Naps 45 mins and waking every 1-2 hrs at night

[Lainey21]

I really hope someone can give me some advice to help my baby sleep better.
He is now 6 and a half months and has never been a good sleeper.
He was diagnosed with refleux at 3 months, but this now seems to be under control.
My main problem is he wakes every 1-2 hrs at night. I am trying to extend his nap times - he usually wakes after 45 mins, but will occassionlly sleep for 1 hr 30.
My typical day is as follows:

E: 07.45
S: 09.50 (45 mins) Try to resettle. Wide awake. Get up and sleeps again 11.00-11.30

E: 11.30
S: 13.40 (45 mins)

E: 15.30
S:16.45-17.25

E: 19.30
S: 20.00/20.30

I think I am pretty good at watching for tiredness cues. He goes to sleep really easily - I always put him down awake and he settles himself. He does sometimes use a paci, but can go to sleep without it.
At night he nearly always wakes exactly 2 hrs after going to sleep, and will then wake every hour until 2am/ 3am. Sometimes if I put the paci in he will go straight back to sleep. Other times, he is wide awake and the only way I can settle him is with the bottle. He normally isn't hungry - will only take 2-3oz and then falls asleep only to wake 2 hrs later and the cycle continues.

I try not to over-stimulate before bedtime and we have a good bedtime routine.
Any advice for me to help baby to sleep better at night?

[Erin M]

E: 07.45
S: 09.50 (45 mins) Try to resettle. Wide awake. Get up and sleeps again 11.00-11.30

This sounds undertired to me -- when my LOs would wake and be wide awake, it would be because they didn't have enough A time before their naps.  At this age, A time jumps pretty significantly, sometimes fairly quickly.  Average A time for a 6.5 month old is 2 hours 45 minutes - 3 hours, so he could be due for an A time jump.  (But don't jump all at once, you want to extend it by 10-15 minutes every few days.)

If you can get that first nap to be longer, it will help your day -- I suspect you're in a bit of an UT/OT loop and the NWs are a side effect of a whole bunch of short naps during the day.  At his age, we'd expect him to be on 2 solid naps -- I suspect that if you improve your daytime routine, the night will follow.

[Lainey21]

Erin - thank you for your reply.
I will work on extending his A and hopefully things will improve. Will be in touch!

[Erin M]

Yes, update when you need to!

[Lainey21]

Thank you for your advice with regards extending A times.
My baby's naps during the day have really improved - now 2 naps 1.5 hrs long and sometimes a catnap in the evening.
My nights have improved a bit as well. Last night baby slept from 8pm to 2am. I fed at 2am. Then he woke at 4.15, 6.15 and 7.20.
I put in his dummy at 4.15 and 6.15 and he went back to sleep.
Do you have any idea why he is waking like this?
He is not a hungry baby - we struggle to even get him to take his 7.30am feed, so I definitely don't think it is hunger waking him. He is not good to feed during the day - we struggle to get him to take 6oz bottles. He is taking a very small amount of solids 3 times a day - again he is very slow to take this.
He has 2 teeth up already - I am giving him pain-relief for teething before bed and teething gel in case this is the cause of his wakings.

My EASY for yesterday was as follows:
E: 07.45
A: 2 hrs 50
S: 10.20 (for 1.5hrs)

E:12.00
S:14.40 (for 1.5 hrs)

E: 16.10
S: 18.00 Cat nap 25 mins

E: 19.30
S: 20.00

I hope you can help!

[Erin M]

Do you give him pain meds at 2 AM as well?  I'm just wondering that if it is pain from teeth, then the pain meds would be worn off by 4:15 if you're not giving them again.  If nothing else, it could rule out pain. 

Do you notice any difference on the nights when he doesn't take a cat nap?

