Night time help!

[willow7712]

Hi everyone! I am happy to have stumbled onto this community after reading on many another webpage that my only solution would be cio. I am not ready to do so and not convinced it is the best thing for my babe yet.

My DD is 5 months old, was born 1 month early but 7lbs so she has tracked pretty much on scale with everything. She is gaining weight well and all her charts show a good growth curve. We recently have been working at napping in the crib and napping longer than 45 min. (which I have only been able to get her to do once.) I am not sure if that is the source of my night time problems but maybe.

At night, we try and read a book, nurse to sleep and I put her down. She has occasionally been somewhat awake and will fall asleep on her own (she sucks her hand.) I am finding that I am up almost every hour, hour and a half as she is hungry. I thought it was a sleep association and maybe one of the feeds last night was but the rest, she is eating a good amount ( I am breastfeeding.)

During the day she wants to eat a bunch too, pretty much before and after every nap. I am a person who never feels let-down so I am unsure when she is getting the hind milk. Previously (when she was 2 months ish) I would feed off one breast only for a few hours out of concern however she always gained weight well and didn't have green frothy stools at all.

When DD was around 3 months she would sleep approx 9-3am eat then sleep till 5 or 6 and be fussy after that. Now she is up all the time eating and we both are not getting a good rest.

Ihave read about the 4 month growth spurt and sleep regression but wondering how long it lasts! She will be 6 months in January. I am not ready to introduce solids (nor is she, she shows no interest in our food) or switch to formula. She currently sleeps mostly in a crib in our room but does cosleep occasionally.

Any suggestions or comments? Thanks in advance!

[rtjunker]

I've found for napping playing white noise or baby sleep music extends the length of naps considerably for my LO. I go to YouTube type in baby sleep music and pick one.
Night time sleeping can still be tough with my 11 month old LO. She wants nursing every time she wakes lately. She has been developing like crazy (walking, talking more, playing more complex games, growing taller), so that's part of it.
My DH has to put her to bed without me in the room, to get her to sleep without nursing. If she sees me she cries louder and stronger.
Mostly I just deal with the sleep deprivation during the periods of time my LO wants to nurse all night. Typically by the time I can't take it anymore, whatever developmental stuff happening happens, and LO goes back to sleeping better again, until the next cycle.

[modestmothering]

I just posted a similar question before I read your thread. My Dd is also 5 months. She has always woken up every 2-3 hours to breastfeed during the night. She's never done that miraculous thing you mention: sleeping from 9-3.  Wow.  I would love that.  I hope it gets better for you soon, mama.  I don't have any suggestions.  Just sympathy! 

[element2012]

Yep, same here.  My DD is 10.5 months and it's totally hit or miss.  Some nights she'll sleep 8 hours straight, or some nights (like last night) she's up every hour.  I don't have any idea why, and I won't lie, some nights CIO starts to sound reasonable.  But there is so much going on with their little bodies, I'm beginning to think sleeping through the night is a myth, lol!  But seriously, all those teeth coming in and super cool new skills they're always learning, it's no wonder some babies have a harder time sleeping.  I do know some babies will more or less naturally gravitate towards sleeping well and long stretches, and some, like mine, just don't.  I've also found like rtjunker, that DH picking her up to put her back down is helpful, all she wants from me is to nurse.  Although, in your situation it seems like you have some concerns over her growth, combined with her age and I would just continue to nurse as much as possible.  In the coming months, solicit as much nighttime help as possible from daddy.  I plan to eventually night wean using daddy as the night comforter, a role he surprising is more than happy to fill!  From one tired mom to another, hang in there!

[willow7712]

Thank you all for your replies! It can get frustrating for me since fam and friends are only advising CIO.

We do white noise and it worked like magic the first three nights but no luck since. I still put it on for every sleep time, day or night for 2 weeks now just in case it works well again. no luck so far!

I guess my wee thing is just growing and hopefully it will taper soon. She has been like this for approx 3 weeks so I am looking forward to her feeding every three hours again. I think I might feel human again!