6 month old waking frequently

[Nhudson]

Hi, my LO up until about 3 days ago was on a really good routine nursing 4 times a day and twice overnight and we were doing a four hour EASY with two naps. We just recently dropped the cat naps. A typical day was like this

8 am bf
9am solids ( usually 6 tbsp half oatmeal and half fruit)
10am nap usually 1.5 or 2 hrs
12 pm bf
1pm solids ( usually 6tbsp half veg and half fruit)
230 ish nap usually 1.5 hours but sometime 45-50 mins
4pm bf
530 solids (2-3 tbsp barley and 2-3tbsp of veg)
Bath 630
7pm nurse to sleep

Two night feeds random times but was starting to get more consistently recently at 1230ish and then 430 or 5 then up between 7 and 8 am

Well, the last three nights have been so messed up, he has decided to eat around 930 pm then around 1 then 230 or so then at 5 then usually up for the day. I was thinking it might be a growth spurt or because he is getting his other top tooth or because he has had a cold recently ... And it could be any or a combination of these factors but my concern is that his increased night wakings are because he might not be getting enough during the day in terms of breast milk. I think he would probably nurse before his afternoon nap and I am ok with adding another feed if that is what he needs I am just not sure how it would impact my EASY schedule. My doubt about what I am doing spawned out of a conversation I just had withmy MIL in which she said that I should just give up nursing and put him on the bottle or give him more cereal right before bed to help him sleep.

Just to be clear I am totally fine with getting up twice and am planning on continuing to bf (i nursed my first for 12 months) but I was wondering if there is something that could be tweaked on my EASY or if it is most likely a growth spurt or something and it will pass. Any advice would be great:)
Thank you

[*Ali*]

It could definitely be a growth spurt as there is a big one at 6mo but it could also be that your routine needs a tweak. 2hrs is really quite a short A time for a 6mo so I would begin by pushing that nap later over several days to at least 2.5hrs after WU. What is probably happening right now is your LO is so well rested after that first nap he is UT going down for the second nap and doesn't do a full nap then has a really long A time until bed which means he goes down OT. The NWs then occur and he expects to be fed as I am guessing is what normally happens on the hunger NWs.

Also he is having a lot of solids for a 6mo. Most LOs would only be on one, perhaps two solid meals at this age. Too many solids can actually mean less room for breast milk in the tummy in the day and so LOs wake up at night to make up the lost calories. Most solid foods have less calories per ounce than breast milk so fill them up but don't keep them full. You may wish to consider cutting back on the solid foods and seeing if his day time milk intake increases.

What do you think?

[Nhudson]

Hi Ali, thank you for the reply:)  he usually gets up at 7 or 730 so his A time is around 2.5 hours. Do you think it needs to be longer?  And if so when do I nurse him?  I can definitely try to cut back on the solids, he just eats like a tank.  This morning he decided to wake up at 2 am to feed then needed to feed again about 30 mins after I put him back down, then he got back up with gas an hour later and once we got he gas out I topped him up do he went back down around 4 then at 4:50 he was wide awake ready for the day so my husband got up with him for an hour and it is now 6 and I am nursing him again!! He is actively sucking not just comfort nursing. I am starting to think that it is the 6 month growth spurt.

I have another question for his afternoon nap....should it be after 2.5 A time? This is what we are currently doing but he fights going down at that time. Yesterday I decided to try to nurse him at 2 to see if he would feed and then fall asleep but he did feed well for 23 mins but he didn't go to sleep he stayed awake until 4 pm and then slept for an hour and a half in his car seat while we were grocery shopping but he was crying before he fell asleep.  Should I push that second nap later? And if so when do I fit in his bf's for the afternoon?

Thanks again for all of our help!!

[*Ali*]

Oh ok I thought he was waking at 8 on that routine. 2.5hrs is more like it. Has he typically been above A times for his age? He may even need 2hrs45 for his first and/or second A time. If not now then very soon. I would keep an eye on him and see if you think he is tired enough for a nap or if he could handle another 10-15 mins.

I would still feed on wake up in the morning and wu from his naps and then before BT. You don't need to worry about it being 4hrly once they are on solids.

How is he going down for naps? Do you think the BF at night is a prop. I notice he feeds to sleep at BT.

To try to get more milk into him in the day are you already feeding both sides at each feed? What about feeding a top up just before the solids an hour after the usual BF? You could stop those top ups once the GS has passed and just go back to offering solids at that time.

