Started waking in the night

[Feenybeast]

I'm in need of some help with my nearly 6 mo.  Just over 2 wks ago she started waking earlier (we put it down to the mornings getting lighter here in Auz!), tried blackout blinds, but this didn't resolve anything.  She started taking solids 2 weeks ago on Thurs and since then she's been waking 2/3 times a night, happy to go back to sleep with dummy put in (I used to take it out just before we went to bed and she never asked for it during the night).  We've tried leaving her to self settle like she used to, but it's not working and will only go back to sleep with a dummy.  I'm just trying to figure out what we've done wrong any help is very much appreciated.  BTW she slept from 3 wks old through the night for 12 hrs, generally going to bed around 6pm ish and only rarely waking up.  She only sleeps for a max of 30 mins during the day and doesn't stay awake for much more than 1-1 1/4 hours between sleeps and we've tried keeping her up longer but she screams the place down and then takes so much longer to get to sleep.

Sorry, just read the sticky and have added more info:-

5 1/2 months old
Awake:  06:30 (sometimes earlier/later)
Eat:  06.45
Activity: 45/1hr
Sleep:   08.00 - 08.30 (goes down at 07.45, takes 15/20 mins to go to sleep with dummy)

Eat:  09:30
Activity:  45/1hr
Sleep: 10.15-10.45

Eat:  12.00
Activity:  45/1hr
Sleep:  13:15-13:45

Eat:  14.30
Activity:  45/1hr
Sleep:  15:15-15:45

Eat:  17:00
Activity:  45/1hr
Sleep:  18.00/18:30

She sleeps 30 mins, occasionally 45 and very rarely 1 to 1 1/2 hours.  It's always a fight to get her to stay up, tried stretching her by increments of 5 mins as 15 was too much, but it's still a battle.

Bedtime we have a few mins quiet time and then she gets put down, 9/10 she cries, v. occasionally she chatters/plays before falling to sleep which takes 15/20 mins on average & with a dummy.

She is bottle fed (since 10wks); 1st feed - 240ml, 2nd feed 60ml, 3rd feed 120ml, 4th feed 60ml, 5th feed 120ml (these amounts vary).

She was sleeping through the night from around 3wks old, very occasionally waking, but self settling. Now she's waking 2/3 times a night, wanting her dummy, whereas before she slept through without it (we remove it just before we go to bed around 9.30pm).  She settles pretty quickly once the dummy is back in.   Definately mantra cry when we go in.

Because of her short naps and the short activity time, I don't feed her straight after she wakes up.  A time is around 45-1hr.  If we have company or go out, she's able to stay up for much longer (2hrs).  A time is on her mat with toys, a short while in her jumper in the mornings, a walk outside in the stroller.

She's possibly starting to teeth, been rubbing gums a lot for the last few weeks, but no other teething signs as such.

She has cereal in the mornings, which we've done for about a week now, half a Weetbix with a couple of tablespoons of fruit puree.

Prop is a dummy and she doesn't have a lovie.

Thanks in advance,

Sara

[Layla]

Sara, sounds like its a combination of the dummy being a prop as well as her not sleeping too well during the day.

Would you be willing to wean the dummy & use shh/pat or pu/pd instead of replugging?

At 6 months she really needs to be on 2 long naps & catnap & I understand what you are saying about her getting overtired when you keep her up longer. Usually when extending A times, you make the windown a little longer.... so 5-10mins more walking around her room (in the dark) & rubbing her back so that she is not getting overstimuated.

Also her nights are fairly long (12hrs) & sometimes what happens is that the baby sleeps really well at night but naps are short. So you need to try & find a balance & cut her nights a little so that the hours add onto daytime sleep (naps). So maybe try putting her down for the night 15mins later & wake her up in the morning at 6.30am

hth
Layla

[Feenybeast]

Hi Layla,

Thanks for responding to my post, I'll definately give it a go - we used to use sshh/pat, but I don't know when it stopped happening!  She's been catnapping for a few months now, whereas before she'd sleep for a couple of hours or thereabouts at a time, but thinking about it, the catnapping started when we stopped swadling her at 12wks as she kept getting out of it (she now sleeps in a grobag).

Thanks again,

Sara