Help with 5 1/2 month old...

[bucky]

My little girl is 5 1/2 months old and I just started using a 4 hr EASY schedule about 1 1/2 weeks ago.  It seems to be going pretty well, although sometimes it ends up being more of a 3 hr EASY instead of 4.   
She is learning how to self soothe and can pretty much put herself to sleep in the daytime if she is awoken in the middle of a nap.

My problem is with the night time.  She is waking up sometimes 3 to 4 times a night now and having a hard time getting back to sleep.  The weird thing is, she would sometimes wake in the middle of the night (maybe 1 or 2 times at the most) before I started EASY.  I would feed her and she would go right back to slepp. Now, I'm finding that she's waking up and wanting to play during the middle of the night.  I will hear playing in her crib.. eventually she'll begin to cry and I will go in to pat/shhh.  She sleeps better on her stomach so I will turn her over and pat her back.  I will get her settled and go back to bed.  Then, a little while later I will hear her playing in there again.. I will go back in and she'll laugh and kick her legs until I turn her over and start all over again. 

Am I doing something wrong?  I desperately want this to work.  How long should it take?  Is there something that I can do to keep her from wanting to play in the middle of the night?  Is there something wrong with her daytime routine?  Here's what her schedule is like.

E 6:15 - 6:30
A
S 8:15-8:30 1 - 1 1/2 hrs
Y
E 10:00
A
S 11:45 1 - 1/2 hrs
Y
E 2:00
A
S 3:45 45 minutes
Y
E 5:00, 7:00
A
S 7:30

DF 10:30
Wakes at 1:00, 2:30/3:00/4:00

Any suggestions would really be appreciated!

[jupiter]

hi there,
your daughter may just be getting used to her new routine, what was her routine like before? did she sleep thru the nite? what have u changed?
how much feed is she taking and do u need to wake her for the dream feed? u cud maybe try missing it out and letting her sleep thru.
julie

[bucky]

Thanks so much for the response...

Before we started this... we didn't really have a routine.  She just nursed when I thought that she was hungry (which was probably every 3 hrs).  At night she would wake up 1 time at around 3am and 2 times at the most.

She seems to be eating a good amount at the dreamfeed - I do need to wake her for it.  Although, last night for the first time she woke for it herself.  Maybe I will try your suggestion to eliminate the dream feed just to see what happens.

I'm just so puzzled!  I don't understand why she's waking up all of the sudden.  Last night she woke up at 8:15 pm 10:30, 1:30, 3:30 and 4:30 (I fed her at 10:30 and 4:30).  She would never do this before!  I don't think it's a growth spurt either because she doesn't seem to be waking because of hunger.

[Colesmom]

Hi there,

First, congrats on the good naps.  Many of us with los this age would die to have naps longer than 45 min :wink:

I am no expert having only started DS on a routine about 3.5 weeks ago but I might be able to offer a couple of suggestions.  These are the things that have worked for me.

1)  awake time:  3 hours seems like a long time for the last interval from end of catnap until bedtime, especially if her other intervals are closer to 2 hours long.  I've read in another book that if you push back the bedtime 20 min. or so that you could solve night wakings that aren't for hunger.  Does your little one seems to come alive in the last hour, full of giggles and laughter and bright eyes?  That's what happens to my DS when he's been up too long.

2) what kind of activities are you doing in this last interval and is your wind down consistent and long enough?  I don't have the TV on during that time, no exersaucer either.  Activities I do now are stroller or carrier walk for 30-40 minutes, reading, bath, feed.

3) Lastly...don't go into her room unless you hear a "need me cry".  If you go in while she's playing she will continue to wake up as you are reinforcing this new habit.  As long as she's not crying I'd leave her be and she'll eventually go back to sleep. (hopefully)

Anyway, hope some of this helps.  I had thought of a few more things but then DS woke early from a nap and I had to go extend it and now I can't remember and I lost my post (pc crashed)  I'll come back if I think of anything else. 

Good luck tonight.  I put DS down at 7:15 last night and he woke at 9:45pm (fine), 4:15am to eat, didn't go back to sleep until 5:00, then woke at 5:45 for the day, so I kind of know what you're going through (he used to wake up at all hours for 1.5 hours!)  Anyhoo, I looked back in my log and whenever he's down by 6:45 he goes back down better after feeds and sleeps longer.

Traci

[bucky]

Thank you so much for all of your help and suggestions!  I let you know how it goes!! :lol:

[Katet]

From my experience with ds#1, that first wakeup 45mins after going to bed is a pretty good indication that your lo is actually overtired by the time bedtime comes around... can you stretch the catnap longer... neither of my ds cope on just a catnap & actually have a shorter last afternoon stretch, not longer.
Awake time for a 5.5mo, should be about 2.25 -2.5 hours for an average baby, much longer & they will get overtired
HTH

[Colesmom]

bucky  how did it go?  Hopefully better.  Of course, now my lo doesn't want to go back down after feeds!  Well, at the least the early morning one.  *sigh*  guess it will just take a bit longer

Katet  My lo also does the 45 min. wakeup after going down for bed.  He used to cry for 10 minutes but now it's just a minute or two.  His A time is 2.5 hours.  I find that regardless of how tired he looks if I put him down at 2.25 hours he won't settle until 2.5 hours anyway (even after a 30 minute catnap).  Since I put him down 10 minutes before A time ends...then that's 25 minutes to settle which is pretty long.  Should I worry about the 45 min wakeup?  It's not that big a deal now that he can resettle himself.  Or is that an indication that the rest of the night won't go well either?  Last night he slept until 12:30 and I expected him to last until 5 or so...but he was up at 3:50 again.  Could this stem from him being overtired?  Maybe i'll cut back his A time just by 5 minutes and see what happens.  Anyhoo, just thought I'd see what you thought.

Traci