And sorry, I just saw I kept saying she in my last post instead of he.

[Nhudson]

Thank you so much for your reply!!  The feeding has decreased a little bit and he was only up once last night in 12 hours, which was nice!! I did decrease his solid intake to 4-5 tbsp at each meal instead of 6 and I gave him an extra feed at 2 pm. The only problem from yesterday is that he didn't have an afternoon nap. He was nursing very sleepily at 2 for 30 mins so I am not sure if he was considering that his nap?  He does nurse to sleep at night which is totally a prop but I am not sure how to get around it?  We had been rocking him to sleep for his naps and we didn't mind cause it only took a minute or so but recently it has become a problem so I am trying to find something to do...we had been doing the pupd and it was kinda working with shh pat. But with his GS things all went awry.  I decided to use a radio this morning on static to try to use that as a prop then I can slowly turn the volume down over time and it kinda worked!? 
I have a question about the bed time feed....if I am going to use white noise when do I turn it on? After he has finished eating or while we start? And for the night feeds should I turn it off?  I would like to have him go to bed on his own at night but would like to be able to nurse him to sleep overnight. Any advice about nursing without him falling asleep would be great:). Thanks again for all of your help!!!

[Nhudson]

Hi, I also have another question...my LO went all afternoon yesterday with only one nap and now today his nap was from 11-1... His afternoon nap is usually at 230 and I'm not sure what to do...if I wait until 4 to put him down for his second nap I don't want his bedtime pushed back too much  later than 7 or 730 so do I cap his nap at 4 today (assuming he will go downfor one).... I am at a loss ith his schedule being all wonky due to his growth spurt but I can't handle another 'cot party'. Last night was the first night all week there wasn't one for two hours in the middle of the night and he didn't have an afternoon nap....is there a correlation? And if so what should I do?


K, so it is now 320 pm and he is nursing again...not sure if he is still going through is GS...but he did the same thing yesterday and then slept well last night. I am interested to see what he does today. He will definitely need another nap today but I'm not sure it is going to happen

[*Ali*]

I would work on getting him to sleep independently or at least without feeding for naps and BT if you can. That will help him settle himself overnight if he arouses without him having to call in you.
At NFs it is totally fine to feed to sleep. That is the one time Tracy even said no A times. If you really do want to stop him falling asleep in the boob at night I would perhaps keep an eye on his sucking and if he seems to have stopped actively feeding and is just sucking for comfort I would take him off and settle him in the cot. Tbh I just fed mine back to sleep at all NFs since they were already independent sleepers in the day. I did eventually have to actively wean the last NF though after their 1st birthday so I think it did remain a bit of a prop.
Re the white noise, I used to put it on when we settled down for the BT BF and turn it off an hour and a half later. That was just how long the track ran for though not a strategic time period. I wouldn't bother with it for NFs though. I know some people just let it play on a loop all night but we used a baby monitor and I couldn't stand it personally. At naps I put it on when we went into the bedroom before I put the sleeping bag on and closed the curtains and did our song and laid him in bed. That played for 1.5hrs too.
I often found mine just crashed after a bad nap day but if they only got that shorter amount of sleep for more than a day in a row they would get OT and start NWing. I find it hard to believe a 6mo would need less than 3hrs sleep so I would try to keep 2 naps of 1.5hrs minimum. Since he had a long late morning nap on the day you posted I would have done a 45 min nap and stuck to a 7.30 BT. I hope he went down for you.

[Nhudson]

Hi Ali, thanks again for replying so quickly. He did not have a second nap today but he was down normally at 720. He doesn't nurse to sleep for naps just for bed and during night feeds. I am going to try to find a way for him to not go to sleep nursing at night. I am trying the static tonight and I am going to see what happens...I played it for his morning nap and it didn't seem to bother him, it was still 2 hours. Thanks for the info!!

[*Ali*]

Great. I hope it goes well

[Nhudson]

Ali, I just wanted to thank you again. I have been using the white noise and he is now having his second nap today. He seems to be back on track and he actually calmed himself down about 10 mins ago when he started crying and now he is just sleepily playing in his crib. We had another decent night last night with one wake up. I am hoping that things continue to progress. I did increase his A time and I think that has helped

[*Ali*]

Oh I'm so happy to hear that. Well done mama. Your persistence obviously paid off.