BabyWhispererForums.com
SLEEP => Night Wakings => Topic started by: hmccd on June 11, 2011, 13:34:57 pm
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My dd is 5.5 months since 4 months started doing terrible 30 minute naps 3 or 4 times a day. After reading the forums i found a solution that seems to work. I go in 30 minutes after i put her down and gently hold her armsand legs until she psses rem sleep. She is now doing 2 1.5 to 2 hour naps and one 30 minute cat nup. The problem is since doing this she has been waking up at night, sometimes for over an hour. Last night she woke up 5 times crying from7 pm until 2 am then slept until 4am and then up zt 6.
Seems that maybe she is ut? Could she b sleeping too much in the day? Her routine varies a little every day but for now she almost always does 1 hr 45 to 2 hr activity time, naps for 1.5 to 2 hrs. She is bf and on solids for breakfast ( oatmeal) and dinner ( veggie/oatmeal) .
Please help!
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Hi there,
My DS is just over 5 months and we are in a similar situation where naps are great (2 1.5-2 hours and 1 catnap) but are having lots of NWs. I am also wondering is perhaps he is sleeping too much during the day.
I wonder though if your LO is not getting enough A time? 1.45 seems a bit short for 5.5 months. I just recently increased A time to 2.25 and it seems he settles better for naps now. I think he was not quite tired enough at 2 hours. Just a thought!
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I think you are both needing to drop the CN :) It's tough one, but after a couple of weeks, everything goes back to running smoothly :)
I just did an earlier BT to help DD adjust :)
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Hi,i have tried longer a times and it usually ends in disaster. She is rubbing her eyes and fussing by 2 hours. But maybe i should try again and just see how it goes...As for drpping the cat nap, i just dont know how that would work. She wakes up from her afternoon nap around 2, even w an early bt at 6:30 thaat woud have her awake for 4.5 hours. Doesnt that seem too long? Ideally i would like her bt to be 7:30.
She spent the day today w dh and went right back to her short 30 minute naps, i guess i will see tonight if it makes a difference.
I am just so tired at this point but am willing to try anything.
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Could you post her EASY for the last couple of days? Maybe something will jump out :)
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6am nurse
Wake 6:50
E solids 7:50
A 6:50-8:50
S 8:50-10:30
E 11
A 10:30-12:55
E 12:45
S 12:55-2
E 2
A2-4
S 4-5
E 5
A5-7
E solids 6:30
S bt 7
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I agree that dropping the CN seems impossible at this point! Our afternoon is often finished around 2-2:30 also and even putting him to bed at 6 would mean almost 4 hours of A time and would equal a meltdown! Plus I think he'd be up at 5am the next day going to bed at that time!
I might still try to increase your A time a bit (maybe by 10 min or so at first) but just keep it very low key, nothing too stimulating for the last half hour or so.
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One thing that really jumps out at me is the solids before bedtime. That can cause huge stomach upset and it is hard for them to sleep with their digestive system in full gear. I would move that meal back to lunch time (or cut back to one meal of solids in the morning only). What does she get for solids and how much?
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Hi,
Yes, i will try adding ten minutes to her A time. Right niw she eats 3 tablespoons of oatmeal for breakfast and then the same for dinner w 1 oz of added vegetables. She took to solids right away and it had actually seemed to help extend her night until recently....( she previously was waking 3 times a night to nurse. After solids were introduced it went down to one sometimes two) my pead. Recommended bc she didnt want me to feed her at night anymore.
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Night feeding is normal up to about 9 months of age for some babies.
I would still try moving that second meal to lunch time. It's not the amount that they eat right before bed that makes them STTN, it's total calories for the day in addition to teaching them to STTN :)
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Well last night was anither horrible night, she woke ever 2 hours until 4 am when she decided to wake ever 45 min. Dh has had it and thinks i'm letting her run our house bc i wont leave her to cry. :(
i have read thst other babies her age still feed at night ( and she still does despite the dr. Orders) but she was waking every 2 hours for a feed. The dr would prefer 0 feeds for 10 hours. But i dont think my lo can do it yet....
