Issue with Night Wakings but NOT going to sleep

SeaMama

OUr LO is 7.5 months old - he has never STTN (well, he slept for 6-7 hour stretches from 2-3 months but from about 7pm - 1am).  So I guess I should say I have never STTN since LO was born. 

Anyway, he has ALWAYS gone down at bedtime without an issue.  We have a solid bath/bed routine, I put him down awake after nursing, run a fan for white noise, etc. 

He continues to wake up between 2 and 5 times PER NIGHT and short of CIO I don't know what to do.  It seems like Ferber and others only address bedtime, no one ever talks about a baby that just wakes up a lot. 

Has anyone dealt with this?  DH and I have been anti-CIO but if there is some modified version that will work for night wakings, I'm open to listening to what has worked for others. 

I've tried soothing DS when he wakes up but he just cries until I nurse him at which point he eats and goes right back to sleep.  Did anyone have a bf baby who just started magically STTN on their own at this late of an age (or later?)  I'm worried that when I wean him at a year old we're going to have some sort of epic showdown. 

I'm also a zombie and would like JUST ONE night of sleep!!!  (Ok, I'd like more than one, but if I got one, I think I would cry tears of joy).

gaughan258

There is a few paragraphs about this in Healthy Sleep Habit Happy Baby.  Dr. W says that if your baby is waking every 2 hours it is an issue with not being hungry but being able to soothe back to sleep and you should not get them.  If it is longer then they may be hungry.  He still considers it 'normal' for a baby 4-9 months to still wake 1-2 times for a feeding.  I would recommend getting the book if you haven't read it yet.

jennyandty

The only sleep book I have read is Ferber's and it worked for us.  It does address night wakings too.  In fact it talks about just about everything sleep related.  I agree with PP he is probably waking up and not able to get back to sleep by himself (he needs you or some other prop to help).  I hope you get some sleep soon! 

ACR

Just want to say you're not alone! DS can fall asleep just fine, but he still wakes up 2-3 times a night (usually sleeps in 3 to 5 hour chunks). I figure that he must be hungry since he is capable of falling asleep on his own, and for now, I'm okay with that.

In the Ferber book, there is a section on spacing out the night feedings to help LO adjust their times of being hungry. We have done that some, but at this point, I do see improvement without doing anything.

lcmeg

Yup. We have the same issue. And I agree, not enough sleep training books deal with this subject. She goes to sleep beautifully, but still wakes a couple times at night. I only feed one time though. My pedi says i should stop all night feedings, she doesn't need it, but i'm just doing one thing at a time. Sleep training has kind of been hell for us, she still is waking at night and crying sometimes, but i know she's not hungry. Who knows why they wake- its a mystery to me. GL!