Feel like an idiot, can't believe it took me this long to figure my baby out!

[jessmke]

Ever since we moved my DD to her own room at 3 months old she wakes like clockwork 45 min after going to bed. We've tried moving around her bedtime which had no effect. I've tried feeding her, soothing her while leaving her in the crib, letting her get up for a bit before putting her back to bed, etc, etc but nothing seemed to help her stay asleep. She also would wake every 2-3 hrs all night long (sometimes every hour) and isn't hungry, We have always put her down awake and she self settles herself to sleep which I thought was the holy grail of reducing night wakings and I was so mad it didn't work for us. She had only ever self settled twice after night wakings.

I have finally figured it out, we had two things going on.

#1 - she wasn't really tired when I put her to bed. She gets fussy in the evenings so I always figured she was tired and would put her to bed. Turns out she's not really tired and it is just her fussy period. She wants to be held and doesn't want to play with her toys. I have started putting her on my back in the ergo when she gets fussy and I use that time to vacuum or do laundry or go outside and throw the ball for the dog and she is happy hanging out with me. Then I put her to bed three hours after she woke from her last nap and boom, no more waking 45 min after going to bed.

#2 - she was hot! I really can't believe it took so long for me to figure this one out. We keep our house quite cool so I have always been paranoid about her being cold at night so she wears fleece sleepers and is inside a thick sleep sac. I started putting her to bed in just a long sleeved onesie (since her arms aren't covered by the sleep sac) and nothing on her legs and boom, no more night wakings that aren't hunger related! Her cheeks and legs feel quite cool to the touch but her belly is warm so I guess she must be comfortable.

I feel like such an idiot that it took me this many months to figure things out, but I am so happy I am getting more than 1-2 hrs of sleep at a time. Last night she only woke ONCE to nurse, I couldn't believe it! I watched her on the monitor wake up and then settle herself back to sleep several times the last few nights, I was in shock!

And as an added bonus her daytime naps have gotten much longer and are occurring at more predictable times now that she isn't so overtired from being awake all night. We are some happy people these days!

 

[CRWx]

Babies are like being handed a house full of flat pack furniture with no instructions and oh by the way, all the pieces are scrambled

Well done mama for figuring it out though! Yay for more sleep

 

[Twag]

That is great news that she is sleeping better now

Hmmm I do wonder if my dd is waking in the night so much because she is hot?

 

[crownest]

I wish I could figure out my little man at the moment !

 

[loeylo]

My baby also runs super hot - we are in Scotland so its not actually hot whatsoever but she sleeps in a vest and long sleeved sleepsuit (not fleece) and a small blanket which she kicks off after 10 minutes. It is amazing how warm they can be!

Well done for working it out!