6.5 mths waking more at night than used to

[bethany mum]

My 6.5 mth old was making it through the night from a DF at 10 or 10:30 and then only wake once around 3-4:30am before her morning wake up at around 6am. But lately she's been waking before the dreamfeed and then around 3- 4 hrs later, and again around 5am. AAgh- making me tired and not sure what's going on. Her A times during the day are 2 hrs for first one, then 2.25 for next two A times. SO she has 3 naps and bedtime around 7pm. SHe can't quite do a consistant 4hr routine in the day, so it's somewhat flexible between 3 1/2 to 4hrs. She has just started solids, but still only small amounts. She is EBF. I always offer both sides each feed, but she doesn't always have both sides. What to do- seems she's gone backwards with night sleep and making me tired....

[ElsMom]

I wish I could offer help but my DS is doing a pretty similar thing. Just want to listen in on your answers!

[bethany mum]

Last night she woke before the dreamfeed at 9pm, then again 12 midnight, 3:30 am and 5:30am!!

[sim75]

My son is the same age and Ive been going through a rough 2 wks with sudden NWs (after he used to sttn). It was suggested to me to extend his A times in the day to 3hrs, which Ive done, and it seems to be helping. He is also now down to 2 naps instead of 3 naps during the day (most of the time anyway) so he usually sleeps about 1hr in the morning, and 2hrs in the afternoon.

Also, with the df, when they reach around 7mths it can become disruptive to their sleep. So that's another thing Im now trying to phase out (this week). There is some info on this in the EAT section of this forum.

It might help if you post your routine on here for someone to look at so they can suggest where it may need some tweaking to get you back on track. They seem to change at this age, so we need to adapt their routine! We had up to 10 NWs 2 weeks ago and we are now down to only 1 after tweaking our routine and extending the A time, which I can cope with! (But Im still pushing for NO NWs!  )

[bethany mum]

Her routine is:
E  6am
A
S 8-9:30 on a good day, often less
E between 9:30 -10
A
S 2 hrs from when she last woke, sleeps 11:45- 1:45  on a good day
E 1:30 or 2pm
A
S 45 min nap between 4 and 5pm
E between 5 and 5:30
S bedtime usually 7pm

then gets a bit mucky. If she doesn't wake sooner, I give her a DF 4 hrs from last feed. And sometimes I feed 8pm and 10:30 to try and avoid the NW....

[bethany mum]

I have wondered about going to 2 naps. Just not sure if she could make it yet. Will be 7 mths by end of next week though.

[sim75]

Im no expert... still tweaking things myself! But this may help on the catnap readiness:

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=64837.0

"To be able to drop the catnap dc will need to be able to stay awake for 3hrs.  Until then you should keep offering the catnap until the refuse it completely for at least 1 week.  It is then time to start increasing their A times across the entire day – always increase a times slowly…10-15min every few days."

And here are some sample 7mo routines where "Average Awake time at 7 months can range anywhere from 2 hrs. 45 mins. to 3  hrs.":

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=164030.0

"Average awake time for 6 month olds ranges from 2 hr. 25 min. at the beginning of the month up to 3 hrs. at the end of the month."

From what I gather, and the advice I have been given on here, you would need to work on extending his A time first, gradually, which will stretch your day out more to allow for him to drop the catnap when he is ready. Based on my own experience, this may then help with the NWs. Ive worked on things in this order, and now Im dealing with dropping the df so there is less disruption to his night. So one step at a time.

When you feed at 8pm and 10pm to avoid the NWs, does it work? At this age Id expect that it may actually disrupt his sleep and cause him to wake more? But I could be wrong cos anything seems to go at this stage! Im learning that much!!

[bethany mum]

My LO is now doing A times of 2 1/4 hr for first one, then 2 1/2 for next two, so still having 2 naps. She typically doesn't sleep more than 45 min for the first nap. I guess it's now time to extend A time again is it? (She just turned 7 mths a few days ago)

[ElsMom]

My DS has issues with NW, so I don't know how helpful this is, but he's about the same age (will be 7 months this week) and his A time is 3 hrs if I want a good nap. He acts tired generally around 2 hrs, and if we're in the car or he's in the stroller he'll fall asleep and take a short nap. If we're home, I do something to distract him (usually a solids meal around 2 hrs after he wakes and then we go outside if possible). 3 hrs usually gets about a 2 hr nap in the morning and then an hour and a half in the afternoon. If you try to increase, remember to do it gradually, by about 15 minutes every couple of days. When we increase A times, we have a rough couple of days while he adjusts. He naps better but is fussy and OT until he gets used to it.

[bethany mum]

She is now 7 1/2 mths and over the last couple weeks we've managed to get her down to just 2 naps. And... guess what- she has been stretching out how long she sleeps at night before a feed. 4 am, 5, 5:30, and has done about three nights till 6am! Yay- just by cutting down to 2 naps. Still tweaking things- she still doesn't usually sleep for more than 1 hr for first nap. Second nap typically 2hrs. But yesterday and today she only had 2 short naps, meaning she woke from second nap about 1:45pm!! And I couldn't get her to have a short catnap after that at all!! AAGH! So she was v. tired, when finally went to bed by 6:30 pm!! I did try to stretch her waketime a little more- only by about 10 min. Would that have been too much? Not sure why she has done this??

[bethany mum]

Hmmm, she has gone back to waking at night- not the same time every night. And quite often waking from her second day nap around 2:30pm. I try to see if she'll have a quick 3rd nap just to get her through till bedtime (which I'd like to be 7pm). But most times she won't and I put her to bed 6:30pm. But the night waking thing again is SO ANNOYING, thought it was gone Any suggestions someone, of what to try?? She will be 8 mths in one more week.