Can't get past a 6-hr stretch...

[Otownmama]

DD is 7 mos and we've worked super hard on her sleep, but are still struggling with some issues. My biggest frustration right now is that she seems unable to sleep longer than 6 hours in a stretch. I can't foresee how on earth we're going to get her weaned at night at this rate. She goes down well around 630 and usually wakes up sometime between 10-12 to nurse. I have tried holding her off until later, but most nights she won't settle without eating. She then sleeps well for a stretch, but rarely longer than 6 hours. Last night was frustrating because she woke up around 10 and I tried to settle her but finally fed her around 1045. She then slept from 11 and woke up at 5 on the dot - her 6 hr stretch. I can manage a 6 am wake-up if she nurses around midnight but 5 is brutal. This morning she woke up happy and playful and finally I nursed her just to keep some semblance of EASY - so our day started at 520. I don't know if she was OT or what, but her first nap was only 30 mins and she would NOT go back to sleep after that. By 845 we'd done a full EASY cycle already  I really don't think she needs to be eating at night, but struggle to see how we can wean her from that feeding when she seems unable to sleep a long stretch.

I was previously doing a DF and then she started waking in anticipation of it. Then we had a month of brutal teething and she was getting up multiple times at night, usually nursing 2x. We just finally got back to one feeding, but I started letting her guide it a bit rather than wake her for the DF. We're on a 4 hr EASY - which is not super consistent, but approximately:

630 - awake and BF
730 - solids
9 - wind down
915-1015 - nap (sometimes as short as 45 mins, or up to 1hr10)
1030 - BF (sometimes a bit earlier if her nap is short because she often seems hungry)
12 - solids
1 - wind down
115-230 - nap (usually her 'long' nap, maybe as long as 2 hrs)
230 - BF
4 - solids
5 - usually refuses CN, so often offer an extra BF to tank her up
6 - bath and bedtime routine
630-645 - BF and bed
*One more feeding between 11-1 usually

It occurs to me that this is just becoming a bit of a vent, but it is so hard when you have a few decent nights and think you're seeing progress, then have a ridiculously EW plus a short nap and spend the day in a fog of exhaustion! I would be grateful for any tips for extending that stretch - is it better to work at re-instituting the DF with predictability? Or try to wean her of night feedings completely? I am trying to keep her up later in the evening, but fights the CN so bad and then gets really tired by 630. What can I do about the EW? Notably - it is still VERY dark here at 5 am this time of year so I try to treat it as a NW, but usually DD is raring to go for the day regardless! Looking back, I think the switch to DST really knocked us off kilter...

Thanks in advance...
Sarah

[Otownmama]

As a postscript to this - last night she slept well until midnight when I fed her, but then woke up again at 330 and at 5. She was screaming at 330 and I just couldn't face an hour of settling her, so fed her thinking she might sleep till 7, but she was up at 5 anyway...starting to lose it on the night wakings!

Help?

[jess, lukeys_mom]

I'm just going to move this over to NW for you x

[brenda2]

she sounds like she is trying to transition to 2 naps which would be right on target given her age.  if she can handle 3 hours A time then push the first nap a bit later and see if it can be a little longer.  this will help even out your A times and avoid that long stretch before bed.  the long A time before bed may be causing her to get a bit OT thus causing your nws and ews.  4 hours before bed is probably too long for her, if you can't get the naps to happen a bit later you may need to force a catnap or put to bed earlier (yes i realise you already have a fairly early bedtime, but you need to break the cycle of ews).

what happens if you do pupd instead of feeding her when she wakes at night?  does she go back to sleep and just wake a little while later?  does she really fight it?  have you tried it?  she may just still need a feed in the night - one night feed at her age is really not that bad.  i would try adjusting the routine as mentioned above and see if this helps the nw/ew before trying to eliminate it using pupd but if you really want to drop the feed you can use pupd it just may be harder on you.