7 month old Waking regularly during naps

[Buttonbobs]

Hi all, my DD is 7 1/2 months old & has never napped well, she regularly only slept for 45 mins at a time until 6 months, although her A times were usually in the normal range. Since she dropped the CN she has been sleeping a little longer, although not consistently. Also if her first nap is short 45 mins, she will or can sleep for 1.5 - 2 hours and if the first nap is longer, her second will be short. She has always slept well at night but sometimes goes through a phase of early morning waking. At the moment she's been doing quite well on a 6.30 am wake & headin through to BT at about 6.30-7pm.

The last few days her naps have been reasonably long but she has half woken from them at the half hour point and again at 45/50 mins. She won't settle herself from these wake-ups and when the grizzling turns into a cry I go in and resettle - often having to replug her dummy. She is still part swaddled using a woombie but she does quite well with one arm out at night. As we are doing baby led weaning she is still having a DF and usually takes a full feed. I don't know if it is relevant or not but she did suffer with reflux which was treated with Gaviscon until recently when she came off the medication with little/no sign of the symptoms. I don't think she's uncomfortable or in pain and she has  I teeth yet.

If anyone has any suggestions I'd be very grateful. Although it seems to me to be a nap issue I'm a little worried she may be OT at times but don't know how to work this out or deal with it.

[Buttonbobs]

Hi Jane, thanks so much for looking at this. E does use a dummy but usually spits it out within a minute or two of falling asleep. Sometimes during naps we have to replug but never at night. E is also still swaddled using a woombie. At night she sleeps very happily with one or both arms out. Durin the day she will fall asleep with one or two arms out but can't transition between sleep stages.

E is doing really well with feeding but we are doing BLW so not sure how much she is getting. The last couple of days her poo has been darker and more solid so she must be digesting a fair amount.

Our EASY for the last two days was as follows:

Wake up - about 6.30am I think (she's usually quiet to begin with)
E formula feed - 7am
Solids - 8am
A - 3 hours
S - 9.30-10.15/10.20
E formula feed - 11 - 11.30am (if she sleeps longer she can go longer between feeds - sometimes even until 12ish)
solids - approx 12.30
A - aiming for 3 hours. If she's had a short nap I try to keep an eye out for tired signs earlier but when I've done wind down she then refuses sleep. Today we were out & she didn't sleep until 1.40 so A = 3 hours 20 mins.
S - in buggy so only 40 mins again.
E - FF 3.15pm
A - tried to get her to take a short
10 min catnap but no luck.
solids -offered at 5pm but too tired so didn't eat any
E - FF 6.30
BT - she went upstairs for wind down at 6.45 and fell asleep easily by 6.55.
Tonight we have had no cry outs since then.
DF - 10.30pm

This morning during first A time she yawned from the minute she woke up onwards and she had woken several times before her DF sometimes needin resettling and sometimes not.

Although these last two days have been difficult, prior to that and since we dropped her third nap she was sleeping a little better (sometimes naps of 2 hours each) and even earlier this week she was taking a short morning nap but managing 1.30-2 hours in the afternoon with me occasionally extending by plugging the dummy. Before dropping the CN her morning nap was always the better one, which worked well as we are often out in the afternoons. She was also sleeping until 7am.

Sorry for the essay, I hope you can help xx

[Buttonbobs]

P.S. forgot to say she has no teeth yet. Dribbling has been like a river for weeks and sometimes I do see little white lines in her lower gum, but neither DH nor I had any teeth until 12 months so no idea if we're going to see anything soon. Where E has been a little grizzly I have tried calpol and/or nelson's teething powder but it's made no difference to her naps.

[Buttonbobs]

Last night was awful, she screamed out with a pain-like cry about an hour after she'd gone to sleep. Although she settled fine & was ok after that he then woke or stirred every half hour - hour from 3am through to 6.20 when she didn't resettle. Some of the times she moaned for a while but didn't really wake up and once she needed the dummy replugged. I'm at home a fair amount today I will be trying to help her sleep as much as possible - although I'm lowing energy after the lack of sleep.

[Buttonbobs]

And she's asleep already - less than 1 hour 30 mins A time! Do you think she's in an OT loop? Do I just follow her signals today to get back on track & then hope to get back to normal tomorrow after a better night? Am losing confidence in knowing what to do.