5 month old persistent CN - tried everything we can think of!!

[jmj5699]

Ever since our LO arrived he has been a CN. With this being our 3rd child my husband and I assumed things would turn around as he matured and his sleeping patterns changed.

However, at 4 mo old his naps were getting worse and nighttime was not improving either. In desperation both my husband and I re-read Baby Whisperer and initiated the 4 hour easy routine. Fast forward 1 mo (LO is now 5 mo old). His nighttime has improved (still not great: frequent wakings but self soothes back to sleep) but we cannot get past 30-45 minute naps!! We have tried several techniques including PU/PD  and W2S. We end up stressing over his daytime sleep and have no consistent routine due to his consistent CN. At first we thought he was OT and moved his nap times earlier. Then we thought he was UT and moved his nap times back. With two other crazy brothers we always make sure he has a wind down before nap, but nothing seems to work! For three days we tried to push him to extend his wake time between naps and follow an "official" 4 hr EASY - it back fired and he ended up being an OT mess all night.

You can watch his monitor and within the 30-45 minute window his eyes will literally dart open. Even with PU/PD, shush-pat (works best), W2S, he tries so hard to fall asleep but just can't make the transition. He is a very happy baby during the day and wakes up happy from his CN, however I can tell he is still tired.  This vicious cycle of CN is causing a totally unpredictable schedule and 4-5 naps a day to make sure he is getting enough sleep (at least 3 daytime hours - if we don't hit 3 hours, nighttime gets worse).

If anyone has any suggestions we would greatly appreciate them! I would post our schedule, but it is so variable I will give you the basics. He is fed every four hours, he wakes around 6:30-7:00am, bedtime is anywhere from 6:30-7:30pm (depends on CN timing). Otherwise the "S" looks different everyday due to CN.

Could this be developmental? Also, is it normal for him to be waking 4-5 times a night (but self soothes)? Any suggestions to help us help him with his napping?

Please help!

[anna*]

Hi there, welcome to the boards
What is his A time? Can you type out a typical days routine do we can see what is going on? Does he go to sleep independently?

[jmj5699]

Thank you. Glad to be here 

His A times have been from 2 to 2.5 hours for the past few days. We have also tried shortening these in 15 minute increments down to 1.5 hours as well to see if this would help (didn't seem to make a difference).

Most of the time he goes to sleep independently.

Below is a rough schedule, but again the only things consistent are his feedings, morning wake time, and bedtime. His CN can be from 30-45min, every once and a while we can get him to go back to sleep for a longer nap.

7:00 Wake / E
9:00-9:45 S
11:00 E
11:45-12:15 S
3:00 E
3:45-4:30 S
6:30 E
6:30 - 7:30 S (bedtime)
10:30 E (sleep feed)

[anna*]

I think you need to increase rather than decrease A times. Have a look here: Average A times- BOOKMARK ME! he probably needs a good 2.5hrs A to do a decent nap. I'd try that for a few days and see how you get along.

[jmj5699]

Thank you for the advice. Yesterday was day 1 of extending his wake time and he was up last night at 10pm, 12am, 2am, 4:15am, 545am. I ended up feeding him at 5:45am because he just would not fall back asleep. Should we stick with the course and hope we see a change in the next few days? He can't keep his hands out of his mouth so now I wonder if he has begun teething which could be complicating the matter...   

[anna*]

Did you feed him at any of the other times? It's totally normal/expected to have two night feeds at this stage. How were his naps?

[jmj5699]

We do a sleep feed at 10:00-10:30pm, so when he goes to 6:30am it is only 8 hrs between feedings. Naps yesterday were the same: 3 naps at about 45 minutes each. Today naps have gone better (one 1.5 hr and he currently just hit the 55min mark on his second nap!!). Could the improvement today be from the lack of sleep last night? Do you think we should phase in a 2nd night feed even though he is 5.5 mo? Prior to last night he would make it to 6:30am without out it (albeit restless to get there). Thank you!

[anna*]

If it were me, and feeding at night would settle him quickly at 3am, I'd def just feed and get back to sleep. FX you've had a better night tonight.

[jmj5699]

Our LO must have unreliable sleep cues, because so far you were right regarding extending his "A" time to 2.5 hours!! Since extending his "A" time we have now had 2 solid days of naps (1.5+ hrs each) and our nights seem to be improving too. I hope this trend continues as it has made a world of difference for our entire family!!!

I know in the near future there will be a day where things won't go as planned. Do you have any advice on the best way to get back on track if we fall "victim" to another CN? For example: If our LO has a 40 minute nap for his first nap of the day, in your experience is it best to push them for a full 2.5 hours to "reset" --or-- cut back on his "A" time after the initial CN (which will result in another CN) and then push 2.5 hours after that --or-- try to stick with naps around the "schedule" he should have been following? Thank you so much for your advice so far! 

[anna*]

Great that things seem to be getting better!
If you get the odd cat nap, he will likely need close to his full A time - you can cut back a little bit but lots of people make the mistake of cutting it back too far. Maybe 15 mins? Don't stick to a scheduled time because then he will end up having way over his usual A time and be overtired for sure. If you're persistently getting short naps, it will likely be time for another routine tweak