extended NW's - 6.5months

[Jessleigh]

My DD is 6.5 months and the last 5 days has been up for 1-2 hours in the middle of the night after having been STTNing for a month.

At first i thought it was OT bc we were working on extending A time and were up at 2hrs 25mins. Then got caught in an OT cycle. The NW's were usually the same time from about 4-5am. I always just ended up feeding her after awhile and she would finally settle maybe 20mins later. Sometimes she cries out, then just stares, sucking thumb, acts restless, might cry a little, more staring (i have a video monitor). So it's not full blown "help me" cry. Just more like "I'm annoyed that I can't sleep" cry.

Then yesterday finally was a good nap day (got 1 1hr30min nap) plus a 50min naps and 2 quick 30min naps (one was on accident in the car). So i thought for sure she was caught up and would have a good night. Nope.

She woke at 1:30 but resettled (i think). Didn't hear her again til 2:30. Waited while she tried to settle. Attempted to feed her a couple times but no letdown. GRR...So i put her back in the crib and she didn't cry so i thought "well maybe she's not hungry and will settle." 15mins later she was crying again so i fetched a bottle i had pumped and she fell asleep sucking on the bottle after drinking 3oz.

So, i have no idea what's going on. OT? Teething? GS?

She's been extra grumpy during the day and pulling on her ears but no cold so maybe it is teething. Would that cause this type of NW?

[becj86]

Long unsettled ones tend to be discomfort. Long happy one tend to be UT.

I do think you need to keep increasing that A time and probably drop the CN before she's going to sleep well at night again though - that's a pretty low A time for 6.5mo.

[Jessleigh]

Ok thanks for the clarification. It may have been discomfort. She wasn't making any happy sounds, but then again...i'm not sure. She slept through finally last light but woke earlier than normal at 5:45, babbling and happy. So maybe UT.

I'm trying 2hrs35mins for the first A time this morning. We'll see how it goes. Thanks! It just always seems so hard for her to extend and she gets OT so easily...

The problem i have with dropping the CN is that she doesn't take 2 long naps. If i get a good first nap, the second nap is usually short or visa versa. Then there's too much time for her to make it til BT (unless i put her to bed REALLY early, like 5:30). Sometimes all i get is 4 short naps...
Anyway, i'm on the naps board to sort this A time stuff out.
thanks!

[becj86]

Ok, well the day affects the night so much, hon, so I'd say to keep going with sorting out your day and the night should follow.

It just always seems so hard for her to extend and she gets OT so easily...

Totally get this. DS was like this but I found if I pushed him harder - 15-20mins at a time and resettled the OT naps for 2-3 days it worked much better than 5mins every few days. Just my experience, not saying you should do it - you know your LO better than I!

All your advice here is going to be about getting the day right anyway, so I will just lock this thread so all your advice stays in one spot for you. xx