6.5 month consistant n/w - need help

[jfbd6805]

Hi Jane

Just popping back on b/c the last few nights have still got issues....

She is basically waking frequently despite her A time change and is now doing less of a mantra and more of a crying noise than before.

Last night..

7 bed
10 DF she woke up just a few mins prior
11:50!! woke up crying out... i waited to see if she'd calm and mantra back to sleep but eventually I had to go in. She got even more upset when she saw me but I sang TT to her twice and then I sat in the glider and she went to sleep. I have been sitting in the glider and waiting for her to fall asleep. i am not sure if she can even see me but I know she knows I haven't left the room b/c if I try to leave the room there is a chink of light and she notices that and starts to fuss. She was asleep by 12:15
1:32 fussed and I got up to tend to her as she didn't sound 'mantra-y' but she actually started to mantra and fall back asleep
3:30 same fussing noises..... but went back to sleep herself
4:44 finally awake and ready for a BF so I nursed her
6:30 Awake for the day.

What does it mean that she seems upset now when she is in the bed? She used to fuss/whine but she didn't sound upset to be in the bed, does that make any sense? Also, what do you do when they cry and then mantra? She is trying to put herself back to sleep but she makes a crying sound in between? I feel if I go in it distracts her from trying to fall back to sleep herself but she is clearly upset too. I hate to leave her when she sounds upset.

She has had 3 rough nights in a row where she wakes up alot and puts herself back to sleep. She is actually waking more frequently now than before. Good thing is she puts herself back to sleep but bad thing is she is overtired in the day from not getting good sleep (so is Mommy as she is quite loud so even though I am not going in I am awake too!!!). Two nights ago she really resisted going to bed for the night which has NEVER happened! Also, yesterday for her PM nap she woke half way through and had to mantra herself back to sleep... again, VERY unusual.

What's going on? Did I do something wrong or is this normal?

Thanks!

[jfbd6805]

I don't know what is going on but last night was bizarre...

10 DF
1:37 woke and had to go in to sing TT
2:14 BF b/c more than 4 hr but really awake and bouncing on and off the breast and wide eyed. Very unusual for her... she normally zonks out immediately
3:37 woke and talking and basically didn't go back to sleep until about 5 this morning... I went in a couple of times, I redosed her tylenol, I had to roll her over once (she managed to roll onto her tummy and that was the only thing that made her cry).

The most confusing thing was her sounds... she didn't mantra (b/c it didn't seem like she even wanted to sleep) and she didn't cry (so I couldn't do PUPD/WIWO), she just seemed a little irritated that she was awake all by herself and it was more of a 'come and hang out with me' sound and not upset and not mantra. She was fully awake and not even trying to go back to sleep until finally i just went in and said the keywords and sang TT and sat in the glider and everytime she started 'talking' again I just said 'shhh, sleepytime' and she FINALLY went to sleep.

She did great for her first A time today so didn't even seem affected by her lack of sleep from last night. I, on the other hand am absolutely shattered as I was pretty much up from 1:30 - 5. What is going on? What am I supposed to do now? Like I said, PUPD doesn't seem like the right choice as she isn't upset about going to sleep she was just lonely and wanted company... (same kind of whine she uses when she wants to get down off her exersaucer or play with a new toy... change of scene).

HELP!

[jfbd6805]

Hey!

Here is today so far...

E 7
A
E breakfast
A
S 9:40

Yesterday....

E 6:30
A
E solids breakfast
A 2 hr 45 total A time
S 9:15 - 11:30 (woke her from her nap as she was sleeping too long)

E 11:30
A
E solids lunch
A 2 hr 40 total A time
S 2:10 - 3:50 (only slept 1 hr 40)

E 3:50
A pretty cranky
E solids dinner
A really cranky... had to be held a lot. 3 hr 20 mins total A time. Planned to put her down at 6:50 for a 3 hr A time but the time just got away with me... did I keep her up too long?
E BF
S 7:10

Quite confused as I thought 2 hr 45 was about right for her age. Should I be extending to 3 hr A already? I feel like we were just doing 2 hr a cuople of weeks ago!!!

Thanks!

[jfbd6805]

7 months and a couple of days

[jfbd6805]

Good grief! Two weeks ago she couldn't stay up more than 2 hrs and now she is ready for more than 3!!! How fast they change. I will work on extending her awake periods and see if that helps. I am also wondering if that little cold from a few weeks ago is now an ear infection as she was lolling her head from side to side in a crazy person manner which she has never done before and reached up to her ears a couple of times which she also doesn't normally do. I have an appt. tomorrow with pedi at 1:30 so we will see if that could be part of it. Although having said that she doesn't seem unhappy by it. Hmmm?

