8 mo night wakings and SA?

[story3girl]

My BF 8 month old has started waking up every 2-3 hours for the past 2 weeks.  Before this, she had been sleeping from 8-2, waking once, and sleeping to 6:30. 

Our rough EAS

6:30 Wake, BF
8:00 Cereal + Fruit
9:00 Nap??  (Sometimes half an hour, sometimes a whole hour and a half, sometimes fights and screams the whole time until it's time to feed again)
10:00-10:30 Wake, BF
12:00 Veges + Fruit or Yogurt
2:00 BF, Nap (Sometimes falls asleep nursing again unfortunately)
4:00 Wake
5:00 Cereal + Veges
6:00 BF
8:00 BF, Bedtime

She falls asleep independently at bedtime, but has been seriously fighting her naps.  for her nightwakings, if I feed or hold her, she'll fall back asleep again immediately; if I shh pat it takes about half an hour, but whatever I do she wakes back up screaming 2 hours later. We also have wicked Separation Anxiety, and I'm wondering if all is related.  She will cry whenever I leave the room, or even when I start to say "Mommy'll be back!"

In other news, she's just started crawling.  She has no teeth.  She seems to have just finished a monster growth spurt, as she's gone directly from 6 month clothes to 12.

Ideas?

[mmom]

I am sorry to see that you are still struggling.  There might be a couple of things going on.  First, your day is quite long.  I would aim for an earlier bedtime, especially since you say naps are hit or miss.  Your LO could be quite OT.  Also teething happens long before a tooth actually pop and the first ones can be the worst.  So that can play into everything.  Have you tried medicating before bed to see if it minimizes the NWs? 

Needing a feed to fall asleep can be a few things.: habitual, pain relief, or hunger.  Your LO is 8 months and I am wondering how the food is going.  It seems like you are only offering cereal and fruits and veggies.  Any other grains or proteins?  Something more filling?

I do think at this point, PU/PD would be the best option if you are willing to tackle sleep training.  But first I would assess to see if something else is going on.

[Smurfette]

Also teething happens long before a tooth actually pop.

I can definitely attest to that!

[story3girl]

I've suspected OT at many of her difficult periods, but have had a terrible time with an earlier bedtime.  When I tried at 7 for a while, she took forever to get to sleep and worked herself up into a fit.  I went back to watching for sleepy signals and we shifted back towards 8 - although usually a little earlier on days when she misses a nap.  On Saturday, though, she just took one nap and was entirely pleasant and non-fussy until about 8:30, when I decided she needed to go down whether she was sleepy or not.  After PJs, feed, and Goodnight Moon, she fell right asleep in her crib with no argument and didn't wake until 2 (at which point the every 2 hours thing started again). So, not sure if she's just low sleep need?  She's always been a bit this way.

Some days we do yogurt, and we  started finger foods with Cheerios at least once a day (which she's actually getting most of in her mouth now), but I haven't started meat or cheese yet because I was honestly not sure how to proceed.

I might try the pain meds for teething.  She has been drooling and gumming everything for months, and I keep wanting to blame teeth that never seem to come!  Is it normal to be in pain only at night and happy/pleasant all day?  Or could my daytime SA be related to pain also?

[Smurfette]

Is it normal to be in pain only at night and happy/pleasant all day?

Yes, yes, YES!!!!!!

For my DD anyways.

[mmom]

Teething is more evident during sleep times, because there is less distraction.  Think of times when you have been in pain – probably more noticeable when you get in bed right?

Have you tried purees of meet?  You can make them yourself with a food processor.  What exactly is the struggle with trying different varieties of foods?  You can always pop over to the feeding solid foods board.   http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?board=14.0As your LO ages, you want the variety to increase with the goal of food being the primary source of nutrition by 12 months. 

If your LO is low sleep needs, I would adjust your EASY to have a short nap in the morning and  a longer nap in the afternoon.  Maybe aim for 45 minutes in the morning and then see what kind of nap you get for the afternoon.

[story3girl]

There really isn't a huge struggle with food, we just hadn't really gotten to meats yet.  We didn't start until 6 months and did a lot of different veges and fruits and went pretty slow.  I was thinking meat was next after yogurt, but wasn't sure about how to go about preparing it.  I will definitely check out the solid food board.

Thanks for the nap suggestions.  I will definitely try the shorter morning nap first and then try some pain reliever at bedtime.