6 month old night wakings - trying shush pat

[nippo]

Sorry to answer your question about the time between her catnap and bedtime - it was about 2 hours and 10 minutes. They are now 5 months corrected age.

She was definitely tired as she was rubbing her eyes etc. But she decided at the end of her feed thst she wanted to play instead of sleep. She was rubbing her eyes even while she was in the cot...

And now big twin won't nap in the day!!!!! I put her down for her regular morning nap and she played in her cot for about half an hour then started crying. I left her for a while as usually this is her way of putting herself to sleep but her crying became more persistent. I went in and shush patted and it made her worse she went into meltdown crying trying to push me away. So I left her which made her even worse because she didn't want me to go, but she didn't want me to shush pat. I shushed her by the side of the cot which worked for about 2 minutes then she started up again...I took her back into the living room and she calmed down but was fussing. She then closed her eyes whilst sitting on her Granddad. I picked her up back into wind down and into cot. Again she cried and I shush patted and she pushed me away and pulled my hair so I stepped back and that made her worse...I ended up abandoning after 25 minutes and putting her in the car seat. She slept for 15 mins and now is up again. Clearly tired....I feel like crying!!!

[Layla]

At some stage shh/pat stops working and pu/pd is better. Maybe rather than shh/patting you could try pu/pd.

How to PU/PD (inc age adaptations)

I am sorry you feel like things aren't improving .

[nippo]

Thanks Layla,

I'm going to keep trying for a while...Little twin was up 3 times last night again. For an hour at 7.30 then 1.30 until 3.15 then again at 5am and we fed her, she only drank half her bottle then up at 6.

I don't get how she can go from sleeping through the night for nearly 3 weeks to suddenly going back to square one...I'm at my wits end.

Dreading bedtime and now also dreading nap time...just have to keep going and hope to see an improvement.

[Layla]

I wonder if something is bothering her? Do you think she may be teething? Is she learning a new skill? If her daytime sleep has been messy, her nights will be affected. She may also be going through some sleep regression...

If you see that she's fighting you on naps and bedtime, it's possible she does need a little more A?

Rather than shh/patting, have a look at the link I sent you about pu/pd method.

[nippo]

I did wonder if she was teething. She isn't really displaying any of the classic signs but she was off her milk and missed this morning's feed...she has also been very clingy this morning, she is normally a very independent baby.

I put teething gel on her gums but she's still off her food. I think maybe she is having some movement but they aren't actually pushing through yet.

Big twin did ok today. She went down for her naps but only for 30 mins cut short by a giant poo...I'll take that rather than no naps at all!

I have found little twin settles without shushing or patting. She like a hand on her chest and on her back until she drifts off...is this ok? I have yet to test this at night but seems to work better during the day.

[Layla]

If hand on chest is working better, then I would continue using this method and then slowly work towards no hand on back and/or chest until you don't have to do anything. How did they sleep at night?

[nippo]

It was a weird night, little twin woke once at 9.30pm and cried so we did hand on chest and she kept falling in and out of sleep and crying when she'd wake (or remember! ). After about 50 minuted she started talking to herself and blowing raspberries so we left the room and after 25 minutes she put herself to sleep.

She then woke around 2.30 and cried a bit. Took about 20 minutes to fall asleep. But not sure how my husband did it at he had to get to work early this morning.

Big twin seems to wake every night between 3 and 4. She never cries, just plays for an hour and then goes back to sleep. Last night she woke twice. For an hour at 3 then again at 4 so I fed her even though she was babbling away in bed and didn't seem desperate. She drank her milk and I put her straight back down and she played for another 30 mins before going to sleep.

I'm exhausted though! I can't sleep until they are silent. So I've had about 2 hours!!

[Layla]

How are things going?

[nippo]

Hey Layla, we have had a week of sleeping through until 5am or thereabouts!! Yipee!

I have a problem now though. We tried dream feeding to get them to sleep until 6.30/7 buy neither will take it. They just want to go to Sleep. We tried 4 nights in a row and they just refuse the bottle and cry until we let them go to bed.

It got quite stressful so we stopped and continued with their feed when they wake at 4-6am.

Trouble now is that they take their milk, go back to bed and wake at various times between 6.30-8 and refuse a top up.  This makes our routine messy. We don't have set meals because they wake at different times each day and I'm having to stretch feeds so they can have their last bottle at 7...

[Layla]

Wow, that's great that they are sleeping and if they don't want the DF, don't force it upon them. I understand it will mess up their first feed... I wonder how you would go maybe offering less at the 4-6am feed? Could you maybe start reducing how much you're giving them (so instead of 4oz you could do 3?)... maybe they will want a top up when they wake up or an hour or so after they wake up?

[nippo]

I was thinking that too. I have started reducing the feed tonight. How quickly do I reduce? An ounce a week?

I still can't believe they are sleeping through.

We still have a minor issue with big twin waking at 1-2 am. She doesn't cry. Just plays for half hour to forty five mins and then eventually goes back to sleep. She wakes again between 4-6 for feed. I guess I worry she is losing out on sleep. I don't feed her, or even get up as she doesn't cry out. She just quietly talks to herself then drops off...

[Layla]

Yeah, I probably wouldn't do it too quickly.. an ounce a week sounds good! Have my fingers and toes crossed they keep it up!

[nippo]

We've enjoyed a good long spell of sleep so we moved both twins into the same room. We've now got them waking each other up which is a massive pain.

when they were apart they were sleeping until 4-5am and sometime LT would do the entire night. Now they are together, LT is waking up at 1am again and waking BT up they don't cry just don't settle back to sleep. Last night they were up 1.30 on and off until 3.30 when I fed LT and BT refused bottle. LT finally went to sleep at 4am whilst BT continued to moan and fuss until about 4.30am. Then they were both up at 6!

Not sure if this is just them getting used to each other. But the first night they both slept until 4am.

We think LT might be teething (although I still can't see any teeth yet), she refused two bottles yesterday and I just couldn't get her to take her milk. She ate a good lunch so I won't worry too much...

[Layla]

Do you have to keep them together? Could you keep them separate? Or maybe use white noise if you want to keep them together and hopefully they won't wake each other up... or they could just be getting used to each other like you said  .

[nippo]

We live in a small 2 bed apartment and we would have to keep one twin with us again which is not really an option as our room is just too small.  My one saving grace is that they don't cry when they wake. Just play for ages so I don't go in. Hopefully they will start to ignore each other and sleep. Last night they were up at 3 then I fed them ( they have been refusing milk in the day- another issue that's just arisen whilst weaning) so I am giving them their night feed because they are even refusing their bedtime bottle. I know I got them to sleep through until 4am before but I guess babies are ever changing!