6 month old waking up like a newborn?!

[Amita11]

My DD wakes up every 2 hours, sometimes 1.5 hours...sometimes I will feed her and put her back down and she will start crying 20 minutes or so after again?!!?  I put her to bed at 8pm and she will be awake again by 10pm.  She goes longer then that during the day without a feed, I know she is not hungry.  So, when I try PU/PD she will keep crying for an hour, sometimes more!  When I do give in and feed her she still wakes up at midnight, 1:30am-2amish, then at 4amish, then again at 6am and again at 7am (at which point I bring her into my bed and feed her there).

I'm so tired sometimes, I bang into the wall on the way to her room, my body wakes up before my mind does.  I will be standing in the hallway and I don't know if I am coming back from her room or going to it?!   

Please...I need sleep and help!!??

Here are the details:
Age: 6 months
Routine:
8am – wake up, diaper change and wash face (also have a three year old I must brush teeth for, etc)
9:15am – breakfast (breastfed with rice cereal) and then playtime for a bit after
10:15am – naptime (I sing to her on the way to her room, close curtains, turn on white noise, put her in crib with blanket and leave room)
12pm – wakes from nap, feed (breast)
12:30pm – this part of the day gets tricky.  My first born has preschool here, so I have to wake up baby if still sleeping, activity is usually driving to the pre-school.  I play with her when we get back from dropping of her sister
2:15 – naptime (again this is tricky, her nap is usually until 4ish, but because  I have to pick up my three year old at 3:30pm, I don’t want to disturb her nap again by waking her.  So, I will put her in the car and she has her second nap there)
4ish – wakes up and has a feed (breast)
5:30pm – dinner (usually some five star pureed delicious-ness! )
7:30 – bath time
8:00pm – bottle (180mL) and sleep.  She usually only drinks 120mL, she will push the bottle away when she is full and I put her in her crib at that point. 

I know she is teething.  We have no props, lovies, etc.  I have noticed her cries sometimes sound like they are coming from her throat, if that make any sense? 

Can anyone help?

[eshea]

I've noticed sometimes I can't tell if I'm coming or going, either!!  Usually I forget what time I fed him, too, and everything becomes a blur.

I don't have much advice b/c we're in a similar situation with a lot of NW.  Perhaps the teething is hurting her?  Have you tried any medication or teething tablets at the first night feed?  (Do you feed at 10 like a DF?)

[Bex09]

Hi lets try and get you some much needed sleep hey?!  There are a few things that jump out at me at first hun. Obviously teething... we still have major sleep problems here when teeth decide to poke through. Like pp said have you given teething gels, powders or pain meds before bed? If not it is worth giving them a shot and see if it makes any difference to the NW. If it does there is your answer.

Secondly, I totally agree with you that your DD is not waking hungry and does not need to feed every 2 hrs at night. You say that sometimes you do give in and feed her. This could be part of the problem if she has learnt that if she cries for long enough and hard enough you will feed her and it becomes a comfort prop rather than a hunger issue yk? I think if you decide that you are not going to feed before a certain time, say midnight, then you really need to stick to it and not cave in. Easier said than done hey? Believe me I know! Also has she ever had a dream feed?

Finally, how long has it been since you dropped the cat nap? Is your DD now doing a 4 hr A time to bed from 4pm until 8pm? If so then I think that may well be your issue. By BT she will no doubt be OT and that is known for causing frequent NW, epecially before midnight. Ideally she would be doing a 3hr A time so that you can then fit the two naps in. Does she seem very sleepy after the 2h 15 morning A time or could she cope with a little longer do you think? If you were to do this it would have to be very gradual, say 10 or 15 mins every few days. These sample routines might give you some ideas...
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=164029.0
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=164030.0

Let me know what you think?

[eshea]

Amita11-  after responding to your post last night I made up my mind to be very firm with myself about not just feeding my son.  He had his DF at 10 (when he first woke) and then I told myself he wouldn't eat again until between 2 and 3am.  He woke at 11 (I"m not sure why) and went back down in 15 minutes.  When he woke at 1:30 (usually I'd feed him), I zipped myself up in a fleecy coat (to keep warmer AND resist the urge to whip out the boob) and comforted him in his crib.  He was so angry - and cried on and off for an hour.  He finally fell asleep at 2:30 and stayed asleep until 3.  I then fed him and noticed he didn't even eat much.  He then slept until 6:45 and we started the day.

