7 Month EW - tried everything!!

[lulunut]

Those days are fun but Mom's and LO's pay for it for the next 2-3 days!!  I fear Christmas.  Our days are full of driving here and there for different family members!!  I am sorry that you had to deal with that!

I have given DS a bath during the day before.  It's just easier with help from DH.  Once I get his BT sorted out I can bath him right after dinner then spend time winding down.  With all this 5am stuff he is on 3.5 A time and that leaves shorter naps and early bedtime.  Ahhh!  I am stuck in a loop!

We had a great night, to bed at 6:45 ( I am working on pushing him) and no NW but 5Am wake!!  Urgh!!

Today I am pushing him for 4A time.  So far so good.  He has gone down with no trouble.  I woke him after 60 min nap this morning.  I want him to do at least 60 this nap.  I just put him down so I am crossing my fingers!

How are you doing Ambinsi?

[Ambinsi]

Hi ladies,
I'm doing just fine....we did an early bedtime yesterday after a decent nap #1 and a not-so-decent nap #2 and no chance of a CN. (She is outright refusing this last nap and my only options are to skip it or do it in the car and last night I decided to skip it). Today I got an amazing first nap, but I went out with her and didn't quite predict correctly when she would fall asleep in the car. She wound up sleeping for maybe 30 minutes at the most and didn't go back. After spending another half an hour driving around with her hoping she would, she started getting annoyed so we came home. I put her in the crib and she's rolling around, exhausted but clearly fussy - typical OT. She seems to be settling, then she'll sit up and fuss, and it goes on and on. If she's not sleeping by 3, back in the car we will go because I really want a nice second nap and I think my only shot here is a crappy OT nap, if that even happens.

Last night she was down by 6:20, up for her own dream feed crying at 10:15 and then slept until 6:20am. The dream feed and I cannot seem to part ways just yet....

[lulunut]

Sounds like she is getting into 2 naps.  Go with it.  It may work out.  It will be a bit in and out as she tries to find her proper times but this could be a good sign.

Early bed sounded good for her.  Congrats on the pretty much 12 hours! 

Don't worry about the DF.  You can hang onto that as long as you want.  Or as long as your LO wants!!  It's a nice time for the 2 of you.  I always enjoyed it!

I am still struggling with 5am!!!!!!!!!

I pushed his day yesterday.  It was perfect.  2x 1 hour naps at 4A time and 7pm bed.  He had 3 NW's.  I know it was OT change in A time but I am sticking with this plan.  It should work out.  I hope!!!
Have a great day ladies!

[RothE]

How did the longer A times go today?

Things are messy here. 4:30 a.m. EW. Tried to feed and re-settle...no luck.  Today all 30 minute naps.  We are basically back to where we started!  Oh well...

How was everyone's day?

[lulunut]

Aww Rothe!  Sorry to hear that.  You will get set backs when you change things a little.  If you look back has there been overall improvement?  Hope so!

I worked today so at Grandmas' he did 1hr 1st nap and 45 2nd nap.  Which brings me to 6:30 BT!  URG!  I know it will bring 5am wake and possible NW.  I will just hope for a better day tomorrow!!

Hope everyone has a good night!

[Ambinsi]

Sorry you had such a rough day, RothE and sorry about the short naps, Lulunut.....

We attempted an early DF last night at like 9:30. She wanted no part of the bottle, just wanted to sleep, so we put her back down only to have her wake up crying and drain a bottle at 11pm. Then she was up before 6am....I guess from her disrupted sleep last night? Its so frustrating! As far as naps she did only car naps today because I was out all day with her and a friend and her son. She did 2 hours for nap #1, an hour for nap #2 and then a 20 min CN later on. We are trying to put her down to sleep now but she's awake in her crib, not crying. I'm doing a DF tonight, again to try to prevent these NWs.

I've decided to try to up her solids since she's waking up for bottles during the night. WDYT?

[Ambinsi]

Oh Boy.....we're definitely having some issues here. She's doing much better with naps but...after trying to get as much solids and bottle in her as I could yesterday, she rejected her dream feed. We tried at 10, she took an ounce. She woke up crying at 11 and only took an ounce again (this could be becoming a habit - I have to keep an eye on this one) and then woke up crying at 4am for a full bottle. She drained 7 oz and went back to sleep until 7:30am. How do I get her to take what she needs during the day??

I think I'm going to take this over to the EASY forum. Ugh.

How was everyone's night?

[lulunut]

Wow!  You sound like you had a rough night.  Sorry to hear that.

The transition from night feeds to day feeds I found took a bit  Especially since you are just introducing the solids.  It may take her a while to figure it out.  Try limiting her night feeds.  Slowly of course.  LIke on give her 5-6oz instead of 7oz of bottle.  Keep the DF at a steady time until she slows.  Then do DF at earlier and earlier times.  I can remember one night I skipped our usual DF thinking he would be up at 2am anyways.  He STTN!!!   I was amazed!  That is when I knew he was ready to drop the DF.

I had to go slow with my DS on any changes (15 min here, 2oz there).

  My DD I just stopped feeding her after 6mts.  I had lots of NW but I never fed her.  I don't recommend this.  It was probably too much for her!!  And now when I look back I feel bad!!

I have a very sick little DD today so my challenge is to keep them apart!! 

Have a wonderful day today!

