6 weeks old cant go to sleep at night for 2 hours

[Lazii]

My touchy baby who is 6 wo now does ok with day naps as i try to put her to bed as soon as i notice that she is yawning but night times have become so hard! I tried to have her bath time and then BF before going to sleep but even if she falls asleep in 20-30 minutes she wakes up and the only thing that helps is rocking her bed. I tried to cluster feed her as in the book at 4& 6pm and then bath but she wont fall asleep and cried till 8 pm when i fed her. Then slept for an hour max and woke up again and this goes on and on. Sometimes she settles after 11pm feed but yesterday she kept waking up at night every other hour and I just cant take it as both me and my husband cant get a proper rest. We swaddle her and have tried pacifier but she doesn't take it at night time.
By the way- she really enjoys her bath and a week ago was falling asleep fine after it so i dont think it is the reason. And i put on white noise vacuum cleaner as she seems to like it and settles to sleep quickly.
What can i do to escape that two hour nightmare?
Thank you!

[*Ali*]

Is she having a growth spurt do you think? There is a big one at 6wo.

What is her routine in terms of nap and feed timing in the day time. If you could post your EASY that would help us see if she might be OT perhaps.

[Lazii]

Hi,
Over this past week things have improved drastically for the better, thank God. As far as I see she was just overtited by the time we put her to bed at night, but I have decreased her activity time and yesterday she fell asleep in about 5 min!
My only worry now is that she would nurse very little during DF and therefore she wakes up early about 2am and can't make it till morning with one feed whereas when she eats for 30min at DF she can sleep till 4. Her 8 pm meal is long but if I decrease it she is still hungry and cries .

Her EASY on a good day:
E 7.50
A nappy plus a bit of tummy time if possible
S 9.00 nap of 30 min and with sh/pat of 20min she can get to sleep
E 10.30
A same
S 11.30- 13 but with the same wakings
E 13
A same
S in pram while walking 14- 15
E 15
A
S short nap at 16 of 30 min
E 16.30 first cluster feed
A
S 17.30 short nap
E 18.00 e
A 19.40 bath for 10-15 min plus nappy change
S 20.-20.30 nap
E 20.30 eat
A none
S 21-till DF
E DF at 22.30  or 22.40

And I cant really move the bath time sooner as my DH comes home rather late :/

[*Ali*]

I think the DF is too soon after her last feed and BT. Could you do it any later? Does she wake at 8 or are you getting her up? What about skipping that feed altogether and just doing the DF? Or if you want to sleep earlier it might be worthwhile skipping the DF and just waiting for her to wake and have one big feed at 2 or whenever. Are you BF or FF? Either way it is completely normal at this age to have a DF plus 2 NFs, even more so for BF babies. Their tummies are so tiny they really can't take too much food in at once.

Your routine looks great to me.

[Lazii]

Thank you for your reply!

I also think that at DF time she probably isn't too hungry, but if I skip it she wakes at 12 and then 4 and then around 8. With DF these last days its been 2 am and then 6 or even 5 snd I can't possibly start my dy that early so I put her back to sleep and  she woke at 10 though I actually had to wake her. As yesterday she had a very hard time going to sleep I myself could get up only around 10
I'm EBF her.

She gets OT very quickly and many times I've missed the right time and then everything goes downhill.
I really want to keep her on a good routine but not always I succeed. I hope things will improve with time.

[*Ali*]

Can you do the DF any later?

[Lazii]

Yesterday I cluster fed her around 19.30 and I gave her DF past 23 and although she again ate for only 10min, she woke up later than usually around 3.40 and with one feed slept till 9am! 
I need to keep her wake time extra short for her to fall asleep properly and I'm concerned that there is no other activity for her besides nappy change. I do talk with her while nappy changing and she sometimes observes the black and white patterns we have for her but apart from that its nothing else I understand sleep is more important than activity however I just wonder how about her development?

[*Ali*]

That sounds promising.

At this age there often is only time for eating, a nappy change and a quick cuddle but don't worry. Over the next couple months her A time will double and she will get more efficient at eating and be much more active between sleeps.

[Lazii]

Thank you so much for your advice!

[shirat]

i know its an old post, but just curious how things are going bec my lo is having the EXACT same issue. last night she didnt fall asleep until 1 AM. she is so hard to get her to close her eyes after that last cat nap of the evening. moat night she would finally settle after her dreamfeed, but not last night!
 i hold her for hours, and nothing! (she is 7 w/o)

[jessmum46]

Hi Shirat, did you want to start your own thread so you get more people having a look?  If you could post a rough daytime routine that would help too

[Lazii]

Hi,Shirat!
Just noticed your post and read your own post saying that things are going better now! hope it goes on great as I know how frustrating it is!!!
As for us, our evening have became calmer mostly coz we started putting her to bed a bit later (  8 instead of 7) and she gets up later in the morning ( great for me ) and what we did is after last nap- just had bath, swaddle and only then feed. I try not to  nurse her to sleep so she is still awake when I put her down, but sleepy enough to fall asleep on her own.
Naps are a different issue now, but that's another story.
By the way a question to anyone who could help- i start wind down at first yawn which is just at around 1h or less. Yet still she can't transition past 40min mark. Is it too soon (it can't be OS as we really don't do  any great activities) ? I'm scared  if I don't act Immediately according to Tracy, it will be impossible to get her to sleep.but now she is ok to fall asleep on her own just waking up is too soon. Also her wake time is soo short though she is already 11 wo.

[shirat]

the past 2 nights she fell asleep around 7 30 after her bottle, but for some reason was unsettled from 2-4:30 am both nights! no idea why all of a sudden.

[Lazii]

Shirat,
We haven't had that but what I usually do is divide feeds when dd gets up- feed then change nappy then feed again, so that is only time she is nursed to sleep though she wakes up in crib  and goes to sleep on her own. But she's bf so not sure if it would work with bottle..
Can't help much with advice on that   but they change so quickly that it can just go away itself ( hopefully )

[*Ali*]

I would push the A time a bit with some really low-key activities like walking round the house or singing to her etc. That should help her be tired enough to go hack to sleep after she wakes at 40mins even if it is that she has trouble transitioning to the next cycle.