I'm working on my daughters day time routine to try and hopefully get around the night wake ups but until then I need some advice on getting through them. I keep chopping and changing my approach and second guessing myself which I know can't be helping. I have a night without my eldest and my husband is away for a couple of nights so want to commit to a particular way of dealing with this.
Emily is 5 months old. During the day she self settles to naps, she eats about 28 oz of formula and 1 'top up' BF between her 3pm and 7pm bottles. She is 91%ile so no weight issues and no longer gets fed during the night.
Basically she wakes any time between 11:30 and 2am, chatting in her cot, very loudly. I have been leaving her to self settle but after 45 mins/an hour she gets grumpy and I have been shush patting to sleep, which can take up to an hour as she's so overtired by that point. We then get another brief wake up between 5 and 6 which I pat her down within 20 mins.
How should I deal with these wake ups? I don't want her to NEED a shush pat to go to sleep during the night, should I be going in during her Chatty period? She just wants to play when I have previously. Should I ignore her even when she gets grumpy and leave her until she settles herself? Maybe go in at intervals?
Please, as I said, I need a step by step plan to get her back to sleep quickly, without creating props, until I get her daytime sorted and hopefully she'll stop the night wakings!! This is my weekend to sort if it's going to be noisy!
Many thanks in advance