6 month old waking for feeds after starting weaning.

[SatanicGoth]

My ds is 6 months old in 3 days. I have been weaning him since 4 months old on the advice of my hv as bottles weren't filling him up and he had teeth and was chewing everything. He was sleeping straight through from 2 months old but since I started introducing solids he wont go down till 1/2am and then is awake again for a feed at 4am and his usual morning feed at 6/7am of 9oz. He has breakfast of baby rice or porridge mixed with fruit puree and 4oz of milk, lunch is a whole jar of stage 2 or the equivalent homemade with juice or water, dinner is a jar of stage 1 or home made equivalent with 4oz of milk and I give him another 9oz at 10pm then put him to bed. Iv tried everything from putting him down and letting him settle himself to holding him till he falls asleep, Iv tried soothing him each time he wakes up but he normally wont go back down unless I pick him up and give him a feed. Even feeding him in his cot doesn't work. He was breast fed for the 1st 2 weeks but I wasn't producing enough so had to start combi feeding and by a month old my milk had stopped completely. I think this might have something to do with him needing a cuddle to get him back to sleep as he likes to rest his head on my chest. He has also been teething since 2 months old which can sometimes stop him from settling at night or wakes him no matter what we try. Any help would be brilliant.
A very tired Mummy 

How old is your child? 6 months.
What's his/her daily routine? as above.
What's nap routine and how long? Morning nap after breakfast about an hour and another nap around 4pm for an hour to 2 hours.
What's bedtime routine? Time? 9oz milk and a story, put in his cot no later than 10pm. Sometimes he has a bath before bed, I did bath him nightly when he suffered from colic during his 1st month of life but I suffer from back pain so it caused me a lot of pain.
Do you bottle or breastfed?? Breastfed to begin with until problems forced me to bottle feed.
How much? or how long? About 26oz daily plus water/juice
If breastfed.. one side or both?? (at each feed) N/A
How many wakes per night? Varies from 1 (4amish) to every hour.
What's your LO like when waking at night? How long is he/she up? Crying until he gets picked up and he is usually up for an hour or more.
When you go to him/her is she fussing or crying? Or is it a mantra cry? Sometimes its a "somethings wrong Mummy" cry and sometimes its a mantra cry.
What have you tried to settle?? everything from putting him down and letting him settle himself to holding him till he falls asleep, Iv tried soothing him each time he wakes up but he normally wont go back down unless I pick him up and give him a feed.
What do you do for A time and how long is it? Cant find any information on what A time is.
Are there developmental issues such as teething or milestones? Teething sometimes.
Have you introduced cereal? Why, how much, and how many times a day? (for LO’s under 6 months) Only porridge suitable from 4 months as a bit of variety.
Do they have a prop? If so what is it?  He has a teddy that plays lullaby's, we play him story Cd's and we have been trying lavender oil in his cot.
Do they have a lovie? He has a teddy that he has during naps and in his cot. He also has a dummy which he can take in and out of his mouth as he pleases.

[becj86]

Without seeing you day in EAS format, its hard to tell, but I suspect your little fellow is rather overtired. At this age, a typical routine would be something like this:

7 - wake, eat
8 - solids
10 - nap
11:30/12 - wake, eat
2:30/3 - nap
4/4:30 - wake, eat
7/7:30 - asleep for the night
10/10:30 - dreamfeed if you choose

Solids later in the day can cause digestive discomfort and cause wakings at night.
Milk really should be his main source of nutrition til he's 12 months - its higher in calories than solids. So a bottle of milk, then solids and hour or so later is ideal.

[SatanicGoth]

Without seeing you day in EAS format, its hard to tell, but I suspect your little fellow is rather overtired. At this age, a typical routine would be something like this:

7 - wake, eat
8 - solids
10 - nap
11:30/12 - wake, eat
2:30/3 - nap
4/4:30 - wake, eat
7/7:30 - asleep for the night
10/10:30 - dreamfeed if you choose

Solids later in the day can cause digestive discomfort and cause wakings at night.
Milk really should be his main source of nutrition til he's 12 months - its higher in calories than solids. So a bottle of milk, then solids and hour or so later is ideal.

