back in June! how old is your dd?
RNW -it is blissful when they do sleep a bit longer isn't it, and you don't have to stuff down your dinner or eat it cold...
VHK - hope this doesn't put a curse on the sleeping for you. great that your DH can settle her. for us, if he goes up she just keeps crying and wakes up even more...

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IHeartIona · 07/11/2008 16:03

don't know what happened there.....

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babyOcho · 07/11/2008 19:08

DD is the same age - 8 months (tomorrow).

When DP goes and settles her it usually works, but like you IHeartIona sometimes she goes crazy.

VeryHungryKatypillar · 07/11/2008 21:04

Flaming hell. I am never going to mention sleep successes on here again! Annoying how it doesn't stop the bad stuff happening when I post about that....

DD woke up after 40 minutes this evening.

She used to cry more when DH started to go in, I think cos she realised she wasn't getting boob, but she now quietens down quickly for him. Took a bit of time to get there though.

IHeartIona · 07/11/2008 21:09

oh dear VeryHungryKatypillar.....
we have silence since 8pm though that isn't that long ago really!
yes I guess that my dd doesn't get settled as she can't smell the milk even though I don't always feed her to settle her. we need to try to get dh to do the settling I think, sounds like a good plan.
I'm thinking of moving her into her own room soon even though she is still feeding in the night, as I think we often wake her going to bed. though her room is just next to the bathroom so might wake her brushing teeth instead!
plus this might cut down on the co-sleeping I tend to resort to....
is your dd in her own room?

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babyOcho · 07/11/2008 22:32

DD is in her own room and it's next to bathroom (been in there from v early on). For her, it's not the bathroom activity that unsettles of wakes.

I'm not going to say it out aloud, but what I will say is that I managed to watch quite a bit of TV and do some cooking, and do grocery order online tonight

jazzandh · 07/11/2008 23:24

From what I discovered when frantically trying to work out similar issues with my DS at this age - (I am always looking for a reason can't accept that some things just ARE!) he was overtired when he went to bed. For some - overtired = wake-ups even night terrors etc. especially once a "pattern" of early evening wake-ups has established - they just get increasingly overtired.

They should sleep very soundly for the first 3 sleep cycles (roughly 40 mins in first year)after that a lighter sleep - so more easily disturbed by movements after this time.

You can pre-empt wake-ups sometimes, by creeping in to room just before they wake (at 35 min mark for example) and resting your hand on them, they often will just re-settle into next cycle. Useful whilst getting them to catch up - not as along term thing!

Try an earlier bedtime for a few days to allow them to catch up (used to take my ds 2-3 nights to catch up and wake-ups would gradually move later and be less frequent)

HTH

IHeartIona · 08/11/2008 10:14

thanks for the tip jazzandh - I may try that!

babyOcho - great news Everything feels better after a bit of time to yourself doesn't it. I also managed to eat my dinner, watch some tv and even get a couple of hours of sleep before the first wake up last night! must keep this thread going in case it is a good omen

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