Early Waking, almost 6 mo

[Aishi]

Hi

My baby will be 6 months on 17 july. She has always been an independent sleeper with a 12 hour night but crappy naps! Last 2 days she has been waking up between 4.45-5.15 for the day. I have managed to get her back to sleep by ssh pat but it's taking an hour. We don't have a strict easy due to poor naps which I can't extend and long feeding times. She's bottle fed and takes up to an hour for 7 oz! She has 3 7oz bottles and  9 oz  before bed so 30 oz total. She feeds ~4 hourly as not hungry before then. No nf for few weeks now and stopped Df 2 days ago ( i dont think that's related to EW as she only took 2-3oz and won't drink it at 5am!! But is drinking more during day). No signs of teeth but have tried med bedore sleep in case she is and has been crawling for few weeks now and not extra hungry so dont think it's a gs. Not started solids yet. I have tried extending morning a times from 1.45-2.15 following posts on here with no success over last few days. She used to go to sleep from awake with v little fuss but can take upto 10 mins now.

Sunday 5am wake up no DF
Ssh pat 5.45-6.30
6.30 wake up
E 6.30 7oz but not hungry took hr to feed!
A
S 8-9 very tired
Y
E 10.45 7 oz
A
S 12-12.30 OT? Fought sleep. Extended 1.30-2.15
Y
E 3 7 oz
A
S 4.15- 4.45 wouldn't sleep earlier
Y
E 6 9 oz
A
S 7.10 pm
8 pm woke to burp
10 mantra cry
1 mantra cry
3.40 mantra cry
4.50 awake

She usually sleeps thru till 7 with mantra cry between 4-6 am

Today

4.50 am awake ssh pat till 5.30am
7.08 am awake
E 7 oz
A
S 9.29-10 wouldn't let me extend OT nap?
E 11 am 7 oz
A
S 12.10-12.50 UT? aimed for 1h45 A due to short am nap but fought it
1.15-1.30 ssh pat
E 3pm 7 oz

Will see what happens tonight

Where am I going wrong? I don't want to bring back DF cos she feeds better in day wo it and won't take it at 5 am so obviously not waking from hunger?

Please help if you can and sorry about long post! xx

[becj86]

It might be time to drop the catnap and get her back onto a longer night w/o the EW. When they're ready for this, LO's fight the CN because they're UT but then get OT for BT, starting that nasty little cycle.

You say you couldn't resettle the OT nap - how was she behaving? Its odd to not be able to resettle an OT nap because they're still tired, but if there was some overstimulation at play too, that could explain it more... most LO's are at around 3hr A time at this age and the nap after such a short A time will be reinforcing the EW, so I think you'll have to push that A time as much as you can. I think while you're doing that, don't be afraid to APOP her back to sleep if she wakes from an OT nap - just to get her well rested for the rest of the day and help her while she gets used to being awake longer.

[Aishi]

Thank you for replying! She seems to fight every nap now cos she rather play. She always wakes drom naps very happy even after long a times and short naps. Bedtime was easy she was out in a minute which is how she was for all sleeps. She wont let me apop and i tend to take her up 15 mins bedore sleep for win down nappy change lullaby cuddles and put down awake. This is what she was like rest of yesterday:

E 3pm 7 oz
A
S 4.15-4.45 tried earlier but fought
Y
E 6 pm 9 oz
A
S 6.55 pm would have done earlier as v tired but hadn't finished bottle
3.30 am- awake and talking flipped onto back so turned her over as she tummy sleeper. She sleeps in a gro bag with blanket tucked over snugly. She still manages to wriggle out and flip over!!


I thought she was OT cos of constant short naps but could she be UT as she fighting naps, nw to chat (just tonight- usually any nw she goes back to sleep) and EW? I'm very confused! (

When she wakes at night should I leave her to chat or ssh pat to sleep? 

Thank you again for replying!

[becj86]

She seems to fight every nap now cos she rather play. She always wakes drom naps very happy even after long a times and short naps.

This sounds like UT or overstimulation. What is her temperament?

She could also be going through a mental leap at the moment - http://thewonderweeks.com/index.php/about-the-wonder-weeks/your-babys-10-leaps/mental-leap-5

When she wakes at night should I leave her to chat or ssh pat to sleep?

If she's happy, leave her to it

[Aishi]

I'm not sure of temperament think she's textbook/ angel she's very laid back.
She was up again from 5.30-6 and in light sleep. Shall I let her sleep past normal wu?
Also if daytime sleep totals 1.75-2 hrs is that ok?It's such hard work isn't it? I just want to sleep!!

[Aishi]

Also how long should I make her first a time and should I keep them the same all day? One time 2h 15 gave me 1h15 am nap but the other day 1h20 gave me 30 min! I don't know what to do!!

[becj86]

Also if daytime sleep totals 1.75-2 hrs is that ok?

