Hi Ladies. I've been racking my brain to find a gentle way to change this: for the past 3 weeks Kai (4 1/2 months) has been waking up every 1/2 hour after going to bed and will only re-settle with the boob. In the past, we would get him to sleep at 6:50, after a 'feed-bath-feed' routine. For a while after we started cluster-feeding, he would wake after 1/2 hour but would easily re-settle with the dummy + head-stroking. Then he stopped that wake-up. Don't know what changed, at first I thought it was because we went away for a few days, then I thought it was because his teeth were bothering him, now I'm thinking it's just a bad habit. He still goes to sleep easily enough, but wakes at 7:30, 8:00 + 8:30 and gets REALLY upset if we try to dummy him. I am finding it pretty irritating - I only have 2 1/2 hours a day with hubby and this is really intruding on our time. Plus it is making eating dinner pretty difficult. Any suggestions? Thanks!
I Don't know if this imformation will help you any, but in my anti natal classes, the midwife teaching the classes discussed how she had a problem very simular to yours and thought that maybe the same thing has happened with you. She said that she associated every cry that the baby must of been hungry, and every night when the baby would cry or would just cry she would put the baby to her breast. Soon she could never get the baby to sleep a full night and it was at the age of three before he could. She said she she didnt realise but every time she put the baby to her breast when it was bed time that the baby associated the breast with sleep. That is why the baby was waking up all the time and could only settle when laid on the breast (not nessecarily feeding). She didnt have any real rememdies or solutions she just told just that if the baby was upset in anyway not to always just to them to the breast and think they needed to be fed but try and figure out why they were crying to prevent it from progressing. If you like i could try and get you the number of the midwife who had this problem and you could talk to her, that is if you share this simular problem. Or if i have just got it wrong, then ignore me... but i thought that bit of imformation might be useful... sorry i couldnt give you more.
I know what you are going through. My dd Noa (now 4yo) used to go to sleep easily but then wake up every 20-30 minutes and need to suckle to resettle for the first 2 hours or so after she went to sleep, for ages. If you look at young babies' sleep cycles, it seems that every 20 mins or so they are closer to wakefulness and somehow some babies seem to arouse that much more at this vulnerable-to-wake-up time. It was really frustrating but it eventually passed.
But it seems Rachel (3 and a half months old now) is doing the same thing! Goes to sleep easily but then wakes up every 20-30 minutes for the first 2 hours of her nighttime sleep. Grrrr! With her, I usually try to resettle by rocking the bassinet/singing/stroking her and only feed her if she doesn't settle. Somehow it seems that taking her out of the bassinet to feed her is rousing her even more than if I leave her in it.
Thanks for your support Mustang - good luck with your birth, hope it's everything you want. Cheryl - It's way too early to say if it works, but last night I went in just before the 20 mins were up and slipped the dummy in when he started to rub his eyes. It did seem to work, but our little monster is in the habit of working us out in a couple of days, so we'll see! And you're right - any sudden noise would definately startle him at that touchy time. Good luck with your baby too!
Hi. In Pinky McKay's book, sleeping like a baby, she has a 4 week plan to gradually get your baby to sleep without having to breastfeed to sleep, it works by gradually introducing other sleep cues while weaning off the feeding to sleep process. I haven't used it myself as yet, I am still breastfeeding DD to sleep but if needed down the track it does seem like a nice way to do it without upsetting bubs.
The other option, if you are not already doing it, is to have a CD on in their room that is on repeat.......this often breaks the cycle of this type of waking. (I am pretty sure Pinky mentions it in her book too)
I have used the same CD on repeat for Olivia and Charlie and now Lexie. I can hear Lexie give a grizzle about 35 mins after her last evening feed........through the monitor.....so she still "wakes" but within seconds, the grizzling stops and she is back to a sound sleep again........
I use Peacebaby, which again is one that Pinky recommends. I love it. I have heard it a zillion times and I think I now naturally associate it with sleep too!!
Ally (also 4.5 months) is the same, after a good run of going to bed at 6.30 and sleeping till 10.30 (when I wake her for a feed) she now stires at 7.30 and again at 8pm... As Ally sleeps in a hammock, we just rock her back to sleep - so that is our solution.. however if she wakes at time past 9pm she will ONLY re-settle on the boob...after midnight she will also only re-settle on the boob...
any suggestions?
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