I feel good about what I did and noticed he had a much better meal of breakfast (some squash) this morning.  I'll stick to the plan again tonight in hopes that it will get easier each night. 

I too would agree with PP about the catnap.  I notice a difference when I don't really enforce the 5pm nap.  It seems to make a difference for us.

How did your night go last night?

[Amita11]

my night?  well, she got off to a good start by sleeping from 8pm to 11pm...and then it started.  1:30, then 3:30, then 4:30, then 6:30, then 7:30am...I think...things get blurry after a while!  :S 

I do give her meds before sleep and it never does anything.  Whereas the catnap is concerned, that nap has always been an issue with her.  She won't take it and I KNOW she is tired?!  She screams and cries.  So, after fighting every day for two weeks, I just keep her awake now. 

I know she is using me as comfort, because most of the times she doesn't really feed when I put her on me and she always wakes up with a ridiculously full diaper.  I am going to have to resist the urge as you said, Eshea!  The only problem is my husband needs his sleep (even while writing these words, I hate him. ), because he wakes up at 4am for work. 

This can't last forever right...   

[Bex09]

I think eshea is right with her plan to not feed before a certain time, that is what most people tend to do when trying to wean the NFs.

If she was refusing the CN then how about trying to push her morning A time out a little? Would she cope do you think? If you could get her nearer to 3 hrs of A time eventually then her A time to BT would be shorter and she wouldn't be as OT.

Hope you have a better night tonight.

[eshea]

I was thinking about your note that your husband needs his sleep.  I know that this summer I started the AP at night because we were on many vacations and all sleeping in one room.  It was simpler to nurse the baby than to do any sleep training and risk having a tired preschooler and crabby family.  That being said, maybe your husband could have some earplugs for when you start doing PU/PD?  It shouldn't last long (the nights of crying) and in the long-run it could be nicer for your family.

I'm nervous to say things are getting better here because just when I feel confident something goes wrong, but last night we had even more progress.  He didn't wake for the DF like he used to, so I fed him in his sleep at 10 and he woke at 12:20.  With a quick pat he was back to bed until 2:30.  I fed him and he slept until 6:45.  He ate more solids at dinner and I think that might have helped, too.  I was really tired but knew I had to stick with the plan - that's the hardest part!

We're here to encourage you if you start dropping a night feed. 

[eshea]

Amita11, how are you doing?

Things aren't going so well here - I"m hoping you might have good news to share!!

[Amita11]

Hi Eshea!  In answer to your question...I'm am so tired.  My husband is working nights now, so I am going to try and do this with my daughter.  She is going to be 7 months on Saturday.  Shouldn't she be sleeping through the night? 

She wakes up anywhere from 9:30pm to 12am.  Normally, I won't feed.  She cries for two hours every time - without fail.  She does that angry cry you mentioned your LO does.  Every time I pick her up, she is looking for my boob, but I don't feed her.  There is no way she could be hungry, right?

Last night when she woke up at 11pm, I gave her a bottle to see what she would do.  Maybe if she thinks no more booby she will sleep longer.  She drank a little bit and was staring at me the whole time.  She had this look on her face, like 'this is not what i ordered'.   

It didn't work.  She still woke up at 1am.  I think I fed her...can't remember.

How long should she be able to go without a feed at this point?

How is your LO?  I think they are all plotting against us! 

[eshea]

Hi - I'm sorry to hear things don't seem to be getting better.  We're in the process of dropping the catnap and it seems to be helping.  Are you still doing three naps or two now?  I know what it means to be so tired - my husband is gone many nights and it does get so hard!  Sometimes I don't remember if I feed the baby or not either!

My rule is that I will feed him at bedtime (right now it's around 6:15) and then I won't feed him until at least 10.  If he screams, he screams, but I know he's not hungry.  And then I think he needs to go at least 4 hrs.  I know he can last longer and has started to, but it still seems to be hit and miss.  I think the big change for us is to have more A time and drop the cat nap.  I think we're on the right track.  AFter that I"ll work on dropping the DF.

What's your EASY like these days?

[roimata9]

Hi, I hope things are going better for you guys. It is so hard with those short bursts of sleep! I had a similar problem, and have just posted about my (very recent and hopefully continuing) success, you might find something to help you here: http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=221266.0
All the best!

[eshea]

Thanks roimata9 - always good to hear success stories!  DS just woke from a nap (a good 2hrs!!!!!) so I"ll read it later.