7 month old night waking - great sleeper until now!

[MiasMama]

Good to know! We will be keeping her up later then. Today, I was shocked. I put her down and she was bucking like she has been and I knew I didn't have the energy to rock her to sleep, so I tried shhhpat. WOW! It worked!! It took be under 10 min to get her to sleep for both naps! Plus no waking up! I woke her up at an hour and 40 min (I hadn't read your post yet) and then this afternoon she took a good hour and ten min nap. She woke up at 4:30pm so we will keep her up til 7:30/45pm. It was so refreshing to have her sleep so soundly! After she falls asleep, she doesn't really use e paci. I will look into dropping that and the swaddle. I think we will see if we get a good night sleep and then let one of her arms loose.

Also, she is currently in a co sleeper and we need to move her to her crib as the co sleeper has a low side. We would be moving dd2 into the same room as dd1 who will be 3 in June. I am wondering about all these changes: dropping the swaddled and the paci, moving to the crib, moving in with her sister, day light savings next week and needing less sleep! I don't want to overwhelm her but I don't know how long we can drag this out.

Thanks for your help! I will be showing my dh how I shhhpatted today and we will see how tonight goes!

Yay for good neighbors!

[katie80]

Wow, way to go on the shh/pat!  That's great!!  

Honestly, you don't need to get rid of the paci if shh/pat works so well and you don't have to pick her up out of the crib.  And once she's unswaddled, she's at the age where she can replug herself (you can start teaching her now during A time), so the paci is no longer a prop but a comfort item.  So, if you're looking for one less thing that needs to change, that can be it.   Depending on her temperament, you may want try to do just one or two changes at a time.  I'm sure you'll do what works best for you all.

[MiasMama]

Hi,

We're back. DD2's sleep has been rough and she's been cranky. She's been very sensitive to if her schedule/routine is off. I've been having to wake her up in the morning so that she doesn't sleep too late but then I've also had to wake her up at naps after 2 hours on occasion. However, she's also starts taking 1 hr 10 min naps which seems like she needs a longer A time. I don't want our whole routine to crash again, I'd like to slowly adjust it if possible, but she seems very particular about timing.

Yesterday
7:20am: up
8am: bf and then solids
10:50am: Sleep
11:50am: Up and solids
12:30pm: bf
3pm: She was very cranky and was having trouble keeping her eyes open so I put her down at 3pm instead of 3:05 or later
4:35pm: I woke her up at 4:35pm so she wasn't going to bed later than 7:45pm
4:30pm: bf
7:45pm: Sleep
9:30pm: woke to nurse then back to bed
12:30am: woke to nurse then back to bed
4:00am: awake to nurse then back to bed
7:15am: Woke her up for the morning

I feel silly waking her up in the morning (she's typically cranky). Is this something where she just has a later schedule? Or what? ANy help would be great!

[MiasMama]

I saw this EASY routine and it seems like DD2 might be close to this....What do you think?

9 Month Sample Routines

Key Notes:
*Average Awake time at 9 months is about 3.5 hours. (Tracy says 8-10 months is 3 to 4 hours)

1.
A time of 3 hours 30 mins. to 4 hrs.
two naps, one of 1 hr. and another of 1.5 hrs.
Total daytime sleep: 2.5  hours
Totally nighttime sleep: 11 hrs.

Luka is now 9 months.  We hit the 'wonky' naps situation a couple of weeks ago with afternoon nap refused a few times, then panicked cos morning one also got refused once.  Therefore now cutting the morning nap short to 1 hour.  Only into about the 4th day of doing this but already seems to have helped.

A  6am Wake up and chat
A  7am Nappy change by daddy
E   7.15am Bottle 3oz-6oz
A   Play (crawling) while I get breakfast ready
E   8am Breakfast
A   8.30am Brush teeth/gums, change nappy again, and into outfit for the day (oh, and play!)
S   9.30am Wake him up at 1 hr
E   11am Snack of yoghurt and fruit if tetchy or if going out and lunch might be delayed (milk feed dropped as zero interest)
E   12pm Lunch
A   Go out to class or run errands (giving lunch while out if nec), or play in house or on blanket in garden
S   1.30/1.45pm - either 45 mins or 1hr 30mins (almost to the minute)
E   3pm  Bottle 3oz-6oz
A   Run errands, go for walk or play in house or garden
E   4.30-5.30pm (start anytime between) Dinner
A  Play, or if getting too hyper or fussy sing songs and/or look at books
A  Bath 6.15pm
E   6.30pm Bottle 3oz-6oz
S   7pm Bed

Posted by: NikkiSurrey, September 3, 2007

[katie80]

How old is she now?  Have you lost the swaddle and/or paci?  Is she settling herself to sleep on her own? Do you nurse at every NW or do you sometimes resettle?  Is she teething (which could be causing her to be more touchy/do funny timed naps)?

I think both the routines you've posted look fine.  I'm assuming she's around 9mo, since that's the EASY you pulled.  At that age, you can kind of work the day to how you want and what works for your LO.  So, if you cut one nap and she does about 2.5hr total day sleep, I'd still aim for the day to be about 12-12.5hr.  If you keep two full naps of 1.5hr each, then your day will likely push out to 13hr.

[MiasMama]

Hi,
 We have unswaddled one arm, gained a lovey and kept the paci. We have not moved her yet. We have had a few good nights and then a weird one last night bc of bad gas for her. Our dd2 will be 9 months on April 10th.  We tend to resettle if its much shorter than 4 hours. But nurse if its 3.5 hrs or more. Thanks!

[katie80]

We have had a few good nights and then a weird one last night bc of bad gas for her.

Were the better nights on the new EASY with one nap capped?

I think once you've got all the changes ironed out, i.e. unswaddling, moving cribs, etc, it's time to start pushing those NFs apart.  She's definitely capable of going longer than 4hr at this point, and I think her NWs would probably get better if she started resettling more on her own.