6 month old suddenly horrible settler!

[amayzie]

I have NO IDEA what;s going on!! My 6 month old has been on EASY since birth and has been an excellent independant settler since 3.5-4 months old. Usually doesn't respond poorly to being OT in the night time and has managed well following the dropping of his cat nap and move to 2 naps about 2 weeks ago. We went on holidays on the weekend to a river house and saturday night he would not settle- inconsolable crying in dads arms and only settled after a feed (think he had a growth spurt last week). Didn't feed to sleep at all, was awake and put himself to bed.

Last night (sunday) he went down well with minimal issue. Today first nap same problem again- massive crying and only settled after rocking and singing in the dark room- went into the bed awake... and tonight would not settle at all for DH, settled the crying after a feed but still went into bed hysterical. Brought him out for a little sit with us and he's in now making some noises to himself... fingers crossed...


I'm just not sure what has happened to make this great settler suddenly horrible!! Usually he goes down at 7pm, and the worst that happens if he;s over tired is a revisit for a shh at the door.... It's 8.15 and he is still cooing in the bed!!! AAHH!!

Thanks!

[firsttimemummy]

Does he need longer A time? I know that the main time Oliver protests at going to sleep is when he isn't tired enough.  Can you post your EASY, please, so we can see if anything sticks out.

[*Becky*]

or teething?

[*Kara*]

I was thinking it was either teething or A time increase too

[amayzie]

Here's my easy from esterday to see what you reckon:

E: 7.00
A: 7.00-10.00 (athough was about 10.15 by the time he was out... unusual for him)
S: 10.-11:50

E. 11:50
A: 11.50-2.20 (was beside himself tired, cranky, crying.. would usually push him to 3 hours.. but he seemed ready- and went down fairly easily)
S: 2.20-3:50

E: 3.50
A: 3.50-7.00- Here was the crying, screaming, not sleeping.. getting up and sitting in the rocker smiling at mummy and daddy till....
S; 8:00

I wasn't sure about the teething as he was FINE (grumpy yes.. but generally fine) inthe evening, smiling away on the change table, then DH put him in his sleeping bag, turned out the light, headed towards the cot and he started screaming?!? This kid ALWAYS sleeps in the cot... It could be a passing thing... This morning he woke at 5.30 crying, so i fed him and he wouldn't go back to sleep, I went in to find him crying/grouching on his stomach!! He flipped himself!! I then brought him in with us and he slept with us till 7.20 (we never usually do this- I was actually amazed it had worked!)

[*Kara*]

My first thought is that he needs a little more A time before bed to settle well... I suspect he was UT when you tried to put him to bed at 7pm and played around long enough to become OT and hence, wakes early

I would try increasing his last A time to 3.5 hours and see if that does the trick

Could certainly be teething though - especially since he got super tired in the middle of the day - sometimes teething makes them extra sleepy with shorter A times... this is all before the actual pain is really bad.

[amayzie]

hmm.... the sneaky teething bit... It wouldn't surprise me.. a little more dribbling and some chewing happening.. but not much else... could be a combo all at once!! He's much better today so i'll see how we go. Mummy sure is tired enough to go to bed at 7!!