Crazy nights

[abcdmum]

My DD#2 has been having some very strange nights recently and I wondered if anybody had any theories...

She is now 7 months old and has only been STTN for maybe a month.  Three of the last four nights, she has woken up several times - something like 10pm, 12am, 3am 5am.  I can't figure out what's going on.  I haven't been feeding her, because I don't want to get back into night feedings, but wonder what I should do.  She is currently dropping the 3rd nap, so her schedule varies a little...

Here is 2 naps:

7:00 - wake and BF
8:00 - cereal and fruit (she eats, but doesn't seem ravenous)
9:30 - nap (~2 hrs)
11:30 - wake and BF
12:00 - lunch - veggies and fruit
2:00 - nap (~2 hrs)
4:00 - wake and BF
5:30 - dinner (veggies/fruit and rice cereal)
6:45 - BF
7:00 - sleep

Here is her schedule on 3 naps:

7:00 - wake and BF
8:00 - cereal and fruit (she eats, but doesn't seem ravenous)
9:30 - nap (~1.5 hrs)
11:00 - wake and BF
12:00 - lunch - veggies and fruit
1:30 - nap (~1.5 hrs)
3:00 - wake and BF
5:15 - dinner (veggies/fruit and rice cereal)
5:30 - nap (~30 mins)
6:45 - BF
7:15 - sleep

Any thoughts on why she's waking up? 

I would have thought hunger, but she doesn't seem ravenous in the morning.
She hasn't got any teeth yet and they don't look like they're coming out yet.

Any thoughts would be great.

[Mjaz]

Hi,
Just because you don't see the teeth, doesn't necessarily mean they're not coming in, ya know?  Have you tried medicating before bed to see if it makes a difference?  My only other thought would be UT - she's napping A LOT

Melinda

[abcdmum]

I hadn't thought of UT.  How much should she be sleeping?  I usually wait until she gets fussy and put her to sleep, but today I tried waiting it out a bit more.  We'll see how it goes.

You asked about what the wakings look like.  She cries.  When she wakes, I wait to see if she'll settle herself first.  The crying usually only lasts for a few minutes (maybe 5 at most), but I don't know if she's then lying awake or if she puts herself back to sleep.  If I go in, then she usually takes longer to settle.  She has a lovey (blanket), but no other props.  She doesn't need to nurse, use a paci, or be rocked to sleep.  She's wonderful at putting herself to sleep when it's time.  I'm very lucky there.

I'll try extending A time a little and see how that goes.

[abcdmum]

Ok... I'm getting very frustrated.  We had several waking from 3am onwards and I finally fed my daughter at 6am.  What am I doing wrong.  Here is how her schedule yesterday looked:

7:00 - wake and BF
8:00 - cereal and fruit
9:45 - nap (~2 hrs)
11:45 - wake and BF
12:30 - veggies and fruit
2:30 - nap (~2 hrs) with a short wake up and BF around 3:30
4:30 - wake
5:30 - veggies and fruit
6:45 - BF
7:30 - sleep
Between 3am and 6 am she cried out around 3 times and I finally gave her a BF at 6am and she went back to sleep.  It's now 7:20 and I'm going to wake her up.

Total daytime sleep = 4 hrs
Total nighttime sleep = ~11.5 to 12 hrs
Total sleep = ~15.5 - 16 hrs

How should I adjust the schedule to avoid the night wakings?

Thanks!

[Mjaz]

Hi Finley,
Hang in there - we'll try and help!  Around 6.5 months we changed up our LOs routine and things went VERY smoothly for about 3 months.  We did two 1.5 hour naps, roughly 3 hours of A time and 3.5 before bed.  He did 11 hour nights - so we had roughly a sleep total of 14 hours.  Your LO may be higher on the sleep needs (15-6 is high!), but I'm thinking you might need to cut some day sleep in order to see an improvement in the night.  Does she seem wide awake when she wakes in the night?

Could you try to get to a routine like this (basing this off your EASY from yesterday):

7am wake
A of 2:45
9:45am nap 1 for 1.5 hours - wake her at 11:15
A of 3:00
2:15pm nap 2 for 1.5 hours - wake her at 3:45
A of 3:15
7pm bedtime

You might have to do this slowly to avoid OT or you might have to push - it depends on the temperament of your LO.  What do you think?

[abcdmum]

Thanks.  It sounds like you're suggesting that I try to limit the total sleep to 14-15 hrs.  That means that she should be awake for 9-10 hrs and if she can't stay awake for 3hrs at a time, then I'll have to keep the catnap and limit the nap lengths.  Does this sound right?

You asked about how my LO looks at night wakings.  I honestly don't know.  I follow the "don't rush in" approach and I usually leave her for 5 minutes to see if she'll resettle.  If I go in the crying only escalates or settling takes a lot longer.  So, I don't know if she's wide awake after she cries, or if she falls back asleep.  What I do know is that last night she cried out 3 times between 3am and 6am.

[abcdmum]

I just looked at the sample schedules for 7 months old (my DD is only just 7 months) and the average A time is 2:45 - 3 hours.  So we're on track there.  Also, the total sleep seems to be around 15 hrs (ranging from 14.5 to 17 hours).  So, we are also on track there.  Are we sure she's under tired?

[Mjaz]

No, by no means am I "sure," it would just be my best guess based on my experience with my own LO. Around 6.5 we hit a mucky phase where he was having a lot of NWs.  The way I remedied this was by slowly increasing his A times and cutting back his sleep (from 2 2 hour naps, to 2 naps of 1.5)  I would definitely would not keep the CN - but instead try to lengthen her A times a bit.

So when she's waking, she's not needing you to resettle?  That's GREAT.  Do you feel like she could sort of just be resettling herself with a little noise or do you feel it's a full blown wake? 

[abcdmum]

ok - thanks.  I'll give the A time extending a go.   I figure it can't get too much worse

I really don't know whether it's a full blown wake or just a small one.  Because she only cries for a couple of minutes, I have been assuming that she resettles herself. Perhaps I should try to sneak into her room and find out.  It might make the problem solving a little easier.

Usually I wait until I'm sure she's not resettling before I go in... for instance if the cry has been a little too long or it's more alarming in some way.  Sometimes she's had a poop, or leaked all the way through her diaper, but this is rare.  Over the last week, her cries have been very brief, but enough to wake me up and wonder whether I should go to her.  Sometimes, I'll get out of bed and walk over to her room and she'll stop before I open the door.

I appreciate the advice.  I really do.

[Mjaz]

And I should have said...the routine I posted might take a little while to get to, iykwim?  Maybe just try extending A times a little bit till you get to a place where you can do two solid naps.  To this day my LO likes a short first A, but could do a longer last A.  You'll have to see where she can tolerate the push in A. 

It's really great that her wakes aren't full blown and that she can settle herself - good job on that!  Maybe she is just slightly UT and it'll be an easy fix!?