Night wakings

[BecH]

I have a 4 and a half month old gorgeous baby girl, but her night time sleeping habits are driving me crazy. I don't expect her to sleep through but she wakes as many as six times from 11pm to 5am. I just feel like I am doing something wrong. She used to not rest during the day for more than 1/2 hour but that has improved and now she goes down for two sleeps. Has anyone else experienced this? The books suggest she should only wake once or twice.

[lukaelmo]

Wow, you must be going a bit loopey you poor thing.

What do you do when she wakes up?

[BecH]

I have just been feeding her until she goes back to sleep, or sometimes I rock her on the fitball. I'm wondering if she is hungry? Or just a poor sleeper.

[Imogensmum]

Ohh bech- i have just posted about the same prob!!! So i have no advice just a sympathetic smile for you!!!

If i get any really good advice i'll pm it to you as well.

All i can think of- is maybe try wrapping at that age?? I'm really not sure sorry!!

[Goosie22]

I just want to ask a quick question with regards to the ammont of feeds during the day? If You are doing some kind of routine (scheduled feeding set by you and not baby) or substituting feeds with a dummy maybe the baby is hungry. 4 - 6 mths is also a big growth spurt time.

Another thing to think when she is feeding and comes off see if you can wake her up and get her to reattach and drink somemore? You could try putting her in bed with you and just let her feed alnight?

Its hard when you get no sleep my boys were like that untill they got to be around 5mnths I did the sleep feeding (I love it you don't really even have to wake up)

[BecH]

Thanks for the advice, unfortunately no dummy, so that isn't the issue. I have been trying to get her to take both sides and sometimes it give me an extra hour. Personally I think she is so nosy she thinks we get up and party while she is sleeping so she doesn't want to miss out (lol), no she must be hungry I guess.

[Sonja]

At 4 and a bit months our daughter started waking three times a night after many weeks of once only (sometimes even sleeping through). I too fed her every time. A friend suggested that instead of feeding I let my husband try and resettle her - not anything stressful - just see if she would go back to sleep in his arms. Sometimes she does and we know she's not hungry (based on the theory that a hungry baby won't go to sleep). Other times she won't have a bar of it so I feed her. We literally give it no more than a few minutes otherwise she's fed - she resettles very quickly after a feed. Over a week we have made real progress and she's sleeping longer.

I once read that if a baby (older than 3 months) wakes at night at exactly the same time each night it's habit; if she wakes at different times it's because she's hungry. Breastfed babies' stomachs (of this age) empty after about 4 hours - if she's waking more often than this at night it sounds like she's not eating enough during the day. Tired babies don't feed as well so the cycle perpetuates. Good luck.

[An2net]

Hi Bech,

I was just about to post you gals about the exact same subject!! I have a 4.5 mth son who up until about a week ago, was going down by no later than 8pm, waking about 1-2am for a bottle-feed, then sleeping again until about 6ish. However, for some reason, that has all changed and he is now waking every few hours during the night and throwing tantrums whenever we try to re-settle him!! Even if I feed him just in case he's hungry, you'd think he'd be satisfied and fall straight to sleep - but no.....he will keep crying and kicking and fighting us when it's time to go back to bed. I end up getting really frustrated from lack of sleep but also because it's keeping hubby awake who has to go to work. Last night hubby came in at 2.30am as he wasn't getting any sleep either from the noise and rocked bubba to sleep which took about 20 mins. This is one thing I don't want bubba to get used to!!! But I guess when you're desperate for some sleep you'll do anything!! Not sure if it's a teething thing or just a growth spurt....but I'm hoping things will get back to some kind of normailty soon cos it's driving us all nuts!! I know I haven't helped you much, but at least you know you're not the only one going through this!!

An2net

[Jamily]

I had exactly the same thing - after tearing my hair out and wondering what I could change (food amounts, number of feeds, should I start solids early?, maybe too much stimulation/too little stimulation) I finally accepted that Emily was not a great sleeper. She is now 7 months and while I wish I could tell you I had interuppted nights, we are up maybe once between 10 and 5am but normally she sails through with a quick 'show of face' at 5am before sleeping anywhere between 6 and 7 am. Of course there are bubs that go 12 hours through the night, but she isn't one of them!

Her day naps have also improved and I now get 2 with a longer lunch one of about 1.5 - 2hours.

I would just say hang in there...it does get better as they get older

Good luck :)

[Lisa123]

I know it sounds terrible but I'm glad to hear other people are experiencing the same problems as me!!!

My 5 month son just doesn't want to sleep between 12pm and 4am. He was in a perfect pattern until he was 3 months old, now he's all over the place. I've given up trying different things, I'm just so exhausted I usually give in and put him in the spare bed with me (I know I shouldn't do it but I'd go crazy without my sleep).

It can also cause trouble between you and your partner. They do say that sleep deprivation is the worst form of tortue. It not only effects you mentally, but physically.

I've booked into a sleep school and am just waiting on the phone call to head into hospital. My sister-in-law went to one and said it was fantastic. Hopefully they'll be able to help me.

