6 month old sleep issues -help!

[Rachel600]

Hi

So she went from 7 until 11 40, quick feed upstairs then resettled. Then woke at 1 and wanted to be fed to sleep again but I knew she wasn't hungry so tried to resettle but she was really screaming, then dh helped and by 2 30 she was asleep again. She then woke again at 3 40 and I fed her as that was about 4 hours since the last feed. She then woke at 5 and wanted to feed to sleep but I managed to get her back in her cot and she shuffled around loads but went back to sleep until 6 15 when I fed her and the day started.

The plan is to continue with only feeding every 4 hours tonight as I know she can do this and to resettle more herself.

[enna77]

Hi Rachel - just dropping in some support as  my DD2 is almost exactly the same age & we're in the process of weaning night feedings too. A few weeks ago she was waking about 3 times a night & I was feeding her at least 2 of those, then I got it down to 1 (my guideline was to not feed before 2am), now for the last week its been 0 feedings. I would have been quite happy to stick with 1 but when she made it to 4am one night so I just tried resettling to see what would happen & never looked back.  She has still been waking this past week, even though I'm not feeding, but its getting quicker and we had our FIRST ever STTN so I'm hoping its all a step in the right direction. It was really hard to start with & I was thinking OMG want am I doing feeding is sooo much easier & more restful! but it gets easier & its worth it in the long run. You can do it too 

I love white noise, we have a little machine in her crib & when I go in at night to resettle I restart it. I think managing their daytime sleep (as well as you can with other LO's!) is important at this age to make sure they are tired enough at night. I also have to work around school drop offs and pick ups each day with an older LO which is tricky, I can post our routine if you think it might help.   

Good luck!

[jessmum46]

Well done Rachel you're doing great!

Thanks for the extra support Enna

[Rachel600]

Hi

Thanks for your support and yes, Enna it would be great to see your routine as with these school runs to fit in it makes everything so tricky. I'm loving not going anywhere much and Jessica has had a grat day too. Just hoping the night will be good as well. She's only had two naps today so fingers crossed she will sleep well.

[jessmum46]

Hope it goes ok for you - and excellent name choice!

[enna77]

yes I love weekends & holidays for the same reason! you can actually have a crack at a half decent routine lol. I'm not sure if this will help you or not as I have to leave the house at 8:40am and 2:30pm each day but this is what we do

If she wakes before 6am I treat it like a NWing and resettle.

WU usually somewhere between 6 & 7am
7am BFeed
8am Bkfast
SCHOOL RUN
9:20 small feed/top up
9:30- 11am Nap (regardless of what time she woke ie even if at 6am I stretch her to 9:20/9:30)
11:30 Lunch
1:20 Bfeed
1:30-2:30 nap
SCHOOL RUN
3:30/4pm small feed/snack
5pm Dinner
Bath etc
6:15 BFeed
6:30 Bed

I had it suggested to me as a way to get a few more calories in to give a small feed like a morning and afternoon tea as they are less likely to 'snack' at this age heading toward 7 mo, and it avoids with longer A times being due a feed during a nap. To start with I didn't like it as felt like it was stepping backwards after moving to 4 hourly feeding but I think its really helped with her not being so hungry at night & would definitely rather be feeding at day than during the night! so just seeing how it goes for now.

So this is only 2.5 hours total day sleep which is why we have to have an earlier BT. She was resisting the CN so I didn't have much choice and she handles the longer A time before bed fine. On days where we don't have a school run it all gets stretched out a bit, I let her do 2 hours in the morning and then our day finishes closer to 3/3:30 and we do a 7pm BT. So we play catch up a bit on those days. Keeping in mind a 6.5-7 mo can be doing 2.75-3hrs+ A time.

HTH & keep up the great work & keep us posted. 

[Rachel600]

Hi

Jessica is an excellent name, I agree
Enna, thank you for your routine and it is definitely one we are working towards, I'm so looking forward to not having a cat nap to try and factor in. She can manage quite a long awake time already as there is always so much going on to watch! We had a funny day today for some unknown reason so a catnap just had to be had! With regards to the snack feed, it sounds like a good plan and sometimes we end up doing that too.

Last night I managed to space out the feeds again so the first one was 4 hours and the second one was 3 hours. Really hoping she manages a long stretch tonight as stretching her from 3 until 6 am meant I was mainly awake. Fingers crossed 

[enna77]

Well done, you're doing great! It is definitely harder to start with as you're getting up to resettle & then getting up to feed once they've reached the time as well. I started then stopped once for that very reason as I was definitely getting more sleep just feeding! but unfortunately theres got to be a bit of short term pain for long term gain - now that I've stuck with it in the space of a few weeks weaning down, we're now done to 0 feedings and only 1 NWing so its definitely worth it in the long run. I have no doubt she would still just be feeding 2-3 times a night now if I had let her, this baby certainly wasn't going to wean herself! lol