[Lainey21]

Erin - thanks for your reply. I usually only give him pain relief for teething before bed - but will try it during the night as well to see if this makes a difference. Yesterday, he only had 2 naps and I brought his bedtime forward. My EASY was:
E: 08.00
S: 10.15 (1 hr45)

E: 12.05
S: 14.40 (1 hr 45)

E:16.15
E: 19.15
S: 19.30

He slept well until 22.50 - couldn't resettle so fed him - his intake was down yesterday and he fed well at this night feed.
Then he woke again at 23.55 - dummy and back to sleep. Then awake at 01.20 - dummy. Awake 02.40 - wouldn't settle. Tried to see if hungry - only took 1 oz. Eventually resettled at 03.30. Woke at 06.30.
DO you think I need to make any other changes to my EASY to help at night?
I am getting so confused as to where I am going wrong!

[Erin M]

Hmm, could be a little bit of OT from that long stretch until bed possibly.  Definitely see if the pain meds at night help as well, I'd be curious to see if it makes a difference. 

[Lainey21]

Thank you for all your feedback and assistance.
Sorry for not getting back sooner, but I have been trying to improve naps and it is only in the last week that we are seeing a big improvement.
DS is now going to bed at 7.15/7.30pm and sleeping through until 5am! We are so happy!

I am still having a few issues with trying to get him to take long naps, today for instance he woke after 35 mins - A time of 3hrs 20 mins.
Also, he wakes at 5am regardless of what time he goes to sleep. He is wide awake, plays for 10 mins and then starts to shout to be picked up. The problem is, he is tired again after only 20 mins so I know he has not slept enough.
I try to resettle him in his cot, but he is wide awake and very hard to settle. He does not cry, but kinda shouts and objects to being resettled.
He definitely is not hungry either - will only take 1-2 oz and then pushes the bottle away.
I have been APOP by pushing him to sleep in his buggy - this is really the only way I can get him to go back to sleep. He will sleep for 40 mins and then up again, so we are up for the day. I have been trying to extend his first A time even more, but he really seems to get very tired in the morning. I will post my EASY and would love to hear your thoughts.
Thanks again 

Wakes at 04.50/ 05.00
Try to resettle - asleep at 05.45
Wakes at 06.30
E: 06.45 (not a big feeder in the mornings)
A: 3hrs 15 mins
S: 09.45-11.00 (1.5hrs - sometimes wakes after 40 mins and resettles)

E: 11:30
A: 3hrs 30 mins
S: 14.30-16.00 (1.5 hrs - usually wakes after 40 mins and resettles)

E:16.00
A:
E:19.00
S: 19.15/19.30
Dreamfeed 23.30
Sleeps through until 5am

[Erin M]

So he's about 8 months now, right? 

First off, nice to hear the improvements.   

I'm wondering if he needs a touch more A time -- it seems like you're really close with where you are, but I might go a bit more -- 10 minutes or so -- I wonder if you started with the second A time it would be easier -- that first one is going to be a big rougher because he's got that broken morning that he's coming off. 

It sounds like you're doing a great job though. 

[Lainey21]

Thanks Erin.
I tried to increase A time yesterday - still had wake up at 04.50. This EW is always 04.50 - is there any point trying wake to sleep for this? He is doing so well, I am afraid to change too much in case we go backwards.
Our EASY for yesterday was as follows:

EW 04.50.
Settled again at 05.50
Woke at 06.35

E: 06.50
A: 3 hrs 20 mins
S: 09.55 - 11.15 (woke after 35 mins - resettled)

E:11.20
A: 3hrs 45 mins (maybe I extended too much? He really didn't seem tired though!)
S: 15.00-16.30 (woke after 45 mins - resettled)

E:16.35
A:
E:19.00
S:19.45

EW again today at 04.50.
I will keep trying to extend A times for a few days. What is the longest A time that I should aim for?
Do you think it would make a difference if I brought forward his bed time?
Thanks for all your help.

[Erin M]

Average A times at 8 months are 3-4  hours, so there's a huge variation in there.  I suspect you're close -- I actually might leave it where it is for a few days and see if he starts making it through those 45 minute transitions without waking.  If not, I'd tweak more then.

Wake to sleep would definitely be appropriate, if the waking is happening at the same time every morning.  You have to do it consistently for about a week in order to see if it will work, so brace yourself for that.    I can understand not wanting to mess with what you have all that much.