Reduced night wakings from 5x to 2x! Yaaay!

Aly12501

I hope this isn't a fluke.  I did a ton of research online yesterday because DD has been waking up 4-5 times per night and would only go back to sleep after taking an oz of milk (I EP).  She used to STTN.  I know she's capable.

Research that I and my DH read said that babies who wake multiple times may be overtired and if you're not putting them to bed until they first start to yawn and rub eyes, you're about 20 minutes too late (check babycenter - they have a fabulous group all about STTN).  I thought... no way - can't be.  Saw online posting that said work 12 hours backwards from typical wakeup time and put baby to sleep then.  So, figuring we had nothing to lose because it COULDN'T POSSIBLY get worse, we put DD in her sleep sack and absorbant nighttime diaper right before 7p (she's usually up btw 6:30 & 7)... she was out like a light at 7:09p!!!  We were both stunned.  She hadn't seemed that tired.  We used to put her to bed between 8 & 8:30p.  I feel like a moron for not realizing that she was exhausted earlier - I work... and I guess I just focused on spending time w/her at night instead of focusing on her sleep.  Last night, she woke at 10p to eat 2 oz and again at 3:30a for another 2 oz and was up for the day at 6:30a.  Marked improvement.  My DH and I thought that if we kept her up later, she'd sleep later... not so.

I hope I can repeat this scenario tonight and hope it wasn't a fluke.  I'm sure one decent night doesn't get rid of her overtiredness... maybe if we continue the earlier bedtime, she'll stop one of the other night wakings (probably the 10p one, knowing my luck).  We thought she was waking up to eat every couple of hours because she was either hungry or needed the bottle/nipple to soothe, but dream feeds didn't help and we haven't let her fall asleep on the bottle or on a paci for a long time - glad we found something else to try and remedy the issue.

Just wanted to supply some hope for any of you ladies suffering from your LO waking up every couple hours.  Maybe try putting your LO down earlier?  Hope it'll help.  GL!

historychick79

So glad this worked for you!

However, we did this with DS last night, and he proceeded to wake up 5 (yes, FIVE bloody) times instead of his usual 1-3xs. Sigh. If only there was a one-size-fits-all approach to babies....

kfbny

I'm trying that tonight!! I also work, and it saddens me that he'll be sleeping within a half hour of me getting home. But maybe we'll have the mornings back!  Thanks!

Aly12501

Mary - So sorry that DS woke up so much.  I did also read that overtiredness/sleep deficiency takes a bit to remedy.  I know DD may revert back to waking up 5x again, but I think I'm going to try to keep putting her down early for a week before I give up on this theory... I'll post again with how it's turning out. 

Good to have a reality check though - there is no quick fix.  And there is definitely no one-size-fits-all.  Just happy to have things to try because if I thought that this is just something I have to live with indefinitely, I might go nuts from being so exhausted.

A month ago, we thought we'd found a remedy b/c the pediatrician told us not to let DD fall asleep w/bottle in her mouth and with that, DD went to only waking 1x/night.  But when she started waking 5x/night again shortly thereafter even though we still don't let her fall asleep on the bottle, we started to think that wasn't the cause.  Hope you find something to help your DS sleep better, sincerely - from one sleepy mommy to another.

mommabird77

I am so glad it worked for you!  Let us know how tonight goes.  I also have a baby that wakes up multiple times a night, 4-5 times and like you said, just to eat an oz!  I also work and have been feeling guilty about putting him to bed so early as I want to spend as much time with him as possible, but I am going to start putting him to bed earlier to see if that helps.  I do feel like he is over-tired a lot.