Could this be causing her night waking???

[skatty]

My 8 month DD has started waking between 11.45 and 12.15 every night. When I go in she is wide awake and seems to have a rumbley tummy and wind. I thought it was because we both accidently ate something with milk last Saturday (she's intolerant) but I was wondering if it could be to do with the fact she eats her tea at 4.30/5pm (solids, whatever the family eats eg pasta, chicken and roasted veg followed by fruit) and then baths and wants her bottle of 8oz EBM and bed straight away (around 5.45-6.00pm). We try to keep her up a bit longer after her bath but it tires her out and she wants her milk and bed!

She is wide awake when I go in and used to want to play but has got better every night. Last night I left her as she was crying out but didn't seem too upset but wouldn't stop calling for me and when I went in she laid straight back down but had her eyes open. I stroked her back a bit, said shh it's sleep time and she eventually after about 10 mins turned over and went to sleep after a couple of farts!!

I'd love to eliminate this waking as we are going through a rare and wonderful teething free period!

Thanks, Katt

[Layla]

Katt, her mealtime does seem fairly close to bedtime. She is going to bed fairly early as well. What does her day look like?

[skatty]

Hi, we are on a loose easy as we get regular teething upsets and also have early wakings some mornings 

6.00 up for the day (she may have been awake any time from 5.15am)
6.15 BF
7.00 breakfast
9.15ish nap for 1.10 mins to 2hrs
11.00 BF
12.00 lunch
14.00/15.00 Whenever she shows she's tired for 1-1.5 hours
16.30 (if naps have been bad)17.00 tea
17.00/17.30 bath,massage, songs and pyjamas, now she starts to fuss and rub her eyes and is only happy when she gets to say goodnight to mummy and the dog and go to her room with daddy and a bottle!! I think I may try and get DH to extend the time after the bath and massage and let her have some naked play but at this time in the evening she is so tired she cries to go to bed. I guess I could bring her tea forward but we really like eating as a family.

Any insights would be wonderful  BTW I am extending naps at the mo' and trying to get some consistency as we went right off track after a 10 day trip two weeks ago where she missed a lot of sleep day and night, I think we are finally catching up.

[Layla]

Katty, this is the sch I would recommend

6am - wake
9:15 - morning nap (but don't let her sleep more than 1hr15mins)
10:30 - wake from nap
1:30-2pm - afternoon nap (1.5hrs)
3:00-3.30 - wake from nap
6.30-7pm - bedtime

Sometimes a long morning nap can interfere with the wake up time.... so don't let her sleep for too long in the morning. Also put her down for the pm nap a little earlier & do bedtime around 6.30ish. She should be able to do at least 3hrs before bedtime and if she's showing clear tired signs at 5pm, then maybe try shifting the nap times a little to see if it will help.

This way you could still have family meals together 

[skatty]

Thank you, I will give it a go. I actually think it is because of her routine that she gets tired! No matter what time we do the bath routine she will always have sleepy signs after, she is big on her rituals! The only problem I can forsee is that if I put her down for naps earlier than she is ready then she wakes after 30 mins which happened yesterday afternoon and therefore now I think about it probably lead to her being ready for bed so early 

Also my DH pointed out her tummy seems very bloated and she doesn't seem to be pooing in the same volumes she usually does (sorry TMI!!) so perhaps she is a bit constipated, probably from her intolerance slip up last weekend.

Thanks again for your help