[Ambinsi]

Thanks lulunut...I appreciate it, believe me BUT - this kid is 8 months old and has been on solids since 4 months! Solids are definitely NOT new to us - she loooooves her solids and is very much used to them. And night feeding is something that only started a week or two ago. She was STTN for a very long time.....At first I thought it was a growth spurt but now I'm thinking that she's not getting enough during the day and perhaps some of these wakings are becoming habit. Ideally I'd rather her take a DF and NOT the 4am bottle - but I'm not sure how to make that happen.

We had dropped the DF for awhile and she was still STTN but we started it up again because she wasn't taking enough ounces and her weight gain suffered and it was the easiest way to get those ounces in her. Now that that's no longer an issue its like....we have this problem.

Ughhhh good luck today everyone!!!!!

[lulunut]

Sorry, I thought your Lo was younger.  That changes my advice then!!!

Is she on real food or baby food still.  Both mine were on chunks at 8mts.  I used to feed him formula as a drink with a meal to get those extra calories in.  I also gave toast before bed, nursed brushed book and BT which was around 7pm.  I would wake him at 10:30 for DF.  I found that 11pm disrupted his sleep.  And I wouldn't feed again until wake time at 6am ish.  If she insists then intro the smaller and smaller oz at 4am or stretch the time by 15 min until you feed her.

Perhaps they have become a habit.  She should be able to do 6-7 hours w/o feed at this age I believe.  I am no expert! 

Hang in there!  It will get better!

I had a 5:50 am wake today!!! Yay!  I was up at 5 waiting for him to squeel. It sucks now that he has me trained!!
1:45 in morning today and 40 in afternoon.  BT at 6:45.  Hopefully I get another wake time closer to 6am!!

How are things RothE?

[Ambinsi]

Yes, RothE, how are you doing today???

Lulunut - She SHOULD be going longer than 6-7 hrs w/o a feed in my opinion at this point, and was doing that for a long time. I think we're at a funky stage where she still needs her bottle but her solids are becoming a more substantial part of her diet. As a matter of fact at this point I'm upping her solids, rather than struggle with her to take the bottle. As long as she hits the number of ounces she needs, she will fill up on solids. We had the most success with a 10:30 DF. Earlier doesn't seem to work. We're going to try the DF tonight AGAIN and hopefully we have success because like I said, I'd rather her take those ounces at 10:30 pm rather than 4am. Today she took the bulk of her food and ounces earlier in the day, our problem is that by the end of the evening, she's full and tired and just not interested in that bedtime bottle. Grrr.

As far as naps, I got a great nap #1 (1.5 hours) and by the second nap I think I missed the window and she was getting super OT. This naptime also ran into a feeding and by the time she took that bottle she was just crazy OT, jumping all over the place. So in the car we went and she fell asleep before I was out of my driveway. Sigh. Again, I HATE having to do car naps but I was so desperate 

God help me.

[RothE]

Oh, I don't know where to start!  Major OT NW, EW and short naps.  Woke hysterical last night around 8, then 12:30 (put herself to sleep), then 3:30.  The morning nap was 20 minutes...then 10 minutes in the car to and from the doctor...and then only an hour nap that I rocked her through after struggling for an hour to get her down.  Hmmm, I may have to start using the car soon...Ambinisi - seems like it works I really am not sure where to go from here??  I'm thinking I may have to start a little sleep re-training and deal with OT but definitely need to stop the rocking ASAP...even if I use the car instead.

Ambinisi: how many ounces is your LO taking?  Mine is taking about 18 oz a day...which the doctor said was low, but not worrisome. 

Lulunut: I know what you mean about waking up and waiting for them to make a sound hehe. DH says I am willing it to happen when I wake up before her and stare at the monitor! I'm totally trained to be up at 4:15 and waiting...although DD got me up earlier at 3:30 last night so she's keeping me on my toes!

[Ambinsi]

My LO is taking anywhere from 20-24 ounces a day on the average. Its a challenge as I try to up her solids....its a lot of trial and error right now. My pedi says that she should be okay with 16-20 ounces a day at this point if its satisfying her and her weight is good. I spoke to him about it last night (had a million other questions too) and he basically said that at this point we need to definitely up the solids and DO NOT struggle to get more milk in her. She's getting what she needs, if she's waking up hungry up her solids during the day.

I was reading on here that DF is usually stopped around this time b/c at this point solids should be well established. Solids are definitely established in this house - maybe that's why she's starting to refuse it?? Like I said, I think we're at a funky in-between stage and we just need to figure it all out.

DH is doing a CN in the car right now. She woke up from her second nap at like 2, there was no way she'd last until bedtime and I was NOT doing a 5 or 5:30 bedtime. We tried so hard to get her down in the crib but as I'm trying to explain to him, she will no longer take this nap in the crib. Its just not happening and he doesn't understand that. He hates that I have to drive around with her sometimes and so do I.

How was everyone's day?

[lulunut]

RothE sounds like you got a little OT UT loop.  My Lo gets excited when we stop somewhere and wakes then he is OT.  If you have an appt and try to put them to sleep they are UT and don't sleep as long.  It sucks when that happens.  Sorry to hear that you had a rough time.

I stopped DF at about 8mts.  Ambinsi I think your about average.  Don't sweat it! 

I think you just do whatever it takes to get their proper sleep in and yours.  It does work out as they get older.  Then you have to change things to 2-1!!!

Min has been STTN for the last few nights and morning naps have been at least an hour.  Afternoon about 45 min.  He has his sisters cold so I think that is helping him sleep longer.  I hope it's not just the cold!!

Hope everyone is having better days today and tonight!!