HELP (Before i jump of a BRIDGE)!

I need help before I jump off a bridge (Kidding) our girls will be 6 months old on the 19th. We are having major issues with Gas and one waking up between 1:30 and 3:00 after going to bed around 7:30 or 8:00. I would like to know what your schedules are at this age. I think we might not be feeding solids properly and she might be waking because she is hungry but there again we try to give her a bottle and she want eat. We have them both on Smalec sensitive and give them gas drops and the Gripe water and it just seems nothing is helping. I don’t think they are teething yet or at least I don’t see anything that appears to be a tooth coming in. Last night she got up at 3 and she didn’t seem to be gassy or anything but would scream when her pasy would come out and wake her sister? Any ideas? I thought about if it happens again to bring her sister into our room and just let her scream. I don’t know what else to do. Thanks for the feedback!!!

 

It's really normal for babies to still need a night feeding at 6 months; I am guessing that it has nothing to do with solids at all! It's really frustrating. A couple of suggestions; you could dream feed her before you go to bed (at say 11?) and see if that helps. Teething also lasts a long time so she may show symptoms of it long before a tooth pops out. If she's showing signs of teething (fussy, chewing on hands, drooling etc) you might want to give her a little bit of tylenol when she wakes to ease the pain. If gas is the issue maybe it's time to try a different formula like nutramigen or alimentum?

Just in terms of schedule try and take shifts so that you're both not up and dealing with the fussy baby all the time. Arrange before bed who is going to get up when the baby wakes and let the other partner get some rest.

And mostly, just repeat to yourself a thousand times a day "this too shall pass". Maybe get it embroidered on your pillow case so you remember in the middle of the night .

 

Are you using the solids in place of a feeding yet? It's too early for that yet, they should still be getting the majority of their nutrition from bottles, and solids are just "for fun" right now Be sure she's getting enough to eat during the day, and try the dream feed before you head to bed.

Otherwise, 6 months is prime time for a growth spurt, and those can disrupt sleep schedule. I also agree with teething, try some tylenol or motrin before bed to help with teething pains. You won't know if it's teething until the tooth comes in and then you say to yourself "OH, that's why she was waking up last week!!" :lol: If she's continually waking up, you might want to get her ears checked, my kids always have night wakings with ear infections. They never show any other signs of it, no fever or anything. ALSO, it's spring time, things are starting to bloom. Is she stuffy sounding? Allergies may be bugging her, try some saline spray in her nose if she's stuffy and then suck it out with the nose bulb thingie.

And as Jen said "This too shall pass!!" :youcandoit:

 

Sounds pretty normal to me. Babies really shouldn't sleep longer than 5 or 6 hours until later 9 or 12months at least--their stomachs are so small still. You have two babies, and that's really really really hard. You deserve a round of applaus. :clapping: Resist the urge to compare with moms of singletons you may know. Like Jen said--this too will pass--before you know it you'll be sending them off to school!


Here are some good tips from Dr. Sears.

 

We have had the same issues with one of our twins (twin b) with Gas... we give the girls Infacol wind drops every feed but for some reason it is always the last evening feed, that she just struggles to get the gas out. The specialist put her on Nexium granules and she's been on that for three weeks with no success either.

Does she settle when you pick her up or does she still cry? If she's not taking a bottle when she wakes, then I would try giving her some water, we've found this even helps bringing the wind up.

Like PP have said, solids really won't be an issue with the night time wake ups.

We even have twin b now waking up at 2.30ish every few nights and playing in her cot. Remember at this age, they will have two light sleep cycles... to me it sounds that this may be what you are experiencing. If my little one starts "playing up" as I call it (blowing bubbles, kicking the cot, singing), I go in, firmly reposition her in her crib and say "go to sleep" then I walk out again. I do this same step every time it happens, she now goes back to sleep after about 10-15 minutes. If she escalates to crying, I leave her to CIO mainly because I know that it's just my company she is after.

I have made an effort not to separate the babies when they are going through this, yes sometimes the other one wakes up (but she is a lot more passive and will lie there looking at her hands), because I feel that they need to sleep through each other's crying and 99% of the time they do. But if I really felt that I needed to work on getting the other one to sleep better, yes I would separate temporarily.

Just as an aside, my babies generally sleep from 6pm to 5.30am - no feeds in between - they've done this themselves since they were 3 months old.

GL! PS: I also always keep them upright for at least 10-15 minutes after every feed, in their Bumbo seats during the day and at night while reading a book before bed...

 

Sebastian just turned 6 months (like today) LOL and I stopped feeding him in the night as soon as he did a week of 12.5 hours straight w/ no feeds. *This was about 2 months or so ago*.

Then i knew he could do it so IF he wakes, I let him fuss or cry til he falls back asleep.

He's 20 lbs, we do not do solids yet and I know he's getting enough to eat.

 

PPs have given some great advice The only other factor I would consider is overall sleep - is she getting enough day time sleep? Also, 7:30pm-8:00pm seems like a late bedtime at 6 months. My girls use to go to bed between 6:30pm-7:00pm & slept till 7:00am with a dream feed at 10:30pm & a 4:00am (ish) feed. One common sign of overtired-ness is difficulty staying asleep and/or falling easily back to sleep after a night waking.

Anyway, lots of different possible culprits! Hopefully you'll be able to figure out what's going on so you can get some rest.

 

Same here! Once I knew that they could sleep through without waking up for feeds, I stopped feeding them the night feeds, especially as I found that they didn't finish these feeds!