Hourly Wakeup - HELP

LissaLynn0682 · December 2012

Good afternoon ladies. I'm just visiting from the 3-6 month board....hoping that one of you mommies had experience with this when your LO was a bit younger and can give me some advice!

DD is just over 4 months old. She's never been a very good sleeper but in the past month she has taken it to new levels. When she goes down for the night, she will sleep for up to 2 hours then wake-up. From then until morning she wakes after every hour of sleep. About 50% of the time I can rock her back to sleep, but the other 50% the only thing that has worked is to be nursed or comfort nursed (I know it's this on occasion because she isn't actively eating). I've been so exhausted with working FT that I've resorted to allowing her to bedshare with me and comfort nurse after 2 am most nights. Now I fear I'm creating a terrible habit!

FYI- She rarely ever naps past 30 or 45 minutes. It seems she can't put herself back to sleep after she has woken up. I AM able to put her down drowsy but awake and she fusses for 5 minutes or so but eventually sleeps (thus, I know she's capable of putting herself to sleep)

Our pedi recommended CIO. Well...we tried during nap times, but she can scream for upwards of 90 minutes until she's so uncontrollably upset or til it's time for her next feeding (we check on her in 5-10 minuted increments).

Did anyone else experience this with their LO? What helped and what didn't?

acbfreire · December 2012

It sounds like the 4 month wakeful. It should go away soon, hang in there!

bpv101283 · December 2012

It'll get better, but for me it hasn't gotten great. My LO practically STTN till 4 months then didnt anymore. He sleeps from 7pm till 11pm. Screams, goes back down, and then wakes at 2 am usually and I bring him into my bed. I was too tired to fight it, and he wakes all night till 5 or 6 am. I wish I could give him a bottle of expressed milk before bed like I used to, but I'm struggling to keep up with his 12 to 15 oz to go to daycare. He nurses to go down but is fast asleep after a few minutes. I might try nursing him when he wakes at 11pm to see if that helps.

Anyway, the extra bottle of expressed milk helped before to get him through growth spurts. Hopefully yours will go back to normal soon!

tracieanchris · December 2012

No advice, but I am going through the exact same thing. I could have written your post. No matter how much I feed him, he still wakes. Now, its related to teething. He has been a horrible sleeper since birth though. I will be interested to hear others responses.

juliane2004 · December 2012

My first advice is to swaddle and keep an eye on her awake times. How long are her awake times between day naps?

If her naps improve, I am certain her nights will improve as well.

If you do want to do CIO, try NOT checking on her so quickly. Either increase the time between checks (like 3, 5, 7, 10 minutes one day; then 5, 8, 14 minutes the next day, then 10, 15, 20 minutes the third day - Ferber) or don't check on her at all. This I'd recommend more for when she's 6+ months, but SOME babies get MORE riled up when they see their parents and they don't get picked up. So some CIO books say not to check on them more than a couple times.

Suzanne68 · December 2012

This is identical to my daughter except she is formula fed. But she needs a bottle 2-3 times per night. I don't have much advice. I was personally never going to do CIO but now we are just shy of 7 months w/o more than a 2 hr stretch at night and a crabby baby so I have started CIO just last night. I went in every 3 min cause I just did not want to be to drastic at 1st. I personally would wait a bit longer since your LO is only 4 months. But that is my personal opinion, do what works for your family. I did end up co sleeping with a co sleeper and use the swing most nights. Many nights she ended up in my bed. I feel my DD needs security and that's her issue but who really knows. I did just start giving her a stuffed animal to sleep with (another thing I said I would never do until 1). I did use the Merlin's magic sleep suit with much success until she started rolling over, now can't use it. I always use a white noise machine all night, keep room dark, keep same schedule. I would read as much online and try to come to a conclusion you are comfortable with. You do need to be consistent as far as I read, for any sleep system to work. As far as naps, I will be addressing the infrequency once I get the night thing in check. She fights sleep like a professional. I wish you the best of luck, I know how crazy it is.

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