overtired or milestones?

[stheo]

my LO is 7 months old and for the last week has been waking around 10-11 and then every 2 hours after that, sometimes taking 2 hours to get back to sleep.. the waking is at different times throughout the night except for the 10-11 ( I tried W2S last night and it woke her up)...  I dont know if maybe she is overtired ( we recently dropped the catnap) or milestones ( she is learning how to crawl, up on all fours, dragging herself).. her routine looks something like this...


E wake and eat at 700-730
A
S 930-10 to 11-1130 ( usually 1.5 hour nap)

E11-1130
A
S 2-230-330-400  ( usually 1-1.5 hr)

E 300
A

bath, cuddle, book, eat and bed by 700-730.....

We started solids at 5 months and then she went on a solid strike and now we are reintroducing them.. sometimes she will eat them sometime shes wont.. She is more of an "I want to do it myself" type girl, i give her her own spoon and she will stick it in her mouth but when i try to feed her sometimes she wont eat... She eats 4 times a day 6-8 oz and is 20 lbs... is this not enough food to sustain her, is it the crawling that is making her wake SO often, or is she overtired.. she usually does 2 hr A time in morning, then 2.5-3 hr Atime afternoon and then bedtime which is usually 3-3.5 hr... does my schedule look ok... i am just really frustrated with my LO, am sleep deprived ( I sent her to MIL to get some rest and clear my head, i work weekend nights so thought it would be a good rest).... i just want to know what i am doing wrong... 

[M and N's Mom]

How long ago did you drop the catnap?  3.5h A time before bed seems too long for a 7mo IMO.  I would move bedtime up to 6:45ish hoping your LO is asleep by 7:00.  Earlier bedtime doesn't necessarily mean earlier wake.  I put my LO to bed at 6:00 some nights when he doesn't nap well and he sleeps until regular wake-up time and he is 15mos.

I think OT is the problem, compounded by the crawling.  Make sure there is LOTS of time to practice the new skill during the day.

Also, how does she fall asleep?  Independently or with a prop (paci, bottle, rocking, etc.)?

[stheo]

she is usually in bed by 700 so A time is usually 3 hours.... she doesnt fall asleep independently never has, can pat her to sleep though... i thought A time before bed was the longest and she can usually do 3 hours A time in afternoon before her last nap.. we dropped the catnap couple of weeks ago.. if she doesnt nap well then we will add a 3rd nap..

[M and N's Mom]

Some LOs have no problem with 3h at that age, but I think most are still around 2.5h so you may want to try shortening it for a few days to see if anything changes.

The other thing I wonder, is if the fact that she doesn't fall asleep independently is the problem.  We all wake up some time during the night, but we know how to turn over and go back to sleep.  If you pat her to sleep, then when she wakes up in the middle of the night she doesn't know how to put herself back to sleep without the patting.  We had this exact problem and had to work towards not touching him at all so he knew how to sleep without us.

[stheo]

if she wakes at 4 then next nap would be at 630 and thats close to bedtime... i dont want to shorten her naps since i just them extended... and if she naps too late in the day she pushes her bedtime way back to 830 or 900.. she used to sleep thru the night fine until we hit growth spurt and milestones....  how did you get your lo to sleep independently.. Ainslee gets worked up and never stops crying,, doesnt self soothe, and doesn't calm easily

[M and N's Mom]

I wouldn't make a nap at 6:30, I'd make bedtime at 6:30.  I know it seems early (and I fought it for a long time) but it works for us and many others.  Don't shorten the naps.

Independent sleep...you might be able to get help from the pu/pd board.  Have you used pu/pd at all?  Here is a link to how to use pu/pd.  Scroll down to the 6-8 month instructions.  https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=69177.0

I'll tell you, if you choose to persue this avenue, it is hard work, and there will be a lot of crying, but speaking from experience it does work if you stick to it.  You need to stick with it EVERY sleep time (naps, nights, middle of the night) and she will learn how to self-soothe.

[stheo]

i have tried pupd and she nevers stops crying to get to the pd part. shes just cries and cries until she cant catch her breath and it exhausted.. and ive done a bedtime at 630 before and she still wakes up many times in the night. it doesnt matter what time she goes to sleep, it just makes the nw start earlier..

[M and N's Mom]

If she never stops crying during the pu part, you still put her down after the allotted time (I forget what is recommended...2 mins?) even if she is crying and then keep doing it.  IT IS HARD, but it does work.  I don't know if you want to try it or not, but the first night could take hours so prepare yourself.  However, if she learns to put herself to sleep she will only wake you at night if she needs something (pain, hunger, etc.).

Just my 2 cents worth.