Starting EASY but 6 month old baby fallen asleep at 7pm feed

[Bianx]

Hi everyone,

This is my first post on the forum but I've been getting a lot of helpful info from the boards the last few days.

We implemented the EASY routine to my 6 month old daughter who is a spirited baby yesterday morning. She is a snacker and terrible sleeper (does not sleep in the day - I'm lucky to get half hour from her in the day, and up every hour at night).

Yesterday started really well and although stressful, was working ok. Her naps were a struggle but she did 20 mins in the morning and 25 mins in the afternoon.

Last night she woke up hourly until 3am and was going back down after 20 mins of shhhh pat and pu/pd. she then woke at 3am and it took an hour to go down but she eventually did and woke up at 7am when I woke her up. We fed, had activity but she was really tired from 8.30am, yawning and rubbing her eyes. I took her into her room a bit earlier then the 9am plan, and with only 10 mins of calming, she went down for a sleep at 8.50am. She woke up after 45 mins and would not go back down. She did this high pitched scream and I eventually gave up at 11am when she was due to feed again.

Something similar happened for her 1pm feed. She was rubbing her eyes at 12.20pm and was falling asleep sitting up on her play may at 12.30pm. I knew she wouldn't hold our until 1pm so took her into her cot and had 20mins of shhhh pat before she went down. Again she woke up screaming and would not settle for the remaining period. Each time she did go into her cot awake and did sleep (which in itself is brilliant) but was obviously over tired each time and would not go back.

She was tired this afternoon and I spent an hour trying to put her down for a cat nap at 5pm but wouldn't go down even though she was overtired.

I fed her at 7pm and she fell asleep again. I tried to wake her but she wouldn't. She fell asleep sitting up and didn't feed enough either. I put her in her bed with the lights on in the hope she's wake up but was so tired she didn't. I have never ever seen her that tired.

I'm really worried she's gone to bed without self settling and worried its going to make things worse tonight. Also, she's not fed enough this evening so is this going to be a problem, especially considering she is a snacker.

Thanks for your help in advance xxx

[anna*]

(((hugs))) don't worry about her feeding to sleep tonight, she is obviously just exhausted. How about doing a dreamfeed for her at about 10.30pm?

[Bianx]

Thanks for your reply Anna

She ended up having a great night! Surely this is a one off as it was her second night in? I gave her a dream feed about 10.45pm and she woke at 12.45am. It only took 15 mins of shhh pat which is the shortest time so far for her to get to sleep. She then woke at 4am but self settled (never done that before) then I woke her up at 7am.

I now need to sort her naps out. She's tired from 8.30am which is only an hour and half after waking. That sounds too early for a 6 month old and I suspect that's why she's tired for the rest of the day (plus she doesn't sleep a substantial enough and I spend the rest of her sleep window trying to get her down which is point blank refuses).

Does anyone know what I could be doing wrong? Xxx

[anna*]

You're not doing anything wrong! She just needs a bit more awake time!

[creations]

Hello and welcome to BW

What a great job you are doing and having great success so early on too.
My advise would be to never take one day's routine at face value.  Sometimes LOs crash and appear to sleep well after a certain A time then the next they don't.  It's a steady routine over time that will help show where you are up to and what tweaks might be needed to help keep your LO well rested.

Looking at your first post, it seems to me (I'm making assumptions here) that after the early first nap that day, 8.50am for 45 mins waking at 9.35am the next nap was not until 12.50pm.  This gives an A time of 3hrs 15 mins.  If my assumption is correct then this is way too long for a 6 month old.
A time is counted from the moment your LO wakes to the moment she is asleep regardless of what time of day it is or when a nap 'should' have taken place.  If she has a short nap and you are unable to resettle to extend the nap you must count the A from when she first woke, not from when you gave up on the resettle and took her out of her cot.

Have you seen this
Is my baby ready to increase his ‘A’ time? (incl. 'A' times for younger babies)
The guidance A time for 6 months is around 2hrs 15 to 2hrs 30.
Start counting from morning WU and try to get to at least 2hrs for that first A for a few days (you are aiming to extend that A time up to the guidance and from there observe to see the optimum A time for her).  If she begins to yawn and rub eyes a change of scene might help, some gentle low key activity to keep her awake but not to upset her.  We used to just stand cuddling and look out of the window.
That day you gave looks like this
WU 7.00
A 7.00 - 8.50 (1hr 50)
S 8.50 - 9.35 (45 min) tried to resettle until 11.00
A 9.35 - 12.50pm (3hr 15)
S 12.50 - ? Woke screaming

A 45 min nap can suggest UT (undertired) so although she is looking tired early on extending her A time, gently, could help to make her tired enough to extend her nap and get a more restorative sleep. An UT nap tends to last only one sleep cycle (usually 40/45 min depending on your LO) and is often difficult or impossible to extend even with an independent sleeper.
Working on the first A of the day (and first nap) is a good idea as it comes after, hopefully, a half decent night sleep.  It also helps get through the rest of the day if the first nap is good.
If the first nap is short alter the days routine accordingly so the following A times don't become monster long:
WU 7.00
A 7.00-9.00
S 9.00-9.45 (try to resettle if possible)
A 9.45- 11.45
S 11.45 -

I echo Anna's advice not to worry about feeding to sleep occasionally.  If she is exhausted there is just no avoiding it.  Really try not to get stressed about the need to do things perfectly.  Getting into a regular routine and sleep training is a process and will take some time, not everything has to be perfect all the time.

Keep a track of your EASY times so you can look back for patterns and so you can post your times for more specific help too.

Hope this helps some.  Don't be hard on yourself, you've had great success already and are doing great.