Oh sorry I knew I forgot to add something :s.
His E.A.S.Y is:
6/7 - Wake, Milk.
8 - Breakfast
9/9:30 - Nap

11 - Wake, Lunch.
12 - Activity
1 - Top up of milk and or water/juice and a story.
1:30/2 - Nap

3 - Wake, Milk
4 - Activity
5:30/6 - Catnap

6:30 - Wake, Dinner
7 - Bath (not every night)
8 - Story and bonding time with Daddy (who doesnt normally get in till then from work)
9/10 - Warm milk and bed

12 - Dreamfeed (although iv only tried this the last 2 nights its given him an extra 30 mins to an hours sleep).

[Skadiver13]

If he's waking at 6am and not going to be until 9/10 I would think he's extremely over tired.. You really should be shooting for a 12/13hr day. My LO does 13.5 as he's Low sleep needs but I would think that's not nearly enough sleep. Was his bedtime always this late?

[SatanicGoth]

Thats the time he will go down, any earlier and he screams until hes sick. I tried putting him to bed at 6 and kept soothing him when he woke for attention but he screamed and screamed and we got complaints from the neighbors 

[becj86]

Ok, so do you want to run a day that's 9/10am to 10pm and see how that goes or do you want to keep the 7am wakeup and try for an earlier bedtime? Either way, you do need to shorten the day and get that catnap closer to bedtime - no more than 2-2.5hr awake after the catnap or he'll be really overtired.

You're at the age when dropping the catnap is also either near or necessary, here's some info: All about the 3-2 transition- 5/6 months

[SatanicGoth]

Thank you I think it would be better to get him to sleep till 9/10am if we can, other wise he wont see his Daddy at all. Today I tried another dream feed when I woke up at about 3am and kept topping him up when I could to try and get him to sleep longer, he went till 8am but from then on was too busy whacking his teddy to go back to sleep  .
So todays E.A.S was -
8 - Wake, Breakfast.
9 - Wandered about in his baby walker.
10:30/11 - Nap

1 - Lunch
2 - Tummy time.
3 - Nap

4:30 - Dinner
5:30 - Bath and story
6:30 - Warm milk
7 - Daddy cuddles
8 - Bed

Is this a little better? it seems to be a bit easier to move his routine a little now he isnt full of cold.

[becj86]

Today I tried another dream feed when I woke up at about 3am and kept topping him up when I could to try and get him to sleep longer

These DF's could be disturbing his sleep - best to stick with one DF 3-4hr after he goes to sleep for the night and then only feed if he wakes for a feed.

I think it would be better to get him to sleep till 9/10am if we can, other wise he wont see his Daddy at all.

Ok, worth a try. I will just say now that it doesn't fit well with most babies' natural body rhythms, so you may find his sleep isn't great even with the longer night and have to look at shifting the routine. Having said that, it works well for some people so its worth giving it a go.

Have you tried increasing his bottles in the middle of the day? Just to get more calories in during the day... water (for example) has no calories but will fill up his tummy.

Best to increase that first A time a little just to encourage him to sleep a little later in the morning.

[SatanicGoth]

Ive tried this routine for a week now, he'll sleep in till 10am but that doesnt make him go to bed any earlier.
He has about 34 oz on milk over the day and night but I give him a bit of water as he has suffered with constipation since begining weaning.
Ive also tried increasing his A time as you suggested. This resulted in a longer afternoon nap but no change to bed time. He still screams until 2am then conks out no matter what we do.

[becj86]

Ive tried this routine for a week now, he'll sleep in till 10am but that doesnt make him go to bed any earlier.

Which routine? What are you aiming for and what has actually happened the last few days?

[SatanicGoth]

The 10 till 10 routine but over the past few days his E.A.S.Y has been like this:
9:30 - Wake, Breakfast.
10 - Wandered about in his baby walker.
11 - Nap

12:30/1 - Lunch
2 - Tummy time.
3 - Nap

5 - Dinner
6 - Bath
6:30 - Story
7 - Warm milk
7:30 - Daddy cuddles
8/9 - Top up fed
10 - Bed

Even though he is going to bed at 10pm he still cries and screams till 1amish.

[becj86]

Even though he is going to bed at 10pm he still cries and screams till 1amish.

That's because his day is not going 10-10 - that first nap is so early he's tacking it onto his night and running his day 1-1. Push that first A time up towards 3hr (gently of course) and you should see some results.

9:30 - Wake, Breakfast.
10 - Wandered about in his baby walker.
11 - Nap
12:30/1 - Lunch