6 month old new Night wakings HELP!!

[jo- millies mum]

Hello,
I'm new to the site so still learning but have been using the 4hr easy since my LO was 4 months.

We have recently been having problems with night wakings where i cannot get her to settle without a feed. She has been eating solids since she was 4 months as she was refusing milk and having less than half recommended amount. She has taken to solids but some days she will eat loads and other days wont have any. This has never really affected her night time sleep before. she is now established on 3 meals a day(when she eats!)

She has gone a full twelve hours 3 times a few weeks ago and then got a cold and it is since then her night wakings have started.
I'm not sure if i have done accidental parenting when she was ill as i felt sorry for her and this has caused the night wakings and need for milk feed. At this time she couldn't keep her dummy as she couldn't breathe through her nose and constantly cried every time she spat it out as she wont go to sleep without it! I kept running to her and putting it back in!!

She is normally a good sleeper and loves her cot she likes going to bed and we always use a bathtime routine. she falls asleep really easy but does wake in the night for her dummy which normally settles her however in the last few weeks she will take her dummy and then spit it out 5-10mins later and want it back again this has gone on for up to two- three hrs, i have tried giving her water, putting my hand on her chest for reassurance and then eventually feeding her which will make her go back to sleep- but then she wakes up again. over the last 4-5 nights she has woke at 12.30-1.30 and again at 4-5 am. each time the only thing that will settle her is a milk feed. She only takes about 3-4 oz which is normal feed for her.

I have never used PU/PD and try not to get her out of her cot between 7- 7, i have always managed to settle her in her cot. If she does come out of her cot its because she is going to be fed or have her nappy changed. I feel if i use PU/PD it will confuse her and make her think she is going to be fed.

I have been reading other messages and now think it may be because she is overtired as she has a long A time until bed. She loves her naps and i often have to wake her after 2 hrs. She struggles to stay awake longer than 2 hrs during the day unless we are out and she has other things to look at.

My routine is as follows

7am- wake and bottle
8-830am solids
9am nap
11am wake and bottle
1230-1pm-solids
1-1.30pm nap
3pm wake and bottle
430-5pm solids
630pm bath and bottle
7pm bed

Since we have established solids she sometimes refuses her bedtime bottle waking for it no later than 10pm. I also struggle with her eating sometimes as she is tired so have been trying a catnap before last meal of the day and giving her two aftrenoons naps of no more than an hr.

last night she refused her bedtime bottle and woke at 930pm for it so i tried the wake to sleep method about 12 and it worked for the first night waking- she stirred a  few times from 3am and settled herself but woke crying at 530 am and i had to put her dummy in about 6 times and left her to cry a little until 7am. when she does cry she will stop and start until she eventually Cries out and then i go and put her dummy in. However she didn't feed all night.

I want to sort out the night wakings as i return to work next week and will really struggle if I'm doing this every night.

Do i continue with wake to sleep and does it work for more than one night waking?
How many nights do i do wake to sleep in order to solve the problem?
Is she too overtired before bed?
Why does she struggle to stay up longer than 2 hrs? and is this normal for her age?


I know its a lot of questions but need some help!!

[momofclaire]

Hi, Welcome to the boards.

To answer your questions...
Wake to sleep generally take 3-5 days to really work and it will only work to solve a habitual waking. If she is waking at the same time everynight. 

I think she may be having too long an A time before bed.  If she can only handle 2 hours during the day then expecting her to go from 3-7 is a lot and could be contributing to her nightwaking. 

Normal A time for babies her age is about 2-3 hours. They can usually handle longer A times throughout the day but the one before bedtime tends to be a little shorter. If she is just now 6 months 2 hours is about right. If she is almost 7 you may want to attempt to extend her A times by about 5 minutes every 2 or 3 days but I wouldn't do that until you get a  better routine (catnap) in place.

I would try a routine that included a cat nap.  When Claire was 6 months our day looked a bit like this.
7:00 wake and eat
9:00 nap (1.5-2 hours)
11:00 eat
1:00 nap (1.5-2 hours)
3:00 eat
5:00 cat nap (30 min)
7:00 bottle and bedtime

If you think she won't take the cat nap with 2, 2 hour naps, I would limit her naps to 1.5 hours and try for the cat nap.  Babies often drop the cat nap around 7.5 months but some keep it a bit longer. 

I hope this helps a bit.

Myia

[jo- millies mum]

Hi myia

thanks for your help. Will try and get the new routine in place. She woke every hour last night from midnight but settled with her dummy then woke at 430am and wanted her dummy every 10-15 mins until 7am. So she was very tired and started getting tired after about 45 mins this morning. I have been leeting her sleep when she is tired today just so that i can stop her from being overtired- hope I'm doing the right thing!?

Can i ask how you managed to get all milk and solid feeds into the day as not sure if my routine is the best?

[momofclaire]

You know, around 7 months I started to feel like all we were doing was feeding so I started doing them together. I would nurse Claire and then give her her solids immediately after.  At that age solids are just for practive and don't really make up much of their nutrition.  Around 9 months she started to self wean so we went to breast milk in a bottle and she drank that with meals. 

You may want to think about getting rid of that paci as it seems like it could be a prop. 

[jo- millies mum]

Thanks again. Im pretty sure that the dummy is a prop but im just not brave enough to try and get rid of it yet. We are due to go away to australia in a few weeks and then i have some time off work might try and do it when we return as routine will be upside down anyway!

We will try solids at same time as milk- might work!!

Thanks again for your advice