Serious help needed with nearly 6 month old

[1tamara1]

Hi, I am not sure if I am posting in the right spot so will start here anyway and feel free to move to another topic if need be. My LO is approaching 6 months and he has never been a good sleeper but has seemed to have gotten worse over the last week. I think he is also going through a growth spurt, is there one at 6 months?

He is a big boy, on the 90th percentile and is on solids 3 times a day (Australian standards recom begin at 4 months) anyway his nights are all over the place, some nights he'll wake once for a feed others, like last night he'll wake 3 or 4 times and also his naps are becoming shorter, about 45 minutes and am wondering if its his awake time that needs lengthening but it is already quite long for his age? Here is our routine that we try to stick to, well yesterdays anyway 

A: 7am (bottle)
E: Breakfast 8am
S: 9.15am
A: 10.35am
E: bottle 11am solids at 12
S: 12.45
A: 2pm
E: 3pm
S: 4.30pm
E: solids at 5 and then bottle as he really hungry doesnt normally have till before bed
S: 7pm

then he woke at 9.30pm which we fed and then again at 2am again we fed as he was doing hungry cry and wouldnt settle and then again at 5.30am fed and went back to sleep till 7.30 this morning.

I might add that we are doing pick up put down as well. Writing this down makes me realise how all over the place we are but am wondering, is closer to 3 hours too long awake time for a boy of his age? As I said he is big and weighed the same as my daughter did at 9 months old  anyway feedback would be greatly appreciated, I just dont know where to begin...thanks

[jessmum46]

Hi

I think he is also going through a growth spurt, is there one at 6 months?

Yes - a massive one   He could well be genuinely hungry.  How long has he been on 3 meals?  How much does he have in each bottle in the day?  Do you do a DF?

his naps are becoming shorter, about 45 minutes and am wondering if its his awake time that needs lengthening but it is already quite long for his age?

I'm a bit confused about your awake times questions.  You've said later in your post about awake times close to 3 hours, but your first A time here is only 2h15 followed by a 1h20 nap?  And then a 2h10 awake time with a 1h15 nap?  Then 2h30 before the catnap...are the times you've written when he has actually gone to sleep or when you've started PUPD?

Having recently BTDT, LOs this age are starting to extend out to nearer 3h awake time and moving towards dropping the CN.  If the sleep times above are correct, you might be in an UT/OT loop - your first A time is too short, so you get a slightly UT nap (45-1h20 usually UT), then subsequent A may also be a bit short so you get another UT nap, but then LO is OT by bedtime as no properly restorative naps in the day.  This might be another reason he's waking at night........

WDYT about starting to lengthen out your first A time slowly to nearer 3 hours - say 10 mins at a time, hold for a few days, then extend again if needed?  You might find he goes down easier for naps if more tired too - as in needs less PUPD.  Don't forget if you get a short nap, he probably won't manage a full A time afterwards.

Is that any help?

[1tamara1]

Thanks for your fast reply, I LOVE these forums. My 2 yo is a perfect sleeper thanks to these forums anyway he is having 7oz each bottle and today he ate every 3 hours which is hard with EASY because of the long awake time, anyway we'll get there!

Sorry, our awake times aren't 3 hours but was thinking we should be heading towards that? We started PU/PD about 4 weeks ago to wean paci but then he got a cold etc etc an he was
Doing well on 2.5 hours awake but we took a few steps back and because he was ill he wasn't able to stay awake long.

Now he is back to his old self and we are having short naps and multiple night wakings a even before the growth spurt. So here we are, weaning paci using PU/PD and him waking after about 1 hour 15/20. Today though he didn't show tired signs until about 2.5 hours and this was after a short nap (so guessing in future will be longer aftrr restorative nap?) I put him down awake and didn't hear a peep from him and he's never done that! But he only slept for about an
hour and 15. So tonight because he slept Later we weren't able to fit in catnap so we put him to bed early and again he went down wide awake and no PU/PD.

I guess my main question was that is he too young for a 3 hour awake time and you've answered that so yes your answer has helped. We go overseas next week so I hope this doesn't all go out the window :0

[jessmum46]

Oh good that it helped you   FWIW my LO was definitely at 3h+ by 6mo, now 3h15-20 or sometimes a bit more at 7mo.  Fingers crossed for your trip, and good luck for the transition to 2 naps!  Might be a bit messy for a while but keep going with EBT and you'll do great

[1tamara1]

Thanks for your reply. Another no so great day today, tried 2.5hour awake time and still only 1 hour and 15/20 minute sleep time and then that makes our afternoons all out of whack so he had a short nap in the car this afternoon to get him through. So do I just keep extending awake times until he sleeps longer? Good news is he is a dream to put to sleep now, put him in his crib wide awake, that's never happened so we have come a long way and am glad we got through the 45 minute nap trap as well.

Maybe it'll sort itself out over holidays as we'll be out and about doing things. Again, thanks for your advice, it's nice to have someone give input, to think only about a week ago he was only having 2 hours awake time, forgetting I need to extend!!

[jessmum46]

Great job!!  So glad he's settling easier for you  

The 1h15-20 may still be a *touch* UT but I'd give it 2-3 days before increasing again - doing it too fast can make them OT.  I'd have done exactly what you did - pop in a quick CN if needed to see you through.  As I said it will be a bit messy until you're on 2 solid naps - you just have to muddle through the best you can but don't be tempted to rush it as it will most likely backfire in an OT mess

FWIW lots of us on here have had issues with the 1h15min nap starting around this age - I think it's the new 45 min nap for 6 month olds!!!!!

[1tamara1]

I don't remember this stage with my daughter, then again she was so easy once we implemented EASY! You think I'd be wrapped at 1.5 hour naps, when he was 7 weeks old
I would've been but yeah it makes it hard to get through the day without OT creeping in.

Sorry just one more thing I forgot to ask, waking at night an hour after bedtime does that usually indicate OT or UT. We had problems with my daughter doing that when she was older but I can't remember which it was. He has done this for the last few nights, nearly to the exact hour

[jessmum46]

For us, wakings in the very early part of the night are almost always OT at bedtime   Are you needing to go to him or will he settle himself?

[1tamara1]

In the couple of times he has done it I've just gone in and done a couple of pats on his bum an he goes back. But now we're battling a cough, he was up every hour last night urghhhh. Winter in Australia, being on warm weather

[jessmum46]

Oh (((hugs))) plans always go out of the window when they're unwell   Hope he's feeling better soon x