Solving a NW issue

[Teacheroo]

Hello,
We implemented EASY and Shh Pay/PUPD about 4 weeks ago. Success! She's no longer waking 4-6 times at night and never feeds at night.
However, she is almost 7 month old is still waking up once at night and has trouble falling back to sleep. It takes us from 5-40 minutes depending on the night, to get her back down. We've been trying to SHH/Pat and comfort her without picking her up. We inevitably end up picking her up. I know she's a bit old for Shh/Pat - but it really calms her and usually does the trick. I'm thinking it could be her EASY that needs tweaking.

We are concerned about this as we don't know why she can put herself back to sleep at other times of the day, but not in the middle of the night. (I don't think it's sep. anxiety as she does not cry or fuss when I leave her) Also, we will soon need to lower her crib and bending way down to shh/pat or PUPD will be much more difficult than it is now.

I would love for someone to have a peek at her EASY and give some advice on what the trouble may be. I suspect it's the long period in her 'A' time after her 2nd nap.

*Note* - I BF feed her between 5am and 5:45 am. This isn't a problem for me as it gets her to sleep in until 7:20 or 7:45 am. However, perhaps this is an issue?

Here is our EASY on an average day.

wake up 7:30
E- 7:40 (BF followed by solids)
A- 7:30 - 9:45 am (2 hours 15 mins)
S- 9:45 am
Y - 9:45 - 11:15 (1.5 hours)
E - 11:30 ( BF and solids)
A - 11:15 - 2:00 pm (2 hours 45 mins)
S- 2:00
Y- 2:00 - 3:00 pm /3:30 on a good day ( about 1 hour)
E - 3:30 (breastmilk)
A- 3:00 - 7:00 pm ( solids and BF at 6 to top her off). We have tried in vain for weeks to get her to cat nap in here. She won't and isn't usually fussy or seem OT until really close to 7 pm.
S- 7:00
Y - 7 pm with a one Night wake anywhere from 1 am- 4 am. Never the same time.
* A BF at 5am or 5:30 am- then back to sleep until about 7:30 ( on average)

Many thanks,
Grace

[Bex09]

Hi there, first of all well done on the sleep training! You have done great.

Looking at your EASY I would say that your DD could probably do with a little increase in her A times now. Most 7 month olds are getting about 3 hrs A time so her morning A is quite short for her age. She is napping well after that though, so you will need to move slowly and just add maybe 10 mins every few days to avoid your DD becoming OT. How reliable are her sleepy signs? Does she seem tired after 2h 15 or do you think she could cope with a little more?

If you could increase this A time it would balance out your day a little and then you could make her 4hr A time to BT a little shorter if you think that she is getting OT. Most LOs drop the CN around 6/7 months anyway so I really wouldn't worry about that. I don't think the NF in the early morning will be causing any NW issues if she has always had this and she goes straight back off to sleep.

The only other thing is how long have you been PU for at the NW? Do you hold her until she is asleep again? If so then you could have become a prop. So your DD wakes and feels like she needs you to get back to sleep yk? Can you settle her with shush/pat and just try to be really consistant with this? Don't worry about using shush/pat either, PU/PD is really a last resort when S/P doesn't work anymore, if it still works stick with it.

What do you think?

[Teacheroo]

Thank you so much for this great advice.
I think you're right and I need to extend her A times. She does show sleepy signs by 2 hr 15 -2 hr 30. However, these are inconsistent. Great advice about doing it 10 minutes at a time to avoid OT. I definitely don't want to get caught in that trap!
For her NW - Most nights I ( and my husband) are really consistent with the Shh/Pat and only PU when she really cries. However, some nights when I'm really tired or nights like last night when she was awake for almost 2 hours, I give in and pick her up. Last night was the longest she's ever been awake at night. I failed! I rocked her to sleep out of desperation.    Eek....I hope I didn't do too much damage with that.
Thank you for your great advice!

[Bex09]

Hi, I have noticed that you have another post over on the EASY board too. So that you can get all your advice in one place I am going to lock this thread and link it to your other post.

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=220557.0