Erratic night time sleep schedule

dukestar5 · February 2012

Hi mamas!

Do any of your LOs have inconsistent sleep schedules at night? My LO ears every 2.5-3 hours during the day, but wakes up at varying times at night. Sometimes she will sleep a 3.5-4 hour stretch and other nights a 5-6 hour stretch. Once this week she slept a 7 hour stretch, but tonight she only slept 3.5 hours in a row! (and her first stretch is usually the longest...after that she wakes up every 2-3 hours).

Does your LO do this too? I EBF, so every time she wakes up she nurses and seems to want food. I just can't figure out why her nighttime schedule is always changing. It makes if difficult to hang out with DH because I feel like I always have to go to bed when LO does or I might not get enough sleep. any tips or suggestions?

gina2433 · February 2012

I started giving me LO his paci when he woke up at 3. We spent about two hours doing a sleep/wake/paci in thing. But I finally got him to sleep a little longer. Now he does it in his own. Try it? One thing though he didn't wake up crying just fuzzing. It he does wake up screaming I did feed him.

SuzJune04 · February 2012

That sounds pretty typical to me. We have been giving DD her paci instead of nursing her if it is under 4-5hrs since her last nursing session. Since she is eating 7x during the day, I don't think she is waking out of hunger. I try and not pick her up if she just needs a little soothing. A lot of nights she wakes because she has a poopy diaper, I'll change it and then nurse her since she's wide awake by the time her diaper is changed.

HarperK · February 2012

Yeah. DS's nighttime sleep was really predictable for a while, but lately it hasn't been. We are also EBF and for a while I just nursed him by default every time he woke up. I wish I hadn't done that, because now I'm having to break him of his nursing-to-sleep association. These days, we try to soothe him in the crib first before picking him up (DH is great at this). If he continues to cry and squirm, then I pick him up and see if he's actually hungry.

We used to get a predictable 6 - 7 hour initial stretch out of DS, but lately he's been waking up after 3 hours or so. Blahhh. Last night he went down at 7:30, was up at 10:30, 12:30, and 2, and now, weirdly, he's been sleeping since DH got him back down at 3. I only BFed him after the 2 AM waking.

There are a lot of things that can disrupt your LO's sleep around this time. I think consistency is less the norm than you might think! My DS has reflux, is teething early, and seems to be dealing with the 4-month wakeful period early, so all of these things are disrupting his nighttime sleep on and off. And also, if your LO's daytime sleep is erratic (as mine is), that can cause nighttime inconsistencies as well.

We just do the same bedtime routine every night and hope for the best.

staciemc · February 2012

Yes we are in this boat!

DS goes down every night between 8-9. Some nights he wakes up at 1:30, but sometimes he sleeps until 3 or 4! I can't figure out what his deal is. I never know what to expect so I go to bed shortly after he does so I ensure that I get maximum amount of sleep possible. I have only tried soothing him without nursing once and it didn't go well. It would probably go better if DH did it so LO didn't see me and expect a snack....but we haven't tried that yet.

I am interested to hear what others in this situation do!

dswopes · February 2012

My little Hope was 4 months old on 02/04, prior to 3 months she was sleeping anywhere from 4-5 hours for the first stretch and then up about every 2 hours. Lately she is up every 2-3 hours. We have a night time routine and keep it up every night. It's frustrating because I feel like if I don't go to bed with her I won't get any sleep. I just keep hoping for the best. Most of the time she wants to nurse, occassionally I can get by with just rocking her a bit.

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