7 month old at wits end

[Sabine]

After 2 months of teething and illness we are battling EW's and NW's and I am absolutely at my wits end and hoping someone can help me.

My almost 7 mo old has this usual routine for the last month.  I want to break it but don't know where to start:

430-5am wakeup (have tried PU/PD and SHH pat but won't go back to sleep...try for over an hour and a half)
630 bf (usually won't take much b/c has nursed ++overnight--I really want to change that)
700 (2T rice cereal)
730 nap (usually only 30min)--I have tried to put down earlier (after 2.5hrs) and still only 30min
1030 bottle EBM 5oz
1100 nap (usually only 40 min) sometimes 1.5hrs if I am lucky
200-230 bottle EBM 5oz
300-330 nap (usually 40 min)
500 supper (2T cereal and 1tsp veg)
600-630 bottle EBM 8oz and bed
no problems falling asleep
930 wakeup (try PU/PD or shh pat for 1+hrs) will give in and feed after that will usually take 4oz EBM or BF
then usually wakes up at night at the following times:
1230
330
then up for the day at 430-5

When she is up at those times, I bring her in my bed and nurse her as I have severe back issues and can't sit up to nurse her in her room.  She is an absolute crank and I really don't know what else to do about this. 

How can I change this?

[Evgenia]

{{{BIG HUGS}}}

Glad to hear ur lo is doing better, at least health wise.

To m personnaly it sound like ur lo is OT (30 min naps), though others may disagree.
Have u tried treating 4.30-5 wake up as nw? i.e. nurse and back to sleep, this could allow her to get few more hours of sleep and she wopuld feed better when she's up to start the day.

Is there any chance u could organise a bed r smth in her room that u can nurse her on? A blow up bed? Tracy said in her books and programs that u never bring the baby to u; u come to the baby. I wonder if she got used to being taken to ur bed and now its hard to break this habbit?

Does she need to nurse during the night? I mean is she really hungry or is just pacifying?

Is there any chance u r going into her too soon at night? I did that with my dd, she had a cold and understandably I would run in to make sure she's ok, but once she was over her cold I got into a habbit of running in pretty much the second she starts fusssing. Then I read on these boards that it could take lo 10-20 mins to ressetle, so i tried not going in for 10-20 unless I was sure it wasn't mantra cry. And I have to say she's doing much better now at resettling herself if she wakes up at all.

Another thing I noticed from ur routine is that she has her cereal half hour before nap. With my DD I have to make sure that she gets her solids at least an hour before her nap, any less than that and she won't settle as well and will be up a few times during her nap.

Best of luck
Hope this helps

Evgenia

[Sabine]

She goes to sleep on her own.  We lie her down and she is out.  She has no props (no paci) but has a blankie she snuggles with.  The only AP I see is at night but with my back going out, I can't feed in a chair.  It hurts too much.  She lies in the bed beside me and I usually fall asleep too b/c I am so exhausted. 

Any suggestions?  What A time do you suggest?  What do you suggest I work on first?

[Sabine]

i'll try probably over the weekend though...I have a 3year old to deal with too.  my husband is here on the weekend so we can tackle this together.

thanks again...i will keep you posted.

[Sabine]

so this is how today played out so far:

530 wakeup tried to have dh put her back but no go
630 bf
715 ish solids
745 nap (slept 45 min)
1030 bottle EBM 5 oz
11am nap (slept for 2hrs)
next bottle will be at 230 then nap at 330

she seems to do okay with 2-2.5hrs but was yawning a bit earlier than 2.5 today (A time that is).  it's hard to get in bottle and solids before nap and I know she should probably be on 2 naps (most of my friends' kids are at her age anyways).

i will see how tonight plays out.  btw, she is cutting her two top teeth too.  that would explain alot too.

thanks for the help.