3 mth old waking every 45 mins at night...any ideas??

[Belle]

Ugh, my 3 mth old, never a great sleeper, has periods where he wakes literally every 45 mins at night (usually this kicks in after the first feed, so at least we do luckily get an evening, which I am v thankful for!). Usually feeds at 1 and 5, doesn't seem hungry on the other wakes - more needs a cuddle/dummy/resettle or often ends up in with us, more because I get sick of traipsing through. Even then he doesn't go for much longer. It's def phases - recently was sleeping up to 4 hours inbetween night wakes which was miraculous. He has severe reflux but it is under control so don't think it's that...showing signs of early teething but these night wakes predate that by quite a few weeks. I know it will pass etc but am so so shattered. He's getting a barium test this week because of the constant vomiting but don't think it's that either to be honest...argh!!

[Ruth_Baldock]

Belle, you may rememeber my distressed and insane facebook ranting about this...Lex did this for six week starting when she was 13w on the dot. It was a wonder week

/ teething thing. Liberal use of calgel on her gums and dummy worked, as did her teething necklace when it arrived. It finally passed when she was 4.5mo, but if i had used calgel etc first, we could have saved ourselves a lot of lost sleep. White noise machine also helped, as did weeping and frantic googling...

[awilliams123]

I agree, don't dismiss this as 'can't possibly be teeth already'. DD of a mate of mine got her first 2 teeth at jsut over 3 months, so it's not impossible. Definitely try teething gels.

[Ruth_Baldock]

Yip- lex's first tooth erupted at 4mo, a friend's son got his first tooth at 3m3w!

[Saffron]

We saw teething pain in Little Saff loooong before any teeth erupted. Sometimes the teeth are moving below the gums and causing pain.

[bluesuperted]

Poor you B! Another early teether here - first tooth at 4 months and teething symptoms (mainly dribbling and chewing) much earlier, possibly 6 weeks if I remember correctly!

Hope he goes back to better sleep soon xx

[crystal7]

Urgh as you know we've experienced similar though to be honest more with E than Ez. I remember E having a truly horrendous period of sleep awake every hour sometimes from 10-7. Awful and I didn't have to contend with a toddler in the day. I'm sure it's some kind of wonder week thing as lots of friends experienced the same between 3 and 4 months (gah means it's coming to us in about 2 weeks!). Could be teething though. Hope you're gettting some rest at the weekends.

[Belle]

hmm, perhaps will try some teething gel. Had jabs today just to mix things up some more! I agree it could be teeth but as he's never been a good sleeper to date, I had kind of dismissed the 4 mth sleep regression thing, in that he has nothing to regress from! It is a learning curve...so odd after my first who though a handful during the day, only ever woke for feeding at night, and even stopped doing that relatively early too. And teething didn't bother him! Hah - never thought I'd look back with rosy glasses on J's babyhood!

[Strawbs]

This is happening to me too, Toby is 11+3 and I feel like I'm living in a torture chamber!!! I read this thread and got some calgel an have used it liberally but it didn't work.. I've taken him off dairy free milk where I was lucky if he drank 20ml at a time thinking it was a hunger thing and he is now drinking 120-150ml but still doing it!! He sleeps soundly from 7.30-10.30pm (thank god !!) but from then on its 45mins on the dot through til morning..

The tiredness is killing me, I'm considering getting a doula in to show me what I'm doing wrong..

X

[hellosailor]

Strawbs is he waking and wanting to be fed or just needing to be resettled without feeding? If appatently for a feed, does he just snack for a minute or two?

Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> This is happening to me too, Toby is 11+3 and I

> feel like I'm living in a torture chamber!!! I

> read this thread and got some calgel an have used

> it liberally but it didn't work.. I've taken him

> off dairy free milk where I was lucky if he drank

> 20ml at a time thinking it was a hunger thing and

> he is now drinking 120-150ml but still doing it!!