She did a 2 hr 45 A this morning and a 2 hr 45 this afternoon. She was really ready for her nap this afternoon though so I don't think that could be extended. Perhaps I'll start with the first A time? Her last A time is always around 3 hrs anyway due to when she wakes up.

Thanks Jane.

[jfbd6805]

Well she doesn't have an ear infection so back to the drawing board.

I am working on the A times.

Last night...

DF 10
1:42 woke and I nursed her (it was so close to 4 hrs plus I am coming down with something so lacking in energy...)
4:14 - 5:42 1.5 HR awake and crying... had to stay in room with her almost the whole time, sang TT and said key words a hundred times it seemed. I didn't pick her up as that makes her cry more when I lay her down. No mantra just upset.
7:25 woke for the day

Not great but better than the night before.

[jfbd6805]

She is teething - she has two ridges and I am giving her tylenol every 4 hr at night for it.

She did better last night. Still woke up but put herself back to sleep quite quickly but she may have been really tired for the day as she didn't have great naps yesterday.

6:45 bf/bed
10 df
1 woke but back to sleep within minutes by herself
2 BF
4 woke but back to sleep herself
7 woke for the day

I'd say that's been our best night in a long time. I only got out of bed twice so that's a plus since I have developed a cold. Now she will probably have a cold from me in a week or so... : ) Sigh... there's always something.

[jfbd6805]

Well, I don't want to jinx myself as it is 30 mins till DF time right now, but she hasn't woken for it the past couple of nights.

I was thinking about something to ask you... how bad is it to nurse to sleep at the last feed? She is always so worn out from her long A time before bed that she passes out when she has her last BF at 7. Occassionally (like when her brother comes in the room and interrupts us) she will be awake when I put her down and I do the usual bed routine (i.e. sing and lay down with keywords). She still goes to sleep  but sometimes protests a bit (I suspect b/c she is now used to nursing to sleep at that feed). I remember reading in Tracy's book that the 7 pm feed was ok if they fell asleep b/c that wasn't considered 'nursing to sleep' but a 'top up' feed (its in the BW solves all your problems). Does that seem right?

Thanks!

[Catzsz]

Til the last 2 weeks (now we're no longer Bf) I bf the last feed and ds would doze with no problems, but it depends on the baby whether you get away with this, I'd say as long as all other naps arnt preceeded by a bf shouldnt be a problem.
I should mention he doses on the bottle at the last feed before putting down for the night and he's a similar age, you'll know if it becomes a problem.

[jfbd6805]

Quick update:

We seem to have gotten our A times sorted out but we have a slight hitch... its not a big big problem but I am watching it in case it develops into one...

DD still wakes at around 2 to nurse (she still have other NWs around this time but not consistently like she used to have) then she wakes at 6 for the day. Last week she was still waking around 7ish and this wake up time crept up on us during the course of the week. I am nervous for it to be sooner than 6. There is no way to get her back to sleep as she is bursting out of her sleep sack with happiness that the day has started.

On one hand it helps me work out naps (she does down around 9 - 11) and then again 2 - 4 and gets me to a 7pm bedtime but its a bit early for me. Also she doesn't always sleep for a full 2 hrs for her nap which makes her cranky so I feel she needs more sleep.

Any thoughts on the EW or is it ok?

Thanks!

[jfbd6805]

I am still doing DF at 10 and then one night feed around 2. Does that still make is 11 hrs at night?

Last night she woke early (1:30) so I put her back to sleep and she didn't wake again till 3. I nursed her but then she didn't want hardly any milk at her first AM feed. It threw the whole day off and my breast is still sore from being too full. I figured it would be ok b/c it was still 4 hours till her first feed (assuming a 7am wake up... she woke at 6:51 so I was close). Does that mean she is ready to drop the night feed?

I don't think I can drop the DF b/c she still wakes up from time to time if I don't go in at exactly 10 to feed her (she is usually awake by 10:15 wondering what happened).

Thoughts?

[jfbd6805]

Well last night she woke at 1:29, so too early for her feed, but she was up and practicing rolling. I had to flip her over and at 2:15 I gave up and went back to bed. She finally fell asleep on her belly and woke for the day at 7am. I checked on her at 6am b/c I was worried about ... well, you know.... but she was fine. However, she was so tired from being up so much last night that she is already down for her first nap after only 2.5 hr awake time. Hope that's ok. On the plus side she ended up not getting her extra feed last night so I guess she can go all night w/o a feed.