6.5 month old waking several times a night

[LynnT01]

My son would sleep from 9pm-5am up until he was 4 months old. Since then he wakes up anywhere from 2-3 times a night. He started solids at 5.5 months (he's a big boy - 19lbs now). I recently started him on 3 meals a day, which he eats like a champ! He is also BF during the day every 3 hours. Our day is like this:

7am - wake
E - 7:30 (fruit/cereal)
A - 7:45-9:00 (he's rubbing his eyes and yawning by this time every morning)
S - 9:00 - 10:30 (if he doesn't sleep for at least 1.5 hours he will want to go back to sleep by 12pm)
E - 10:30 (BF when he wakes, sometimes he sleeps for 2 hours)
A - 10:45-11:45
E - 11:45 (lunch, this is where I added the 3rd meal)
S - 12:30-2:30 (this is where the day varies, sometimes a short nap or a 2 hour nap, he also cranky and tired by 12:30)
E - 2:30 (BF)
A - 2:45 - 5:00
E - 5:00 - 5:45 (BF & solids)
E - 7:00 (BF)
S - 7:30 BT

He sometimes has a CN before dinner, but usually he is up at 2:30-3pm and stays up until BT, by which time I think he is OT.

This is how the night has been going. I can't imagine he's this hungry! Usually he is asleep after 15 minutes of feeding and I put him back in his crib.
E - 11pm
E - 2am
E - 5am
E - 7am

Please help! I think I may have already been doing accidental parenting at night!

 

[Khalam's Mama]

I think he is using taht 1st nap to catch up on a distrupted night but I think keeping him up longer might help your day. 2hrs is a really short A time for 6.5mo. Most are doing 3hrs. It is probably habot too that he wants to sleep at this time.

 I agree he is most likely not hungry at each NW. Have you tried to resettle him without feeding?

Those last 2 BF are v close at the end of the day so that BT feed is probably not a full one which won't help him sleep well. Also at 6.5mo he should be on at least a 4hr easy. Do you feed milk on wu or only solids?

I would aim for something more like this
7am - wake and BF
E - 7:30 (fruit/cereal)
A - 2.5hrs
S - 9:30 - 11:00

E - 11:00 (BF when he wakes)
A - 2.5hrs total
E - 12:00 (lunch)
S - 1:30-3.00

E - 3pm (BF)
A - 2hrs
S - 5:00 30min CN

E - 5.45 Solids
A - 2hrs
E - 7:00 (BF)
S - 7:30 BT

What do you think?
I would aim to get on a more age appropriate routine and if he is still waking so much aim to tackle those without feeding. Hopefully the more A time will help.

[LynnT01]

Hi,

Thank you so much for the advice. I am going to try and stretch his A time in the morning so he doesn't nap until 9:30am. I know he can sleep longer at night without waking because he's done it before.  I had it in my head that I needed to BF him every 3 hours no matter what, but I am realizing that he is not having full feeds and only snacks sometimes. If I can get him on the 4 hour EASY, hopefully it will work.

Should I try to push his A time and shh him to sleep if he wakes early all at the same time? Or should I work on one thing at a time?

[LynnT01]

Last night went like this:

10:30pm - wake, I went in and did the shh and put my hand on his chest and he fell back asleep within 8 minutes
12:30am - wake, I BF at this time and he drained both sides
3:00am - wake, again! I did the shh again and he went back to sleep
4:15am - wake, again! I tried the shh again but it did not work so I did feed him
7:00am - wake and BF, start the morning!

I know he can go longer with out eating 3 times a night. I am working on pushing his A time too. I am trying to follow the schedule you suggested and it seems to be working, give or take a little time. We will see how tonight goes.

[Khalam's Mama]

Great you have made a good start. How are the naps now stil long? I hope so. I would certainly try to settle without feeding. If the new routine doesn't help you can get a bit tougher to wean the nf completely. Eating 3hrly and not taking full feeds may mean he isn't getting enough to eat in all. If you can stretch the feeds to 4hrly at least this may help the nw. Have you read the frequently asked questions about moving from 3 to 4hrs easy?

[LynnT01]

I was able to get him on 4 hour BF yesterday, which was great! He went to bed at 7:30 and stirred around 10pm and was resettled. He didn't wake up again until 2:15am, and I BF at this time. He slept all the way through until 7am!!! Yay! We will see if it was just a fluke, but I don't think so! I will keep you posted!

[Khalam's Mama]

That is great. Hope it continues.