6.5 Month Old- Horrible Sleeper

[Exumama]

First off thanks in advance for taking the time to even read this!!!

So I am at my whits end with my little one.  WE are coming up to 10 days of sleep retraining, and its not going good!

A few factors:

• I am pretty sure she has over the past two weeks started really bad separation anxiety
• I am drying up so I stopped breastfeeding, I have been weaning her for a while,  this week we got rid of the night time breastfeed at 2/4AM and she is getting formula

Here is what her day looks like

6.20A - Eat
6:45A - Leave for Day care
During Day Care she has 3 SHORT naps through out the day and gets 3 - 5OZ bottles of formula, she also gets solids twice during her time there. 
5:50P - Pick up from day care, sometimes she takes a nap during the 25 minute drive
7:00P - 2OZ of solids while we eat dinner
7:45P - Bath
8/830P - Story and bottle as she winds down for sleep
8:30/9 - places in crib awake, Pat - shh routine as she drifts off...we leave er slightly awake, she fusses for about 10 minutes then eventually falls asleep.
11P - Fusses for about 10/15 we let her sooth herself back to sleep
1230/1A - Fusses we go in pat her and it sames she gets even more upset
230/3A - Fusses we go in and offer a bottle, takes the bottle but still upset, cries for about 20 minutes before drifting off
6:00 - Awake and want to play

This morning we were so frustrated that my husband brought her in the bed.  But she still cries, I think its because of us removing that breastfeed from her.  I even slept in another room
so she did not smell me and she still screamed.  I am sure this will end at some point but I just want to know how long this will go on for.  My husband and I both have to get up pearly for work and this is really wearing on us.

THANKS

[Skadiver13]

Hi hun will write more later but just a few questions. Is there a reason she takes the short naps at daycare? do they offer longer naps? Are you feeding at the 12:30 night waking I would think this is hunger given she hasnt eaten since 8? Are you willing to not bring her in to bed with you?

[Exumama]

I don't know why she takes the short naps....they do offer longer naps.  Its really just been the past 2 weeks that her naps have gotten so short.  I do not feed at the 12:30AM awake, just because I think that she should be able to go longer without eating because previously she was going until 3-4AM. 

[Skadiver13]

what is the routine they do at daycare vs. the one you do at home? There is a big growth spurt at 6 months and given this started about two weeks ago I would certainly feed her at that 12:30 waking. She is most likely hungry and a bit OT from the short naps.

[Exumama]

I follow pretty much the same routine as day care.  EASY routine, So you think she is crying like this because she is hungry?

[Skadiver13]

Ok could you post your routine in EASY format? And yes I truly think it could be hunger.  Many los are still on W Night feedings at this age. Mine was till 8 months and then and then ome night feed till 10. What amount of solids are you giving and when?

[Exumama]

A  6:30 Wakes
E  8:00 5oz milk, cereal and fruit
S  9:30 Nap( Sometime 30min, sometimes 1.5hr)
E  12:00 5oz milk, cereal and fruit
A  Floor Time
S  2:45 Nap( Sometime 30min, sometimes 1.5hr)
E  4:30-4:45 5oz milk
E  7:00 eats veggies and fruit with a little bit of water
A  8:00 Bath and massage
E  8:15 5ozmilk
S  8:30 bedtime

[Skadiver13]

What happens if she only sleeps 30min do they still wait till 2:45? 6:30-8:30 on 2 to 3 30min naps is a super long day. on 2 good 1.5hr naps I would still stick with no more than a 13hr day. I think she's super OT on those naps and so some of the wakings an inability to go back to sleep are due to being OT and then hunger at the same time.  Is she an independent  sleeper?

[Exumama]

She used to be, but now she needs alot of help falling asleep.  At one point I could put her in her crib and she would instantly fall sleep.

