Hi there and welcome to the boards
I hope we can help you out!
A few things jump out at me from your post and I hope you don't mind me asking a few more questions. You said that she has always been an unsettled baby - is there more to that than just personality do you think? Does she (for example) struggle with reflux or tummy troubles?
'm doing my absolute best to follow the 6 month routine from the book. 2 naps around 9am and 1pm with a catnap around 5pm. She gets very cranky after she's been awake for 2 hours.
I'm not quite sure which routine you are referring to here but it sounds very much like the 'standard' 4h EASY routine of WU 7, naps 9-11 and 1-3 with a CN at 5 - is that right? If so that routine is really appropriate for a 4 month old (typical/average awake time about 2h) but needs adjusting for an older baby as many 6 month olds are heading towards 3h A time and dropping the catnap. 2h A time is very short really for a 6 month old - her tiredness cues could be 'learned'/habit, boredom, or overall tiredness from disturbed nights and a slightly 'off' routine, but I would expect that you may need to adjust what you are aiming for to start seeing things settle a bit. For example with 2.5h A time you might go for:
WU 7
Nap 9.30-11.30
Nap 2-3.30
CN 5.30-6
BT 7.30
Moving towards dropping the catnap and something more like:
WU 7
Nap 10-12
Nap 3-4.30
BT 7.30
(Obviously variable depending on nap lengths)
My biggest concerns are what happens after the dreamfeed. It changes every night, sometimes she'll wake up every couple of hours, sometimes she'll do 5 hours then wake every 40 mins. It's very erratic. Does anyone have any suggestions on what i might be doing wrong?
This is a bit tricky as it could be a combination of factors, but not necessarily you doing anything wrong!! Firstly I'd say babies aren't machines so variation is to be expected and is normal. That said, waking every 40 mins or every 2h is excessive really, and I would again question whether there is discomfort playing a part for her. My first was a great night sleeper and had wakings like this when teething or ill. My second was not a great sleeper at night and turned out to have milk/soya allergies - never bad enough to be very obvious in the day so was a late diagnosis, but significantly impacted his sleeping at night.
Thinking about your specific questions - hopefully some of my suggestions will answer the first one! But please do't feel like you are doing anything 'wrong' - there is often no 'right' to be had as babies are constantly changing and often several steps ahead of us!
- What can i do about naptimes when she has an early wakeup?
I would work on A times really. EASY is not meant to be a schedule and so I would expect that naps would need to come early on early waking days. The thing to avoid though is shortening the first A time too much. That day you put her down at 8am she only had about 1h40 A time from 6.20-8am, and 30 mins of that was in bed. Essentially her first nap that day was an extension of her night sleep and doing that too often can actually cause early wakings. I would probably try to push through for at least a normal A time (so around 2h30) from the time she woke up. It may mean you get an OT nap (short or unsettled) but it should avoid prolonging the early starts.
Do you think she is breastfeeding enough considering her size?
My question here would be is she growing ok? It's fine being small, someone has to be! But that's a very different thing from not growing well. If she is happy, growing (on her own centile), having plenty of wet and dirty nappies then she is probably feeding plenty. If there are concerns in any of those areas then she may need more. Are you feeding at night besides the dreamfeed? It wouldn't be unreasonable at her age to still need a night feed in addition to the dream feed
IN the daytime is she happy to go those 3.5-4h between feeds? If she is, great! Just be aware that some breastfed babies will struggle to make it that long until fully established on solids so if you feel she needs to eat sooner then you should feed her.
Sorry that's a long reply! I hope I've answered everything for you but please come back with any more questions