Just to let you know its actually covered by medicare..... maybe thats your next option....

Make sure you sleep during the day to, I do and I take the phone off the hook!!!

Lisa.

[Me]

As I don't have experience with your particular problem(DD is 4 weeks old today) I just wanted to offer my deepest sympathy.

I was given a CD yesterday of Majors for Minors with a bedtime half to it and am going to try that for a few nights to see if it helps settle her for longer. My only advise is to make sure you have a bedtime routine to help her to recognise it is big sleep time now.

Good luck - If it gets really bad, perhaps a close friend or family might be able to babysit overnight if you leave expressed bottles to allow you to catch up on some much needed and deserved sleep.

[proudmummy]

Hi

I got all my advice out of a book too but it did work for me, it was all about routines. But when DS was 6 mths old he still woke up twice a night and one night DH took care of him and didn't feed him ( I stopped night breastfeeds in the hope he'd stop waking) abd ever since then he sleeps thru unless cold or hot.
I do have one question does she sleep a lot during the day?


DS 25-1-05

[Goosie22]

lisa123 said

I'm just so exhausted I usually give in and put him in the spare bed with me (I know I shouldn't do it but I'd go crazy without my sleep).

Who said you shouldn't do it, its the time proven method to get sleep. I say:p to anyone who says you shouldn't do it.

http://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/bfinfo/sleep.html

http://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/bfinfo/control.html

[reAllytee]

Nothing wrong with co-sleeping ! I was a baby who co-slept till 6yrs of age & im quite ok well sorta ;) :p
I know its hard with what your all going through but just remember there will be a light at some stage honest !
Sometimes it a case of accepting as one mum said that bubs isnt the best sleeper or even that bubs doesnt fit into the "norm" as they cant all be textbook babies IYKWIM.
I too had many sleepless nites & still do with bubs being 10mths old try a few different things, co-sleeping may work or even using a sling/carrier through the day so bubs it close & is happy to sleep that way maybe it is a case of not getting enough during her feeds if so maybe look into calling the ABA or a lactation consultant.
Also at this age they are becoming more curious about there surroundings have you maybe tried either stimulating her more with games or the like or if that doesnt seem the problem then maybe its over-stimulation. Its really hard to say but just try a few different ideas & give them a few days to see whether they make a difference.
My bubs didnt sleep through until he was approx 3mths & then we still did a nite feed ( bubs is ff btw ) I did introduce solids early but this is not recommended especially as you are bf.
Try & keep calm & relaxed even if it means a nice bath of a nite to help soothe your mind & soul as bubs does pick up whether your happy or not.
Good luck :)

[Kirstlea]

I so sympathise with you ladies. My little girl would not sleep through until 1 week before her 2nd birthday.

We tried everything except a sleep centre as the nearest one to us is Brisbane which is a long way from Cairns.

Now the only reason she seems to wake up is if she is sick, cold or scared and just comes and jumps into bed with us and goes straight back to sleep.

She was still waking up every 3 to 4 hours up to about 6mths, then I decided I was going nuts and gave up breast feeding and gave her formula. She would still wake up every night between 3 and 5 in the morning, so I would give her a bottle and she would go back to sleep until about 7 or 8am. She was only ever able to drink 120ml at a time, not a big drinker.

I did try substituting the formula for water but she appears not to be stupid :rolleyes: and would throw the bottle out of her cot and cry. So for my sanity I would get the formula, problem solved, back to bed for some more sleep.

Now this might be the totally wrong thing to do, but I needed to stop being a zombie and start putting the milk back in the fridge instead of the cupboard, lol.

Hope you find something that works for you both, Kirsten

[Lisa123]

I ended up going to a sleep school for four nights.

The nurses suggested that I take two of my sons night bottles away from him, which I did and now he only has a roll over feed at 10pm.

They also suggested I take his dummy away from him as it may be keeping him awake, which I did and luckily for me he didn't seem to miss it at all.

But they never solved the sleeping problem, I still came home without really learning anything I hadn't already been doing or hadn't tried.

In the end I just couldn't handle waking every 30 minutes to an hour, I just had to let my poor boy cry so I could get some sound sleep and you know what... it was the best thing I've done he now sleeps from 7pm til 7am. :yelclap:

I guess you just have to work out what works best for you and your own baby.

[Cilli]

Hi Bec
Your post sounds exactly what I've been going through for the past 3 weeks with my DS who is just 4 months.
He wakes up anywhere from 11pm onwards and would be unsettled until 5 or 6am.

I took him to my GP to be checked out completely - he was fine. I was worried as it seemed he was in pain or had wind, wasn't necessarily hungry. I tried a few colic remedies including Donnalix which seemed to alleviate things a little bit.

I have enrolled at a couple of the publicly funded sleep schools which are free but unfortunately about 8-10 week wait. The nurse at one of them said it sounded like he was not sleeping much during the day (he is a catnapper and only sleeps for about 40 mins at a stretch). She said sleep promotes sleep and he should be sleeping for at least an hour at a time, a few times a day.

Anyway good luck with it....hoping sleep comes your way very soon.