sunnygirl79
13-02-2012, 09:43
My DS will be 7 months old at the end of the week and although I don't fully expect him to be 'sleeping through' his irregular waking (ie lack of any pattern whatsoever) has me wandering whether he is actually hungry or is he just waking out of habit/needing comfort etc (he is breastfed).
I am going back to work full time in a couple of months and don't think I can cope with him waking any more than once a night (I seem to cope fine if he only wakes once, I actually enjoy the midnight cuddle).
He has slept through once from 7pm until 6am (but that was after jabs so I tend to think that had something to do with it!), several times has only woken once around 11pm (although sometimes its 9pm or 10pm, very irregular), had a quick feed then gone back to sleep until 7am (I put him down awake, but he rolls over and sucks his thumb and is back asleep within seconds).
Other nights he wakes again 3-4 hours later, I give him a quick breastfeed (put down awake again) then he sleeps through until 7am. Some nights he wakes more than this but there is no apparent pattern, no 2 nights are the same especially consecutive nights. So I go to bed each night wandering what am I going to get!
He has been put down awake ever since he was 8 weeks old and won't fall asleep any other way, so self settling isn't the issue. He is a thumbsucker and will not take a dummy. He won't be held, cuddled, or pat to sleep whatsoever.
We have tried leaving him, about once out of every 5 times he will resettle (usually within 2-3mins). Most of the time we give up after about 5-10 mins as he gets so worked up he is screaming hysterically and we just can't cope (he is a particularly loud, high pitched screamer!). We've left him up to half an hour during the night but he just gets worse and worse and I worry if he is in pain etc, then I think just a 5 min feed and he will be back asleep, why put up with all that crying and lack of sleep??
Oh its so hard to know what to do, especially when there is no pattern I am at loss as to why he is waking. I want to do the right thing but I am so confused as to whether I should be teaching him to sleep at this point. Last night he woke at 8.30pm (unusual), I popped on the lullaby on the monitor (which I can do remotely) and he resettled (the music stops after a few mins). But then he woke at 11pm and I thought may as well feed him rather than be up every 3 hours, and after that he slept through until 6.30am.
I know music is just placing one sleeping aid with another but I guess I am experimenting to see if he is actually hungry? Is this wrong to try wean him off night feeds with music before we try the teach to sleep thing?
He has 3 large solid meals a day (plus 4 breastfeeds) so I think he should be getting enough food...
I am going back to work full time in a couple of months and don't think I can cope with him waking any more than once a night (I seem to cope fine if he only wakes once, I actually enjoy the midnight cuddle).
He has slept through once from 7pm until 6am (but that was after jabs so I tend to think that had something to do with it!), several times has only woken once around 11pm (although sometimes its 9pm or 10pm, very irregular), had a quick feed then gone back to sleep until 7am (I put him down awake, but he rolls over and sucks his thumb and is back asleep within seconds).
Other nights he wakes again 3-4 hours later, I give him a quick breastfeed (put down awake again) then he sleeps through until 7am. Some nights he wakes more than this but there is no apparent pattern, no 2 nights are the same especially consecutive nights. So I go to bed each night wandering what am I going to get!
He has been put down awake ever since he was 8 weeks old and won't fall asleep any other way, so self settling isn't the issue. He is a thumbsucker and will not take a dummy. He won't be held, cuddled, or pat to sleep whatsoever.
We have tried leaving him, about once out of every 5 times he will resettle (usually within 2-3mins). Most of the time we give up after about 5-10 mins as he gets so worked up he is screaming hysterically and we just can't cope (he is a particularly loud, high pitched screamer!). We've left him up to half an hour during the night but he just gets worse and worse and I worry if he is in pain etc, then I think just a 5 min feed and he will be back asleep, why put up with all that crying and lack of sleep??
Oh its so hard to know what to do, especially when there is no pattern I am at loss as to why he is waking. I want to do the right thing but I am so confused as to whether I should be teaching him to sleep at this point. Last night he woke at 8.30pm (unusual), I popped on the lullaby on the monitor (which I can do remotely) and he resettled (the music stops after a few mins). But then he woke at 11pm and I thought may as well feed him rather than be up every 3 hours, and after that he slept through until 6.30am.
I know music is just placing one sleeping aid with another but I guess I am experimenting to see if he is actually hungry? Is this wrong to try wean him off night feeds with music before we try the teach to sleep thing?
He has 3 large solid meals a day (plus 4 breastfeeds) so I think he should be getting enough food...