So we will see tonight i fed her dinner at 5 and bt at 7:30. I didnt want to do it too early as her little tummy is used to eating at 6:30. I also extended her A times by 15 minutes. But she did have a 30 min. Cn at 4:30. How has it been going for u mellow?
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We also had a 30 min CN at 4:30 today and BT at 7:30 but he was not alseep until 8:15 so we'll see how tonight goes.
Last night we did a DF at 10:30 and then he woke at 3 for a feed, did not settle until after 4 and then up at 6:30.
I feel like we are in a cycle here where he is not sleeping enough at night and then taking long naps in the day to make up for it and so on...
I wake him after 2 hours but he is obviously tired so I feel bad doing it. Not sure what the solution is.
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hmccd - I really wonder if she is hitting the 6 month spurt a couple of weeks early... wanting to nurse that often sounds like she is trying to increase your supply - if she isn't nursing more frequently during the day, I would try that to see if it reduces her night time feeding. But it could be the GS, and that could last a week or so with the night feeds.
Or, it could be that she doesn't self soothe at night and needs the boob to go back to sleep. To find out, send DH in to her during the night to comfort her... if she is still waking after a few nights and/or will not go back to sleep for him, you know she is in fact hungry.
There are a lot of developmental changes around her age and it could just be that she is struggling to calm herself as she wants to practice rolling etc. I know that is causing my DD huge issues with naps/BT right now! Lots of AP happening to get her through it ;)
I would push her A time in the morning only right now, just to see if the extra 10 minutes gets a longer AM nap and helps you shift the day a little bit. In addition to that, you may have to push BT to 730 for a couple of weeks until she can drop the CN :)
Melloyello: I have been there with the "too much daysleep" cycle! To correct it, I let DD nap as long as she needed to for a couple of days to get rid of any OT that could be lingering and then kept her up to reset her clock and get her close to set nap times. It took about a week, but then it was much better :)
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hmccd,
In your easy you show her feeding at 6am but list her awake as 6:50-8:50. Does this mean that she goes back to sleep at 6am after feeding? If she isnt going back to sleep then her Awake would actually start at 6am. Which would be giving her almost 3 hour awake time in the am. Which wuould be too long for her and create OT and short naps.
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Thank thank you for all the advice. :) last night went much better. She woke at 1:30 for her paci. Then 3:30 for a feed. Then 6 for a feed and back to sleep until 7:30. Today i will try to give her the oatmeal for lunch snd just veggies for dinner around five and see if we cant improve it a little more. Do u think two feeds at night is normal for her age ?
I was wondering about the gs too. She has always seemed to hit her gs a week or two early. But she really isnt demanding more during the day.... she is a big baby though 19 lbs and 27 inches long.
Nanac- yes she goes back to sleep after the 6am feed. What are the normal a times for her age ?
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Hi Kara,
Thanks for the advice. What do you mean by "kept her up to reset her clock and get her close to set nap times"? Kept her up in the evening for a later bedtime? Just want to make sure I'm clear! :)
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I moved her to a schedule of BT at 7pm, wake at 5am (she does this on her own ::) ), first nap 8am, second nap 1pm. She would get sleepy before the next nap time and I would keep her awake to get her as close to it as I could without her getting too OT. It takes them a few days or a week to adjust to a longer A time, so you have to push them at times a little ;) If they have always gone to bed at X time, they will always get tired at that time, whether or not they actually need to rest, kwim?
So, when you drop the CN, you will find that baby gets really tired around the normal time of the CN, push baby through it and after a few days, they will adjust :)
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hmccd
What are the normal a times for her age ?
at 5 months most babies can handle between 2-2.5 hours A time, at 6 months it would be closer to 2.5-2.45 Atime. My LO has always been on the high side of A times and at 6 months had a 3.15 awake time. HTH hun
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Ok, that makes sense. The problem we have now is that every day is a little different b/c sometimes he wakes at 6am, other days 7am. Ideally I would prefer the 7am wake up and when he does wake at that time the day usually goes well (first nap at 9am, second a little after 1) and he ends up alseep for th enight around 7:45. However when he wakes at 6 we end up putting to bed earlier or he is a mess and then have no consistent bedtime! Frustrating!