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I don't even know where to start. A is 6 months on Friday. From 2 until about 4 1/2 months she was a great sleeper - she would go down without a fight at 7:30 on the dot, sleep for 7 hours or so, then fuss a little, at which point I would feed her, basically still asleep, and she would go back in the crib without ever truly waking up. At 4 1/2 months she had some signs of a typical sleep regression - fighting bedtime more, waking an hour or two after bedtime, waking more frequently, waking more fully, etc. Then at 5 months we moved. Daycare changed, we put her in her own room in a full sized crib for the first time, and we took away the swaddle. I wanted to just "rip off the bandaid" so to speak and get all the changes over with at once.
She hasn't slept more than 2-3 hours at a stretch since. Now at bedtimes sometimes she goes right down, sometimes we have to go back in and give her the pacifier and hold her hands on about 10 separate occasions. She used to love being rocked to sleep, now she gets angry if we try so we just have to put her down and hope for the best.
She has been waking around 10 pm, at which point we go in and give the pacifier back and hold her hands, and she usually falls right back to sleep. Then at around 12:30 or so she has a full waking and won't go back to sleep unless she eats. Same at 4. If I let her fuss she just escalates. She has also been pooping in the middle of the night again, which hasn't happened for months, so I have to change her which also gets her riled up. Night feedings are no longer peaceful, they involve a lot of flailing and scratching and grabbing. Then she wakes repeatedly on the hour from 4 on.
I'm at my wits end. I keep thinking she'll just grow out of it but we do finally have a daytime routine again, and the nighttime routine is just not falling into place.
A couple thoughts... First, when she was in our bedroom I probably did a lot of half-asleep pacifier replacement and patting and didn't even notice I was doing it. Now I'm responding slower so she has an opportunity to fully wake up.
Second, her daycare has been spacing out her feedings a little bit more, effectively eliminating my early evening feeding because when I pick her up from daycare she's eaten too recently. I've asked them to try and feed more frequently but often it's because she takes a very long nap in the morning (because she slept like crap the night before) and they wait until she wakes to feed her. She might not be getting enough calories during the day and is trying to make up for it at night. My supply, as always, is teetering on the edge so it's hard to send more milk. I'm going to try that though... It will mean pumping at night to add to the next day. We haven't started solids yet but probably will next week after her check up, so that might help her start getting a few extra calories.
What else can I do? I'm not ready, and I don't think she's ready, for any kind of CIO. There have just been too many changes lately for me to feel OK about that. Plus it's not so much a bedtime issue as it is a night waking issue.
I'm so tired I can't think about this clearly. Help.
She hasn't slept more than 2-3 hours at a stretch since. Now at bedtimes sometimes she goes right down, sometimes we have to go back in and give her the pacifier and hold her hands on about 10 separate occasions. She used to love being rocked to sleep, now she gets angry if we try so we just have to put her down and hope for the best.
She has been waking around 10 pm, at which point we go in and give the pacifier back and hold her hands, and she usually falls right back to sleep. Then at around 12:30 or so she has a full waking and won't go back to sleep unless she eats. Same at 4. If I let her fuss she just escalates. She has also been pooping in the middle of the night again, which hasn't happened for months, so I have to change her which also gets her riled up. Night feedings are no longer peaceful, they involve a lot of flailing and scratching and grabbing. Then she wakes repeatedly on the hour from 4 on.
I'm at my wits end. I keep thinking she'll just grow out of it but we do finally have a daytime routine again, and the nighttime routine is just not falling into place.
A couple thoughts... First, when she was in our bedroom I probably did a lot of half-asleep pacifier replacement and patting and didn't even notice I was doing it. Now I'm responding slower so she has an opportunity to fully wake up.
Second, her daycare has been spacing out her feedings a little bit more, effectively eliminating my early evening feeding because when I pick her up from daycare she's eaten too recently. I've asked them to try and feed more frequently but often it's because she takes a very long nap in the morning (because she slept like crap the night before) and they wait until she wakes to feed her. She might not be getting enough calories during the day and is trying to make up for it at night. My supply, as always, is teetering on the edge so it's hard to send more milk. I'm going to try that though... It will mean pumping at night to add to the next day. We haven't started solids yet but probably will next week after her check up, so that might help her start getting a few extra calories.
What else can I do? I'm not ready, and I don't think she's ready, for any kind of CIO. There have just been too many changes lately for me to feel OK about that. Plus it's not so much a bedtime issue as it is a night waking issue.
I'm so tired I can't think about this clearly. Help.
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