6 month old taking over 1 hr to resettle at 4am

[ChocolateyClaire]

My LO has just turned 6 months and we've always struggled with her sleep. She used to wake constantly but would end up resettling however recently she's decided to wake any time from around 3 - 4.30ish and has no intention of going back to sleep! She starts to wake by making small noises which we ignore, even when it turns into small cries we still ignore her but then it just escalates more and more until she well and truly wakes herself up. Previously when this happened I would go into her, put her sleepy music on (lasts 30mins), make sure she was comfortable and then leave and she would eventually fall asleep but now this just makes her get very angry and she cries louder and louder. Last night I resorted to a dummy but she kept spitting it out and after 45 mins I ended up having to rock her as she kicked and kicked and struggled. I put her down drowsy and she started crying again. It took me from 3.45 until 5am to get her to settle and then she woke for the day at 6.45am. I just don't know how to tackle this as she gets so angry and just doesn't seem to want to sleep. If I sit there with my hand on her chest she goes mental and she knows I'm there! Our day goes like this:

5.30am - chatting in cot (this can vary but she always wakes early - feeding won't settle her as she's never hungry first thing)
6.00am - fully awake and in with us for quite play
7.15am - bottle fed
8.15am - pear/mango/pitta breakfast
9.00am - nap for 1-1.5 hrs. If she wakes v early we put her down earlier.
11.20am - bottle fed
12.30 / 1pm - nap for 1 hr
3.20pm - bottle fed
4.45pm - attempt a short nap. This can be unsuccessful and she fought it for 50 mins yesterday so I gave up!
5.30pm - small dinner
6.15pm - bath
6.45pm - bottle
7.00pm - bed

All of the above changes fairly frequently as sometimes she wakes from her naps after 30 mins. Recently I have been waking her at 2pm in the hope that she will have a later nap but I am now thinking I should leave her for longer and then ditch the later nap. She has a dummy for her naps as this is the only way she will settle in her cot (this is after literally 5.5 months of me having to walk her in the pushchair every day!!) I know the dummy is a prop but at the moment I am so overjoyed that she naps in her cot I can't bear to disrupt it! She doesn't have a dummy when we put her down at night though, it is only offered as a last resort at 4am! I'm fairly sure she's not teething, she already has 2 and her behaviour isn't in line with how she was. We have offered her teething gel and calpol though and this doesn't seem to make a difference.

[pumpkin_pie]

Unfortunately I have no advice to give as I have the same problem with my LO.  My LO is 6 months old and has STTN on multiple occasions (7pm to 6:30am), but more than not, tends to wake up really early and no intentions of going back to sleep.  She started waking up at 6am, then 5:30am, then 5:00am, then 4:30am, and at 3:45am last night!!

[katie80]

(((Hugs))), ladies and welcome to BW! Those long NWs are so exhausting!  pumpkin_pie, please feel free to start your own thread if you'd like specific advice for your LO.

ChocolateyClaire, it sounds to me like you're dealing with the 3-2 nap switch. Have a read through this and let me know what you think... All about the 3-2 transition- 5/6 months. I think if I were you, I'd start pushing that afternoon nap out to 1:15-1:30 and see if you can get it a little longer and phase out the CN. You may need to offer an earlier BT for a bit or if the CN is still needed AP it in the stroller or car, rather than fighting for it.

As for the dummy prop, she's about at the age she can start replugging herself. If you don't want to get rid of it, I'd start working on teaching her how to do this during the daytime and then start guiding her hand to it at NWs, eventually having her get it herself.

Six months can be a time of big change for lots of babies. There is often a growth spurt, wonder week, and new developmental milestones. Have you tried feeding right away at the NW to see if it makes a difference?  I know you mentioned he doesn't seem hungry first thing, so that may not be the case. Is she working on new skills lately... rolling, crawling, etc that might be interrupting sleep?  What types of solids is she having? Have you been offering them for awhile?  I was thinking that refusing the dummy might be some sort of teething/tummy discomfort, but not necessarily.

[ChocolateyClaire]

Thanks Katie80 for the advice and yes I think she's at the stage where the cat nap can be dropped. Yesterday I tried a slightly later afternoon nap but it didn't go entirely to plan. Her morning sleep was 9.15 - 10.30 which meant that she was tired by 1. She went down at lunch from 1.10 - 2.35 which meant that she didn't want the cat nap later but as the lunchtime nap was cut short she was really tired by bedtime at 6.45. She then woke at 9.30 screaming which is unusual, at midnight, 2.15 and then started her day by chatting in her cot at 5.30 (this is normal!). The 2 middle of the night waking were calmed with the dummy. She can put her dummy back in during the day but I guess at night she can't see it in a darkened room.

It has literally only been this week that she would sleep for more than 30mins in her cot during the day. She's suddenly started to go for 1 - 1.5 hrs which is great but it makes the 3-2 nap transition hard especially when she always fights the CN. She doesn't like being put down for naps at all so the sooner we can get it down to 2 the better and then I just hope to god the nights improve!

She does move around her cot a fair bit but it's only twisting from side to side at the moment as she's not really rolling over - god help us when she does as she's hyper at the best of times. Have you any advice for if and when the turn over in their cots and wake themselves up?

[katie80]

It sounds like she was still OT at BT... those screaming early NWs are a pretty classic sign.  Is there any way to APOP the CN by taking a walk in the stroller or short drive in the car around 5ish?  Even 15-20min would help her get to a better BT.  Or, I'd try BT as early as 6pm to try to get her caught up on a little sleep. 

She can put her dummy back in during the day but I guess at night she can't see it in a darkened room.

Maybe you could introduce a night light and place several around her crib?  Or, I think they make glow in the dark ones or something you can attach them to so that she can more easily find them.  If you start to guide her to it and help her find it for a few nights and then ask her to start finding it, I think she could do it on her own.

Have you any advice for if and when the turn over in their cots and wake themselves up?

Just to help her settle on her tummy too.  You can have her get the dummy again and then pat her a bit or rub her back.  Lots of babies actually start sleeping better when they start sleeping on their tummies, so it may not be as bad as you think.

Keep us posted!

[ChocolateyClaire]

Katie80 - well I thought she may have been overtired but we've tried all different options now with no change to the NW. She went a couple of days with around 2.45 - 3hrs daytime sleep and still woke and then she had a couple of days with 2 hrs daytime sleep and still woke. The past few nights it's been like an alarm clock as she wakes at 4am. Last night I sat with my hand on her chest with a v dim night light on and soothing music playing low for an entire hour and she was just squealing and chatting and trying to pick up my hand the entire time. I then resorted to picking her up and rocking her - she was tired as she kept resting her head but then it would ping up again and she'd start struggling. I then put her down, put the dummy in and left the room. She started crying again within a couple of minutes. I tried the rocking again and it eventually worked - this was at 5.45! She then slept until 7.15.

I just don't know what to do as I feel we've tried everything. We've changed bedtime slightly as well but it made no difference. I can't understand why she's so chirpy for so long at such an ungodly hour!

[katie80]

Have you tried giving her a feed at that time, just to rule out hunger?  Long NWs like that can often be contributed to UT, discomfort, or hunger.  I don't think it's UT, because she's not getting too much daytime sleep and she has appropriate A times.  It could be teeth, but you mentioned that teething gel and Calpol didn't help much, right?

One thing you could try if the waking is consistently at 4am is wake-to-sleep.  You'd go in at 3am and rustle her enough to cause her to stir and start a new sleep cycle, hopefully sleeping through the habitual wake.  Here's a bit more info: How do I address habitual wakings?  (wake-to-sleep and other methods)