My Turn! (6 mo old)

[CB Mama]

I have a 6.5 month old who is up 2-3 times during the night.  He has been on EASY since the day he was born.  He falls asleep in his crib at bedtime and has for several months.  He was sleeping 8:30-5:30/6 at 3-4 months.  The beginning of April(~5months) he was fighting a cold and started waking  coughing up at night....leading to nighttime nursing.  We also introduced cereal/purees around this time. 

DS is army crawling and pushes himself up to sitting, etc.  Last night he was up at 11:30, 2:30 and 5:15 (for the day)...At the 2:30 feeding I wanted to cut down on his nursing time, but he was actively nursing (for once).  I have on occasion been able to nurse on just 1 side, on those nights he is up <15 minutes. 

We have been working on nap times as well.  He fights falling asleep at naps.  The last 2 days I have been rocking/Pat/Shush to calm for naps and he has been better (but not 100%) at falling asleep in his crib.  (Wasn't sure if this post belonged in the night time thread or the nap time thread )  I think that naps need to be extended, and I"m not sure how to help that happen. 

Our day so far
5:15ish nurse
5:30 awake and ready to play
7:00cereal
7:30 nap
8:30 awake
9:30 nurse
activity till 11ish slept for 1/2 hour (fell asleep on way home from running errands)
11:45 veggie/nurse
activity
~

On an average day he will take at least 2 naps, hopefully one will be at least an hour but there is no definite..

Evening meal is at 6:30
Bedtime is 8:30
I was not routinely doing a DF.

I would like to see him eliminate the 2:30ish feeding (and the 11:30 one), Go back to sleep after a 5:30ish nursing (not sure if I'll get that one) and take longer naps. Any suggestions would be welcomed.

[M and N's Mom]

It might help if you post a full day's routine.  I am wondering if your LO is Overtired.  You said he usually has 2 naps (does that mean he sometimes doesn't?) and that one might be an hour?  He would definitely need 2 naps, if not 2 and a catnap, and I would think an earlier bedtime if he is up at 5:30. 

The short naps, and wakings could all be caused be being chronically OT.

[Colin Macs Mom]

I agree - and also it doesn't sound like your routine is consistent from day to day, is that right? That would also be a key factor.

[CB Mama]

The routine is as "consistent" as it can be at the moment  My 4 year old has preschool 2 afternoons a week and that really makes it hard to have a consistent routine.  PS ends this week (I've been looking forward to ending it to aid in developing a consistent routine for a couple of months  )  My goal for the week of Memorial Day is to work towards a consistent routine.

DS takes 3-4 naps on an average day.

He was up at 11:30 and 4:00 to eat last night.  I tried nursing briefly on one side and longer on the other...DS did not like that and wanted to eat back on the 1st side.  We did not snuggle after nursing, just laid him down and he went right back to sleep.  He slept till almost 7 this morning

[Colin Macs Mom]

Consistency is really key and frankly it doesn't sound like you have a lot of that.     Does your older DS get out of school at varying times? If not, I think we can help you structure a routine that would work.

[CB Mama]

Sunday was a step in the right direction!  DS took a long afternoon nap (~2.5 hours), had a late catnap that turned into an hour nap, went to bed at his normal time and slept til 5:00!  When he woke up on Saturday night at 2:30 I gave him a sippy of water and only nursed for a few minutes. 

I could not agree more about consistence being SO important.  I actually have been looking forward to this week since DS was born because it means no more afternoon preschool.  (This is the last week.)  So often my 6 month old is ready for a nap and gets woken up going to pick up his brother, which drives me crazy.   The theme for next week is going to be consistency, especially for PM naps!

My husband was amazed this weekend at how easily DS went down for naps. He commented several times, is he asleep already?

[Colin Macs Mom]

FANTASTIC!!!