finally seeking some help...8.5 mo w/ 2 hour long nw

[hniles]

Hello, I've posted a few times in reply to others, but am now seeking some advice for my own situation. DD was sleeping great up until about 6 mo. All four upper teeth came in at the same time and we had NW (normally only 1 a night). After that, she slept fine, then she started crawling at 7 mo and the night wakings started again. They sometimes don't last long, but sometimes they do (~ 2-2.5 hours until we get her back down).

Her routine is pretty much the same everyday:
wake 6:30 or 7
e 7:30/8
s 10-11:30
e 12/12:30
s 2:30 - 3:45 (I wake her up after the 1 hr and 15 min mark)
e 4/4:30
7 bed, usually asleep by 7:15 or 7:20

7 bedtime is very difficult lately....taking from 30 mins to an hour to get her fully down.

She takes great naps normally. I keep her up for 3 hours and she naps for 1.5 hours. I thought maybe she was getting too much sleep in the afternoon so I started shortening the afternoon nap to 1.25 hours. I helped for a few days.

At the moment, she'll eat solids happily, but doesn't take as much as she used to from the bottle. Sometimes only 3 oz.

At night, when she wakes, we try to feed first because of her low intake of fluids during the day (we're lucky if she can get 20oz in her - she used to eat her solids and take a 7 oz bottle), we try some exercises incase it's gas, we eventually try pain medication and I would love to get away from this as it doesn't seem to help and if it does, i'm not sure if she falls back asleep because she's been awake for 2 hours or because the pain went away. She used to fall asleep on her own, but since all the teething and development, what worked was falling asleep on us. I know that's frowned upon, but it's APOP. Maybe PU/PD would work here, but I'm very much a believer of a baby needing something when they are crying and I don't want her to be left crying (even if I'm beside her).

Perhaps she's teething again, but it's been almost 2 months of this and still no new teeth. I thought maybe an ear infection, but she has no fever (is that always a symptom?). She did have cold after those 4 upper teeth came in.

The last few days have been harder to get her to nap, she'll cry more and won't stay asleep when I've put her in the crib when she was so easy to get to nap. For example, I started the winddown at about 9:50, but it took me until 10:20 to get her down for her nap. This hasn't happened in a long time. Previously, she would all of a sudden need a big jump in A time...this happened around the 4 mo mark too, going from 1 hour and 15 mins to 2 hours! Maybe a schedule change is in order? I apologize if this should have been in the EASY forum.

Perhaps a longer A time? Shorter naps? She's getting 2 hrs and 45 mins of sleep during the day, maybe cut that back more?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!

[katie80]

The last few days have been harder to get her to nap, she'll cry more and won't stay asleep when I've put her in the crib when she was so easy to get to nap. For example, I started the winddown at about 9:50, but it took me until 10:20 to get her down for her nap. This hasn't happened in a long time. Previously, she would all of a sudden need a big jump in A time...this happened around the 4 mo mark too, going from 1 hour and 15 mins to 2 hours! Maybe a schedule change is in order? I apologize if this should have been in the EASY forum.

I think this makes it sound like she could use another push in A time, then.  Why don't you try adding on 15 min for a few days, and if that doesn't help, add on 15 more.  In terms of day sleep, it's kind of your choice... if you keep 2x1.5hr naps, you'll likely need a 13hr day/11hr night.  Otherwise, you can cap the second nap, as you have been doing (even down to an hour if needed) to preserve bedtime and keep a 12-12.5hr day/11.5-12hr night.

She used to fall asleep on her own, but since all the teething and development, what worked was falling asleep on us. I know that's frowned upon, but it's APOP. Maybe PU/PD would work here, but I'm very much a believer of a baby needing something when they are crying and I don't want her to be left crying (even if I'm beside her).

It's not frowned on necessarily, we all do it at times to get through teething and developmental issues.  But, just be aware that it can be a factor in the NWs.  If she's gotten used to falling asleep on you, she may wake for that at least once a night and need it to go back to sleep.  I also understand you don't want her to be left crying, we obviously don't promote that in any way at BW.  But, if you want to break the APOP habit, there will be crying involved, whether you use PUPD or a gradual withdrawal method.  It will be a cry of protest, because you're changing the way she's going to sleep, not a cry of desperation or need, iyswim.  And, if you're right there with her, she knows she's not being abandoned and that she can trust you to meet her needs.

Finally, if you're worried about her milk intake, I'd make sure you're still offering milk before solids.  Typically, we recommend milk first and then solids 45min-1hr later.  Milk should still be her main source of nutrition until approx 1 yr old.