Frequent waking during naps and night time sleep

[quayside]

Does anyone have any suggestions for my DS who wakes frequently and night and during naps. He's 5 months old now and wakes more than he did when he was tiny! He's bottle fed and in his cot (which has just gone into his own room). He also has a dummy, which might be the problem, as I have to spend many hours putting it back in! I've tried to get him off the dummy using the baby whisperer pick up put down method, put picking him up doesn't stop his crying and she doesn't cover that angle! Any tips greatly appreciated by one very frazzled single mum ...

Poor you! I didn't use a dummy so can't help, but thought I'd give you some sympathy and a bump. And at the risk of replacing one prop with another, have you considered white noise and complete darkness? I've found they make a huge difference for naps. Good luck!

Hi Quayside,

Well I could have written your post, we've got the same problems (including- very importantly!- the dummy problem). Only difference is, my baby is 4 months, not 5. I've heard that, unfortunately, these sorts of problems happen often between 4-5 months... not sure if that helps, but perhaps it might be a developmental phase that will soon pass (that's what I'm hoping too!) As for the PU/PD technique for dummies... hmmm, not sure what to suggest, perhaps you can visit the baby whisperer website (www.babywhisperer.com)- they have a wonderful message board with loads of useful advice, there's a whole section on PU/PD, and there's also a whole section on 'props' (including dummies) & how to wean babies off them.

My personal opinion- judging from my own boy- is that some babies deal well with dummies, i.e. spit them out & remain asleep without them, but other babies (including ours!) unfortunately can't get back to sleep without the dummy in their mouth. I don't think there's an easy solution, to be honest... People who have gone cold turkey with cutting out the dummy report great success, they say it takes about 3-4 days for babies to completely forget their dummy; however, whichever way you look at it, even if you are sitting right beside the baby, when you take away their dummy they're not going to like it & will initially cry a lot. Which is why I'm very reluctant to take away the dummy for now...

Oh well. Not sure if this helps at all! But just wanted to say I do understand, as I feel we're kind of in the same boat.
M.

Quick thread hijack - Mookickkick, whats whitenoise?

Ha! Just sitting here with 4 month ds asleep on me cos he fell asleep in cot but then woke ten mins later and cant seem to settle tonight. Ah well...

(PS white noise is washingmachines, hairdryers, hoovers - sounds like the womb. its also the ssshhhhh noise we instinctively make!)

thanks

Have you tried making it easier to find? The sleepytot baby comforter is handy for this. Otherwise it's cold turkey or wait until your baby can get it himself.

try www.sleepytot.com

Hi Quayside, my Lo is 5.5 months. Now we have similar problems....I may have advice for some that i have conquered though..
At 12 weeks I took LO's dummy away for sleep. She still has it for 'soothing' like pre-sleep, or in the pram when out and about.
It was a tough day when i stopped it for sleeps, but it has in general worked. She can get heself off to sleep fine now(crys for a couple of mins) She still dosnt sleep for long during the day though which is a thread I was about to ask a question about myself! She will only go for 45 mins(which i understand is a sleep cycle in babies) I need to know how to get her onto the next cycle.
My LO now dosnt have a dummy at any point during the night(she used to up till 12 weeks but i was finding the same as you that she would wake looking for the dummy). I know this hasn't really answered your question, but just to let you know that it may help taking the dummy out of the picture for sleep. Its a hard day or two, but may help in the long run
Good luck x

Hi,

The others are right in that 4-5 months is notorious for sleep regression. I'm not sure I can help but I do remember my DS going through a stage of sleeping only 45 minutes for his naps. What I did then was that when he woke from his 45-minute nap, I took him into my bed and lie down to sleep with him in my arms and generally that helped in prolonging his sleep. I know that you can't do that every nap so I would just do it whenever I could. On days he won't settle, I just took him with me and did whatever we were meant to be doing. I was tearing my hair out as he loves his sleep and even 3 45-minute naps a day wasn't enough! He did eventually grow out of it, he is now 9.5 months and will sleep for anything from 30 minutes to 1.5 hours in the morning and for 1-2 hours in the afternoon. Sometimes I have to wake him up so we don't miss out appointments so there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I ditched the dummy at around that time as well as it was becoming detrimental to his sleep than helping. It was tough but now he self-settles really easily. I replaced the dummy with a comfort blanket and he now knows it's bedtime when he has his blankie and it's very sweet that he holds it and rubs his face in it. GL!

Ax

At 5.5 mth my DS had a hell of a week: he learned to sit up, then pull up, and then crawl. He went from waking twice to waking half hourly. It was Sheer. Bloody. Hell. especially as I was working full-time. I started co-sleeping to survive and half hourly turned to hourly to maybe every 90 minutes where it stayed until he was probably 11 months and running.