[Skadiver13]

Ok. Just a few questions that would still help me figure out if your routine needs a little tweaking. What happens at daycare if she only sleeps for 30min? Are her naps shorter at home as well? Secondly what are you doing to put her to sleep for naps/Bt. What is the daycare doing? You might also think about removing the solids from being that late and move them ahead to maybe right after the 4 feed. Then that way she'll be much hungrier at the BT and take more than 5oz. Are you offering more but she's just not finishing it? Also I would certainly try and feed at the first wake up IF it's after 4hrs from the last feed. I would also bringing BT back to make it only a 13hr day max and even earlier if she only has 2 or 3 short 30min naps.

[Exumama]

OK so for the Nap times...its not always clear at day care, so today I asked them to clearly note how long each nap was.
At home her naps go from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours... she typically does at least 2.
Nap times are a hassle, I know when she needs to go down but she fights it and I typically have to rock her to sleep..:-(
At daycare I am pretty sure they just put her in her crib and they say most times she falls asleep while shes playing on the floor.

So last night I moved her BT to 7:15, she woke up at 12:30 and I gave her a 2oz bottle.  She woke again at 5:15 and I gave her another 2oz.
At bedtime I actually offer 7/8 ounces and most times she drinks it all. 
Today I also asked them to give her 6oz bottles of milk instead of 5oz and I am planning on cutting the evening solid and just giving a bottle. 

Hopefully I don't jinx myself but last night was not bad...she still woke fussed a few times but would put herself back to sleep.

Thanks again for your time!!

[Skadiver13]

Hi hun, the 45min naps at home would most likely be UT. The rule of thumb I usually go by is anything less than 40 was OT or over stimulation like at daycare. 45-130 is usually under tired and 1.5+ is a good solid nap. So if she sleeps shorter than 1.5hrs I would lessen the second A time.

Nap times are a hassle, I know when she needs to go down but she fights it and I typically have to rock her to sleep..:-(

I would start working on this because it's now a prop. Does she go to sleep by rocking at BT too?

I would offer a full bottle each time and then just toss what is left. I would offer more than 2oz at night and see if she'll take it. If she does than she definitely needs it for now. I would cut the solids if it were me, but you could always just move them to right after the 4pm feed so he still gets a taste of them.

Did she go back to sleep at 5:15?

[Exumama]

For BT there is no rocking, I am very cautious with this, because I know that any and everything can easily become a prop.  What do you suggest for nap times, I have tried
alot, and the only way to get her down is to rock her.

I will try increasing the bottle.  Yes the night before she went back to sleep after 515 and only woke when we had to get her dressed for day care, which was around 630.

So here are some changes I've started for the past two nights:

• Increased bottles to 6oz at daycare, cut the third solids feed
• BT routine starts @7PM down in crib at 730, she is obviously sleep and tired but still screams when we initially put her in there.  she eventually soothes herself after about 10 minutes.  We typically stay with her until she is out.
• Started feeding her at her first wake around 1230

So Monday night was OK .  Last night was BAD.....however we put her down at 730 and she did not wake until 130.  BUT we could not get her back down,
We fed her, changed her diaper because she was really wet, she did same really congested so we suctioned her.  Up until 2:15 my hubby stayed with her until he thought she was down , but at 245 she was back at it again, she seemed like she was just awake cooing and playing so we let her be.  But then at 315 she started to scream I went in and she was really warm so I gave her some Tylenol and brought her into our bed, and she still fussed for a good 15/20 minutes before going down.  I had to wake her at 635 for daycare.

Maybe she's teething, I don't know :-(

[Skadiver13]

BT routine starts @7PM down in crib at 730, she is obviously sleep and tired but still screams when we initially put her in there.  she eventually soothes herself after about 10 minutes.  We typically stay with her until she is out.

Hi hun  there is some SA around this age so hopefully you can ride it out and the start the gentle removal process to get her back to self settling at BT.

Definetely sounded like pain in the middle of the night like that. 

How are things now?