Hi there,
This is my first post on the board, but I've come here a million times with both of my children to search for answers. I've tried a lot here and am hopeful that maybe a post about our specifics can lead to some of the great advice I appreciate so much.
My daughter is 6 months, 3 weeks.
Here is our daily schedule:
up: 6:15
Breast Feed: 6:30-6:45
Breakfast: 7:30 (cereal and a fruit)
Nap: 8:30 to 10 or 10:30
Breast Feed: 10:30-10:45
We go and pick up the big brother from preschool so lunch only happens on the weekends
Nap: 12:30-2:00
Breast feed: 2:30-2:45
Cat nap: 5:00-5:30
Dinner: 5:30 to 6 (chicken and a vegetable or 2 depending on how hungry she is)
Bath
PJS
Breast Feed 6:30 to 6:45
2 songs and burped
Goes down awake into bed snuggling with a fleece blanket
Her activity time is mostly spent sitting up with some toys now, some tummy time. We all play together a lot-her, my almost 4 year old and me. She likes to hold unto fingers and stand. She is really asking to be entertained these days.
I'm going to give some early history on her because I think it is pertinent. She has a bit of a sensitive belly. When Ramsey was a 2 weeks old she would really fuss after eating and had a hard time falling asleep. She had horrible gas that would wake her up or keep her from sleeping. We put her on reflux medicine and that worked a bit, but she had to spend some time sleeping in her bouncy chair just to get to sleep. If her belly was not bothering her, she could be a great sleeper (12 hours by 8 weeks) but if her belly was upset, we could be up all night. Gripe water could take it away and close to the 3 month mark I eliminated dairy and nuts which seemed to help. Her naps could be short so I did some shhh/pat training at the 3 month mark for a few days and by the end of a week I had a baby who was taking long naps and sleeping through the night! At 4 months, when I tried to get her on the 4 hour schedule, she started waking up randomly and wanting to eat. At 5.5 months she seemed to not need her reflux medicine any more and in the past few weeks I can eat dairy and nuts and I haven't seen any return of the painful gas that she had.
The other thing to know about her is that she is a SUPER happy baby when she is awake...attentive, babbling, engaged. Her tired cues can be tough to read and she doesn't want to leave any of the fun, so naps can be challenging, but in the past 2 weeks she has mastered being able to be laid down and will fuss herself to sleep-most times she is happy in there but occasionally it can be a wail. I shhh patted her from the time she was 2 weeks old. Pick up put down is always TOO exciting for her. Now, if she starts crying I go and check on her, put her down, and then check on her again in 10 minutes if she is still crying.
So with the introduction of solid foods going well I decided to eliminate night feedings 8 days ago. She is mainly waking up 1 time a night, but it can be 2 times. She wakes with a fuss and then goes to a mantra cry generally. We wait until she is crying. She cries worse after I leave then she did before I went to her. For dad she just cries the same. We re-wrap her swaddle, check her diaper, giver her a kiss and then put her down. Our week has looked like this:
Day one and 2
she got up around 11 and then slept until 5:45
Day 3
she made it through the night but got up at 5:45, dad entertained her until I fed at 6:20
Day 4
We put her down to bed 20 minutes early and she got up at 11 and went back to sleep after a diaper change and then was up from 3:15-4:15 fussing to crying. She finally went to sleep when my husband went in instead of me. With me, she calmed when I picked her up and was pretty bubbly. With my husband she would not calm no matter how long he held her. She slept until 6:30 when I woke her up.
Day 5
she woke up at 12 and went right to sleep when my husband went in to check on her. She slept until 6:30 when I woke her up.
Day 6
She woke up at 3 but went right to sleep when dad checked on her. Up at 6:15 on her own.
Day 7
Her naps were both just an hour and 15 mintes during the day. Up at 3:15 fussed after dad did 2 visits, we checked her diaper and it was poopy. After we changed it she went back to bed. Woke up at 6:15 on her own.
Day 8
I wondered if she didn't need more activity time and if that is why she was night waking so I increased her nap time by 15 minutes. I had to wake her up from both naps at 2 hours 15 minutes. Her day looked like this:
up 6:15 on own
eat 6:30-6:45
sleep 8:45-11
breast feed 11-11:20
lunch at 12:45
Nap 1:20-3:45
eat-3:45-4
dinner 5:00
bath 6:00
eat 6:25-6:45
bed at 6:45
She was awake at 2:45 until 3:45 fussed for a few minutes, would get quiet and then would cry. She had scooted her head all the way to the top of the crib bumper though, she was arching her back. She work up at 5:15 this morning same thing, fuss, quiet, cry and we found her at the top of the crib again.
So here is my question.... I think I am right not feeding her in the middle of the night. But I don't know why she is getting up at 2:45. Is she getting too much day sleep-do I need to start transitioning her to no cat nap? Is it just a result of me breast feeding her for so long and we need to just keep sending dad in? The other thing I wonder in my gut is does her belly bother her from food. I wish I could get her to poop before she sleeps, but sometimes I think that is what is waking her. She has started spitting up since she has had solids which she hadn't been doing for awhile, but besides that things seem normal. I know I am over paranoid about her belly but she was in so much pain as a newborn and had such a good scream on her that honestly I am a bit shell shocked by it.
What do you think?
