Night Waking- what to do

natalie559 · January 2015

Hi Moms-

My baby girl slept great until 12 weeks old, she is almost 19 weeks old now. She was waking once per night consistently for 6-7 weeks, a few nights she didn't wake at all. She's been in her crib since 6 weeks old. She was being swaddled but seemed to be getting frustrated with that so we've started putting her in a zippy sleepsack since last Friday. Since 12 weeks old she's been waking up 2-5 times a night, if it's been a decent stretch I will feed her and she takes a full feeding, but other times I just put her paci back in. When I do either she goes back to sleep quickly, but dang I can manage 2 times a night even though it isn't great, but 3, 4, 5 times isn't healthy for either of us. Am I making a mistake to go to her right away? Should I leave her for a bit? I go to her right away so that neither of us wakes up too much. The times I just put her paci back in I wonder if I'm just creating a consistent problem and wonder if I should be doing something differently.

Any advice? Thanks!

natalie559 · January 2015

Oh and when I put her down at bedtime I do nurse her before bed but she is drowsy but awake when I put her in the crib to help her learn to fall asleep by herself and she usually goes to sleep without issue.

anewadventure · January 2015

part of your problem is probably just the 4th leap. hopefully it will smooth out a bit naturally.

i do think there is something to be said for not going in immediately. i'm not talking cry it out - more of a "fuss" it out. there is a clear difference between fussing and full-blown crying or wailing. if you're hearing noises, merps, or little fusses, try waiting to see if LO will self-soothe. if it escalates you can go in at that time.

personally i don't think giving the paci is going to cause as much of a problem (if any) as compared to feeding LO any time she fusses. you should stick with it, since she's not at an age where having a pacifier is a problem. GL.

jess545 · January 2015

My DS is doing the same right now

I think it's the 4 month wakeful/4th leap

Jillashed · January 2015

We are going through it as well. @natalie559‌ Are you finding it hard to stick to a schedule? Because of all of the night waking my LO hasn't been waking at the same time in the morning which makes it hard to have set times for anything! I'm also concerned my LO is getting used to two night feeds when he always only had one- it's a mess!

barbiedoesbaby · January 2015

Fwiw, my LO has 3 days until the end of 4th leap which coincided with the 4 month wakeful period. Just in the last week he has started transitioning back to sleeping better and in the last couple nights slept a 7 hour stretch again (originally 8-10hrs). LO goes down between 7 and 8. Not sure I'm on the same page but our pedi recommended waking him at 11 to eat then "don't go back in until the morning". Unfortunately DH was at the appointment so it was hard for me to argue against. So two nights ago I didn't rush in at the 2am wakeup and LO went right back to sleep (maybe 5 -7 minutes of fussing). The 4:20 wakeup I didn't go in but he was crying again at 5:40 so I fed him. Last night he didn't wake up at 2am and at the 4:20, he fussed for a bit then slept until 6:50. Soooo I guess it's kinda working? But I don't know if it's just coincidental with the end of the leap. We have yet to tackle the crib cause I'm too exhausted but the swing motor just died today so I guess it's a sign I gotta go for it!

RedBaramid · January 2015

Gah I'm sorry you're in 4th leap it sounds like. We aren't waking up in the MOTN but we are fighting sleep like it's a murder out to get us. It took DH and I a full 2 hours to put LO to bed last night. I'm up for work right now and she's still asleep but that'll only last another 30 minutes I'm betting. The WW app says we have 12 days to go... lord I hope so because I haven't been this exhausted since we were feeding every 3 hours.

herecomesthesun086 · January 2015

My LO was STTN for awhile until about two weeks ago she wakes up around 1am feed her and she goes back to bed with A LOT of encouragement... If I wake up to her fussing we let her self sooth but if she's full out crying well go in and comfort her... I do think this has to do with the fourth leap... I'm hoping we'll all be STTN again soon here

herecomesthesun086 · January 2015

And she HATES to nap during the day

hadeelb · January 2015

I think this leap buisness is crap, my LO ended his 4th leap a week ago and is still sleeping like crap! Will be 5 months next week.

barbiedoesbaby · January 2015

@hadeelb‌ hang in there! I think the 4th leap just happens to also coincide with the 4 month sleep regression so maybe he'll start to settle back down at night soon! I'm no sleep expert but I've read the sleep regression can take time to work itself out especially if no sleep training is involved. Here's sending you some sleep.

hadeelb · January 2015

barbiedoesbaby said:
@hadeelb‌ hang in there! I think the 4th leap just happens to also coincide with the 4 month sleep regression so maybe he'll start to settle back down at night soon! I'm no sleep expert but I've read the sleep regression can take time to work itself out especially if no sleep training is involved. Here's sending you some sleep.

Thanks for the encouragement! It's much needed. He was up literally 7x last night. We are on day 6 of babywise sleep training.

natalie559 · February 2015

Thanks for the replies. Had baby at the doc today for check up and shots. Docs advice was to start rice cereal 1 time per day at night fed about an hour before bedtime, 1 tsp cereal to 2 tsp breastmilk. My baby is 4.5 months old and in the 10th% for weight at 12lb7oz today. Gosh I googled rice cereal and there of course is controversy to it like everything else. . . .she believes she is waking up due to hunger.

anewadventure · February 2015

@natalie559 said:

Thanks for the replies. Had baby at the doc today for check up and shots. Docs advice was to start rice cereal 1 time per day at night fed about an hour before bedtime, 1 tsp cereal to 2 tsp breastmilk. My baby is 4.5 months old and in the 10th% for weight at 12lb7oz today. Gosh I googled rice cereal and there of course is controversy to it like everything else. . . .she believes she is waking up due to hunger.

how are things going now?

my pedi doesn't recommend rice cereal because he believes it has no nutritional value and just fills them up, taking the space of other calories that would be more beneficial. you could also try oatmeal. i couldn't tell from your post but i hope your pedi did NOT tell you to add the rice cereal straight to the bottle. you should spoon feed, as putting it in the bottle is no longer considered safe.

let us know if LO is doing any better or if you tried anything from PPs responses above.

ladyhooper91 · February 2015

RedBaramid said:
Gah I'm sorry you're in 4th leap it sounds like. We aren't waking up in the MOTN but we are fighting sleep like it's a murder out to get us. It took DH and I a full 2 hours to put LO to bed last night. I'm up for work right now and she's still asleep but that'll only last another 30 minutes I'm betting. The WW app says we have 12 days to go... lord I hope so because I haven't been this exhausted since we were feeding every 3 hours.

U don't feed every 3 hours anymore??? You're so lucky lol

natalie559 · February 2015

After a couple more sleepless weeks I ordered Ferbers book on sleep problems. After reading it I felt like a lot of our issues had to do with her sleep association to her paci. I do not mind feeding her as needed but do mind being a paci reinserter multiple times a night. We started her sleeping without her paci about 1 week ago and it has gone pretty well at nights, fair at naps. She usually wakes once a night to feed and I am working towards making that time not too early in the night. I am pumping a small bottle and giving her that after nursing before bed to have her really full. The doc had said to do rice cereal in a bowl with a spoon. We've tried it 3 times over the past couple weeks but baby's reflex seems to still be strong as she pushes most of it out of her mouth. We are definitely still a work in progress but have made some improvements, thank you for asking.

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