Honestly, I got more sleep when he was 2 months old than I do now.
What happened??
Just last week Asher decided that waking up 3 hours after he falls asleep is the way to go. He gets his bottle at 7:00, then used to sleep until 3 or 4am before waking up to eat again. Now he is waking up at 11:30, screaming for attention. I know he isn't truly hungry at that time, so I've been ignoring him {be still my hurting heart!} and he goes back to sleep. But then he gets up again at 1:30am {I feed him} and every 3 hours after that.
Anyone experiencing this change?
Half the time he nurses for 5 minutes then drifts back off, so I'm not convinced that he's really hungry. It seems like a combination of being a little hungry and really wanting to see me.
Do I let him cry at 1:30am too, then feed him the next time he gets up? My pediatrician told me that he should be sleeping through the night {maybe waking up once in 12 hours to eat} soon, so I shouldn't let him get into a waking habit. Is that what's happening?
According to my gospel, Baby 411, infants who are 4 months old should be able to go at least 6 hours at night without eating. I'm trying to encourage this, but I'm terrified of letting Asher cry it out when he's actually hungry and not just protesting being alone.
Sorry if this seems like a desperate plea, but I'm feeling desperate! I'm am so, so exhausted and entering zombie territory. Only getting 2-3 hours of sleep in a row is starting to take a toll and I'm not interested in keeping it up if Asher doesn't really need to be up.
If anyone has advice, I'm all ears! Thanks!
Really, though, who couldn't love this guy no matter what happens at night?
Now that he is 4 months do you feed him cereal at all? We spoon feed Brynn a little rice cereal at night and it really helps. It takes longer for their tummys to digest and therefore they are full longer, i.e. sleep longer!
ReplyDeleteAlso, we finally put a "play center" on the side of her crib. It has a mirror and a couple of things she can grab at. There are times she will wake up, play by herself and fall back asleep. Or keep herself entertained in the morning to give me that 5 extra minutes of sleep :)
Have I already told you that one of the authors of Baby 411 (Dr. Ari Brown) is Eli's pediatrician?! That book is my Bible too, so I was so happy when we got her as our doctor (she quit accepting new patients literally the day after we met her for the first time).
ReplyDeleteEli is a bottle baby (I quit nursing at 9.5 weeks), so one of my tricks is to feed him more during his last bottle before bed. If he normally gets 5 oz. bottles during the day, he'll get 6-7 oz. for the last bottle. But he's been sleeping through the night (about 10 hours straight) for a month now, so I really don't have any advice, since it hasn't been a problem for us yet (knock on wood).
I hope it gets better soon and that Asher doesn't start making this a nightly habit!
Oh and I love this picture of him in a diaper... he's such a cutie!
Jack goes to bed at about 7:30 and he was waking up at 1:30 and 4:30 to eat and getting up for good around 7am. I think he was used to getting up at 1:30 and even when he didn't need to eat at that time, he would still wake up. After a couple nights of ignoring him he started sleeping right through until 4:30. The last couple of nights he has gone from 7pm until sometime between 5-7am. So I now know that he can definitely go 12 hours! However, Jack hardly ever cries when he wakes up so when I ignored him, I was only ignoring talking, squirming, and other noise making. That is much easier to ignore! There are times when I wanted to get him and nurse him back to sleep even though he wasn't crying and wasn't hungry just because it's the easy thing to do. But I stuck with it and like I said, he quickly eliminated the 1:30 wake-up. I would try to ignore him and see what happens. I don't think you'd want to let him cry for an hour, but if he falls back asleep quickly enough, then go for it. When he wakes up again, do what you would normally do and hopefully he'll get the hint and start sleeping through until 4 or so. Have you ruled out a possible growth spurt or teething? Maybe you could try a pacifier. Even if it's something he didn't like before, it could work now. Also, something like a glow worm that plays lullabies and can keep him company could work.
ReplyDeleteI know a lot of people think that feeding them cereal at night helps them, but Jack sleeps from 7-5 or later only on breast milk. But I have no idea how much he eats before bed since I nurse him. But you've gotta do what you think is best for little Asher! I'm sure this will be old news soon enough.
I have some suggestions...this is what worked for my daughter, and she slept through the night at 6 weeks old.
ReplyDeleteWhen Marianne wakes up crying, I wait 10 minutes. Usually, she'll cry quietly, then go back to sleep on her own. If she cries and it escalates, I'll check on her and make sure she's not stuck in her crib rails. She moves around a ton, so that happens a few times a week.
Usually, I will go in there and she'll be mostly-asleep and crying. I'll pick her up and soothe her quietly, walking around the room or rocking her in the rocking chair till she settles back down to sleep.
90% of the time, she'll go right back to sleep without any food intervention. (She's almost 10 months now, but it worked the same when she was younger too!)
If he wakes up and wants to play at night...make it boring. Keep on a light dim enough to see, and if he won't settle, try quiet things like reading in a low tone or a swing.
You may have to tough it out and let him cry. My rule is let her cry for 10, check on her...if nothing's immediately wrong, wait another 10. If after 20 minutes she hasn't stopped or is escalating to really crying hard, I'll go in there and pick her up.
Good luck...these rules have so far worked for me...but I will be the first to admit I got REALLY lucky Marianne inherited the lazy Mommy gene.
I'm catching up on blogs today - finally and I'm experiencing the same things. I have no advice but can tell you we are going through the same thing - W is 4 months today. If you have anything that works please let me know
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