10/11 MO Back to NW and BT Struggles

[theu.s.lees]

Hello! I think everything seems to be getting out of whack. I wasn't sure which board to post on as it seems we are having problems in all areas. But the NW is my top priority to get rid of!

S is 10.5 months and was STTN (at least for a week). It seemed like we had things finally on track, even with her first two teeth breaking through. But the past couple of days she's having a major BT battles and back to at least one NW where we have to give her a bottle. I try just resettling her but she just keeps getting back up and escalating more and more quickly until I finally giver her a bottle. The past few days have been something like this:

WU: 7:30
E
A
S: 10-11 (I wake her after an hour to try to align her pm nap with DS)
E
A
S 1:30-3:30 (Some days I have to wake her after 2 hours, other days she wakes on her own between 3-3:30)
E
A
BT - 7 (She starts showing massive tired signs around 6, but we try to push her out until at least 7) Last night we didn't get her down until after 8, and it was 8:30 the night before, after she woke at 3pm.

She's been having a NW around 12-12:30am. On my nights I try to just resettle her but she usually gets up 15 minutes later still upset. I end up giving in as I'm so tired! I know that DH just gives her a bottle right away as he doesn't want to bother. She could actually be hungry since she's not eating as much during the day due to teeth, but I'm not sure.

I've been trying to lengthen the A time from WU to her first nap, but she's so fussy lately. Plus it's been DH or my MIL the past few days since I've had to work. I have a feeling that I need to lengthen that A so she can't "catch up" from BT then, but how? She's getting so tired from staying up so late.

Thank you for any help!

[PaulsMom]

Neyssa, hugs for the nw and bt battles.  I think S has always had shorter As right?  But I do agree that she needs her A pushed out to at least 3 hrs, if not longer.  Ok, how to accomplish this....  Are you waking her in the am?  If yes, I would pick one day to allow her to sleep in to get her nt sleep and then bump out her A slowly.  That evening try to get her down at her usual bt (I'm assuming that she will need one day to adjust but she might need two or max three days).  I know her naps won't coincide with Ms but I think that the short As may be contributing to the problem. 

Wrt the nw.  If she's taking a full bottle, then she could be hungry, which means you should feed her.  But the main problem is that she is not taking in enough calories during the day.  Have you tried feeding her frozen foods?  Eg. Squashed fruits or berries.  The coolness may sOothe her gums.  Also, try different textures. I think we tend to give softer foods but sometimes they want to bite down on something so chewy things may work (eg. Frozen bagel). 

If she's not downing the bottle, then I might try W2S if it seems to be a habbitual nw. 

Hth

[theu.s.lees]

Thanks for the tips. Meal time is so hard for us right now. She's always been more picky. Not about what she eats, but HOW she eats it. She only did purees for a short period of time. She prefers finger foods or squeeze packs since she can do them on her own. But squeeze packs are so expensive! She will take rice/quinoa/rolled oats by spoon for a few bites. Then I can kind of trick her into thinking she's feeding it to herself. She does like frozen blueberries a ton. But we're running low. I should try some peas. I like the bagel idea. I didn't think about that.

I will work on stretching the A time. I wake her up in the morning about half of the time. If she sleeps past 7:30 I wake her, but she usually wakes up close to then on her own. Do you think I should bump out the am nap and cut it to 45 minutes? Or just bump it out?

Today, of course, she fell asleep on the way to the park this morning (9-9:20) and then on the way home (9:50-10:10) in the stroller with DH. Then he put her down for her nap at 12:30. Ugh.

[PaulsMom]

On her catch up day, I would let her sleep in and then just bump her A out.  I wouldn't cap her nap unless she's going more than 1.5 hrs.  Keep in mind this is temporary and just to let her catch up so that her morning A isn't too short.  Once she's caught up then you can start her day at 7:30 and then see how she does with a capped nap but with a longer A. 

Yeah, my dd likes to feed herself so it's pretty much just finger foods.  I just try to deal with the mess  .  I've heard with rice, you can make rice balls.  I haven't tried myself but it might be less messy  And she could feed herself.

[theu.s.lees]

OKay. We shall see how tomorrow goes. She had a weird day all around. More like a one nap time with a couple of CN in the stroller. But she had at least 3.5 hrs to BT tonight which is making progress (she was doing either 2.5 or 5 for a few days there, so getting back to the 3.5-4 hrs). And she went down well (knock on wood).  Of course tomorrow I have to work so it will be the MIL with her for the WU and first nap. I'm not going to change much since it is hard to explain what to do since I won't be the one here when MIL gets here and I know that DH doesn't say much except hello and goodbye in the morning!

Rice ball is a good idea. She does rice as a finger food, funny enough. I just sweep up the floor a lot, and Sadie the puppy gets a lot of crumbs. She will start with some on the spoon but once she's fed up with that I let her do it herself. She seemed to love the peas tonight (Though we will see tomorrow if they came back out whole in her diaper!) and I did some garbanzo beans too.

[PaulsMom]

We get the odd wonky day as well.  the next day ends up a catch up day. Fx that MIL will receive the new instructions!  Keep us posted on how things go.

[theu.s.lees]

So we've cut the am nap to 30 minutes and that has helped with the pm nap refusal. I wake after 2 hrs but then I'm having massive BT refusal still. THe thing is around the 3 hr mark she starts rubbing her eyes and acting so tired. So I try and put her to bed and she takes her bottle and I change her and dress her for bed and then she will lay down but then just start screaming. She won't allow me to hold her to settle or anything, but she's rubbing her eyes so hard. Finally I end up giving up and she ends up staying up longer.

Some nights that she does this she STTN, and then the others she's up 1-2 times. It seems so hit or miss.

It has felt like struggles all week. She has the worst SA right now. If I just leave the room for a second or move away from her she cries bloody murder. Its making my life so difficult right now!

I'm just at such a loss for what to do with her anymore.

[PaulsMom]

Hugs Hun.  So hard when they have SA.  Do you think she's at another WW too?  How long is her a before the planned bt? I'm thinking though that it's a SA problem at bt.  Which means you need to go to her when she fusses.  So I'd push through the battle and not keep her up longer as she's becoming OT from that.  You could try wi/WO or just stay in her room and pat the mattress until she falls asleep. 

[theu.s.lees]

Last night was 4 hours when we finally got her down. We ended up having to just give her the bottle in her crib. She took it and then went to sleep on her own. I would try just rocking her to sleep or something but she doesn't really allow that. Nor can I just hold her. She starts trying to play and giggle, or she will fight it. If she's not acting tired I will let her be up. But it seems like such a battle.

Last night we didn't have any NW. SO maybe she just needs that longer A to BT. But why would she act so tired? WW? I guess. I forget when they all are.

[PaulsMom]

I think there is a WW around 46 weeks.  A 4 hr A until bt is good.  I suppose there are worse things than giving her a bottle in her crib and if she went down on her own, then I'd take it!  Repeat today and see how it goes.