It not much for a LO of 6 months... should be more like 3.5-4hr ideally but she may be low sleep needs, unusual to be that low though.

Also how long should I make her first a time and should I keep them the same all day?

I'd try for more like 2.5-3hr, but increase it slowly so you don't make her OT. You don't need to keep them all the same, some babies do well with an unbalanced day, my DS was one of those for a while.

Do you have a routine that you're aiming for?

[Aishi]

Hi

Ideally sleep to fit around feeds as she has 4 bottles and no nf or DF. 7-7 would be nice!
Today so far

5.30-6 awake Ssh pat and kept hand on bottom and back
6-7.10 slept I woke for feed
E 7.15 6 oz
A kept low key
S 9.30-10.00 kept hand on bottom for 20 mins
S 10.10-11.25 I woke for feed
Y
E 11.30 8 oz

Thought I'd try 2.5 A now and then 1.5 nap 2 till 3.30 feed then and no CN? What do u think? Is she OT cos she did go back to sleep and I had to wake her? If I do no CN what BT? Cos she has last feed 6.15-7? Very slow feeder

She's had daytime sleep of 2hrs so fat if she manages another 1.5 isn't she more likely to wake and chatter cos she's had more day sleep? I'm still confused!

[becj86]

I'd do a 3hr A time if you can so you get a wakeup at 4pm, then try to have her asleep in bed by 7 or 7:30 at the latest. I think the first nap was pretty good, nice to have resettled in 10min and for her to then have slept well. 

Being tired enough for a good night sleep is actually more about having long enough A times rather than total day sleep unless day sleep is really excessive (which is not your situation).

The other thing is you don't have to be so set with feed times at this age. So long as she's getting the calories in the day, its all good in my experience. As you extend her A time, you may end up with feeds further apart and a natural cluster feed at the end of the day. Or you can shift your first feed later and fit them 4hrly still if she's not one to want a feed as soon as she wakes.

[Aishi]

Thanks becj86 for all your advice- its really made a diff! I put her down after 3h A and she was up at 35 min mark (naps have always been btw 30-45 min) but I resettled in10 mins by rocking in cot and keeping hands on for 20 min. She's still asleep so fingers crossed till 4!! I'll aim for 7pm BT cos I have 2 yr old son and hes in bed for 8 but requires heavy AP don't ask!!! Wish id known about BW as FTM!

Should I keep a 2h15 A time tomorrow morning even tho she fought that nap? She was much easier to put to sleep after 3 h this pm so should I try 3 h in morning or is that too big a jump from 2h15?

Thanks again for taking the time to respond x

[Aishi]

Also could you give a sample easy for us. I'd like 7-7 day with 2 1.5 hr naps and 3 7oz feeds and BT 9oz. She can easily wait 4-4.5 hrs btwn feeds. Would that be a feasible easy?

Thanks!

[becj86]

Yeah, I'd stick with 2hr15 til she can sleep at least to 40/45min. 30min is OT and you don't want to be pushing further while she's still waking at the OT 30min mark. That's unless she had a good night, then you could maybe go to 2.5hr.

Ideally, you'd be working towards something like this:
7 - wake
7:30 - 7oz bottle
10 - nap
11:30 - wake, 7oz bottle
2:30 - nap
4:00 - wake, 7oz bottle
6:30 - 9oz bottle
7 - bed

Wondering if with the two feeds closer together in the afternoon/evening, you may be better to put 9oz at 11:30... but that's a call for you to make.

[Aishi]

Hi Bec

Thanks for getting back to me. That sounds like a feasible plan. I'll try that tomorrow depending on how night goes!

So far today:

E 4pm 7 oz
A
E 6.15 pm 7 oz couldn't finish 9 oz
S 7 pm was very tired by 6.30 trying to sleep on bottle!
8.50 noises but self settled
9.50 noises but self settled

She doesn't usually make noises like this. Is it classed as a nw? And was she OT before bed? How should I handle it tomorrow? Shorter A before bed or stick to 3 hrs for a couple of days to see if it eliminates EW?

TIA!!

[Aishi]

Re feeds she rarely seems hungry even at 4.5 hr she takes 45 min to finish bottle! Do you think it would be worth trying to push feeds closer to 5 hrs and adding an oz to first 3 bottles and maybe 6oz for BT bottle? That would mean she would SAEAS and feed could be part of quieter A time. Does that make sense? So

WU 7am
E 7.15 8oz
A
S 9.30/10-11.30
Y
A
E 11.45 8 oz
A
S 2.30-4
Y
A
E 4.45pm 8oz
A
E 6.30 pm 4-6 oz ( I know she can last o/n 28 oz)
S 7 pm bed

[becj86]

Have you gone up a teat size to see if she will drink faster with a faster teat?

Otherwise, yes, that routine could work well. The idea behind EAS is to ensure LO doesn't associate sleep with the feeding, so you're still meeting that aim