> He sleeps soundly from 7.30-10.30pm (thank god !!)

> but from then on its 45mins on the dot through til

> morning..

>

> The tiredness is killing me, I'm considering

> getting a doula in to show me what I'm doing

> wrong..

>

> X

[Strawbs]

Hi HS just wakes up needing to be settled, still only needs to be fed every 3 hours.. I have tried to let him cry (admittedly for never more than a few mins) but he gets himself so crazy he starts vomiting everywhere (not sure if that is reflux related?).. I need tO crack it and lively as I've been in tired induced years a few times this week..

[mattH]

Bring him in the bed with you.

all my sons stayed in the bed with us - they still wake up but.. your there. sorry this is probably crap advice from a man and i can't say how our nights would have been if they were in their own bed.

I wish you all the luck and wisdom in the world.

[Fuschia]

Interesting piece on the science of bSby sleep

http://www.parentingscience.com/baby-sleep-patterns.html

[Belle]

mattH Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Bring him in the bed with you.

>

> all my sons stayed in the bed with us - they still

> wake up but.. your there. sorry this is probably

> crap advice from a man and i can't say how our

> nights would have been if they were in their own

> bed.

>

> I wish you all the luck and wisdom in the world.

Yeah, tried that - used to work but doesn't anymore! do know what you mean about being right there and not having to traipse down the hall/across the room, still do it on occasion for sections of the night, but doesn't seem to pacify him in the way it used to.

[mrs f]

I do remember our baby started waking randomly at around this time for no apparent reason & was quite hard to resettle. He had previously been a great sleeper so I think was the time we did some sleep training... But who knows if it would have passed naturally (or how long that would have taken) Co sleeping never worked for us, always made the little one wake more!

I do remember trying a dummy & that worked for a while. I tried not to let the little one too dependant on milk to resettle at this stage which was hard at the time but in the long run is great...

I have a 9mo who sleeps 12-13 hours solidly every night

Good luck, it will pass... Take it easy in the day & I know it's annoying to say it but do sleep when they do. I always went to bed early to get the hours in & most days had the morning nap at the same time...

[sleepadistantmemory]

Belle, big sympathies to you, as you can tell from my username here (and the hour at which i am writing this) i've been in similar straits, and looking back I'm not sure how i coped! My son is now 8 months and still not a fabulous sleeper (wakes 2x a night, thinks morning is 5am) but like your little one used to be evey 30 mins to an hour, with plentiful screaming thrown in for good measure. He had silent reflux, though was on meds for it, and was generally a v unhappy baby day and night. To cut a long story short it turned out he is intolerant to cows milk protein, so i went dairy free (under hospital guidance) and within weeks he was a different baby, happy, and sleeping longer between breaks. Just a though that maybe this is something you could look at, if you havent already? The way i coped was to go to bed at 8pm, so i got in a reasonable few hours before the wakings started, and to lie in at weekends a lot to tank up when partner was around. I could not nap when baby napped as he would only nap when pushed in pram outside so that was no good.

I do think that some babies are good sleepers, and some babies just aren't. Try not to think that because other babies are sleeping through at 10 weeks or whatever youre doing something wrong if your little one doesnt, because, even once youve ruled out any medical factors, some babies just need a bit longer to get there. X

3-4 months of age is classic sleep regression time, and i know it did all sorts of bad things to my pals' previously good sleeping babies...but it did pass!

[Belle]

ah, thanks people - to be honest it's just nice to hear stories of similar exeriences, I know really there's not a lot more to do other than wait it out. sleepadistantmemory (like it)- he's on dairy free milk already, the specialist we've seen for reflux suggested it...last few nights been a bit better i.e. some wakes after 2 hrs, sometimes 1...not sure if am doing the right thing by picking up to calm down etc, but seems the only way.

totally agree re some babies are better sleepers than others, my first was, and it's not like we've done anything different really. can't sleep much in day as have nearly 3 yr old, but will try try try to get to bed earlier!