Night waking 8 month old

[falcon6]

Hi this is my first time posting but I have found this forum a great help. My lo has been a great sleeper until the past month - angel baby, sleeps through, requiring very little settling, only long-term issue is short naps but she wakes happy so have just gone with it. Over Christmas we had a few disruptions (like everybody) including a bad cold and some nights away from home.  During this time we let her into our bed a few times and had a lots of naps 'on the fly'. Her routine changed and she dropped to 2 naps and an earlier bedtime (7 instead of so I don't know if our troubles are related to that.
So our situation now is that she is settling great for naps (between 30-90 mins) and fairly ok at bedtime but... she is waking very easily during the night and crying her little heart out. I have been making some pathetic attempts at pupd but find she doesn't stop crying in my arms either and I get quite worked up myself which doesn't help. Often when we do settle her, she will wake again, sometimes within 10 mins. Three nights ago, she had woken 5 times by 10pm. We have been buckling and letting her sleep in our bed but that is officially over now as I know its not helping! She does appear to be teething but has already got 6 teeth which gave no hassle. Two nights ago, we gave ibuprofen and she slept through although cried out now and again but.. last night, with ibuprofen again, she was as unsettled as ever. She is also in a 'stormy' wonder week.

I am wondering is there an issue with our new daytime routine that is knocking her off, whether its just a 'developmental' stage.. and also looking for advice on coping with pupd (hubbie is agree support and more patient than me!)

Our routine is;
6.30 Wake and bottle
7.30 Brekkie
9.30 Nap (usually 45 mins but varies)
12.00 Lunch
2.00 Nap (anywhere between 30-90 mins)
3.00 Bottle
4.30 Dinner
5.00 Out for a walk and quick nap in the buggy (30 mins max), only if she has been awake from before 3
6.30 Bedtime routine, bottle
7.00 Asleep

Thanks you ladies, this site is such a help! 

[Erin M]

Developmental stuff can really mess with sleep so that could be a huge part of it.

I'd also wonder about your A times -- she could be telling you that she needs some more with the short naps.  A times at 6 months are between 3-4 hours so she might be able to stand more.  Wakings after BT often mean OT which makes me think that her short naps aren't getting her enough rest during the daytime,  what do you think?

[falcon6]

Thanks so much for your reply. These last few days I am thinking that she is, as you suggest, OT at bedtime which may be the cause? Today she napped 50 mins at 9.30 and 30 mins at 2.00. Right now, its 5.30 and she looks truly exhausted but wouldn't go down for a nap when we tried around 4.30.. Do you mean that I should increase the A time?? I am wondering more about reducing it as she seems to be in a cycle of being over-tired? I could also try putting her down to bed earlier on the days, like today, when she wakes early from her nap... but then I'm scared she will start waking very early in AM!
I shouldn't complain really as she is good sleeper compared to many but would like to stop the night tears

[Haribo2012]

Hi, my DS is 8 months too and we had NW when transitioning to 2 naps, if I were you I'd ditch the CN if LO wakes at 3pm and shoot for early BT! We had a few 5.45pm BT for a few days until got A time sorted for decent nap!
You might need to up your first  A time to get better naps, we do 3.15 hour at the moment and did the increase by 10 mins for a few days at a time! If you get a short first nap your 2nd A would need to be reduced to not let OT creep in!!
My LO refuses CN nap now so if we get a pm nap under 1.5 I just go for an EBT and I was amazed LO only used to wake up bit earlier if at all but meant good solid sleep and then I had a time to work naps from!!

I'm sure you'll get lots of good advice, I'm new to this forum but the lovely ladies on here are brill :-)

Sending you hugs

[Haribo2012]

Forgot to say we have developmental going on too, wakes up crawling or pulling up the side of cot....I just try and get LO doing loads in the day so he's bored of it by night lol!!

[Erin M]

Agree with pp, I'd say you had an undertired first nap and then an overtired second one (probably because the first one was short) -- definitely push that first A time out to try to get a longer first nap.

[falcon6]

Thank you ladies. She had 2 very short naps yesterday but slept through til 8.15 this AM. Think she has some catching up to do on sleep but will definitely try your suggestions, both pushing out morning A time and earlier bedtimes on days when naps short. Thanks!

[Erin M]

Good luck!