Author Topic: Help with 1.5 to 2 hour night time wakings with nearly 6 month old  (Read 775 times)

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Offline Pomme-mum

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Hi,
I have been using EASY with my son since he was about 6 weeks old. We never seemed to really land on a predicatable routine and he struggled with self soothing for a long time. He is now nearly 6 months old and has been waking more and more during the night. Pre 4 months he used to wake twice, with a 4 hour sleep and then a 3 hour, but he wasn't going to bed until after 11:00- he could keep himself awake for 3 or 4 hours at night! And his naps during the day were usually short. Once the daytime naps lengthened the night time sleep got worse. We first moved his bedtime to 8:00. We are in the process of transitioning to longer activity times, usually between 2.5 hours and 3 hours depending on how well he napped the previous time. And that has really helped him falling asleep at nap time. I can now usually put him in his crib and then leave while he is still awake. Half the time  I go back in and do PU/PD when he cries.
His old routine was something like:
E: 6:00- and then fall back to sleep for a while.
A 7:00
E 9:00 otherwise he would only nap for 30 mins and wake hungry.
S 9:30 - 11:30 or 12:00

E 12:00
A 12-2
S 2.30 3:15

E: 3:15
A 3:30- 5
S 5:00- 5:30

E 5:30
A 5:30- 8:00
E 8:00

Bedtime
Wakes at least every 2 hours until 7.
Routine would shift around depending on how long naps were.
I first tried cutting the first nap short, to 1.5 hours but that doesn't seem to have helped. He just cut his first 2 teeth, and I thought things might improve after that, but they haven't yet.
Occasionally pat/sh will send him back to sleep for another hour, but often he resists that. I have also tried PU/PD Which sometimes helps, but not always.

We just introduced solid food this week, but only once a day and he probably only eats a teaspoons worth. The don't recommend food before 6 months now!

So we are now on a 2.5 to 3 hour activity with naps being between 45 mins and 1.5 hours. If they were short I add a catnap in the evening, if longer I don't bother.

I hope that is enough information for you to tell what I have been doing wrong!

One more question how often should I be feeding a BF baby. I am still shooting for every 3 hours, which will then send my whole EASY out of order but if his activity is 3 hours and then he naps, he either only naps for a short time or isn't getting enough food during the day and wants to nurse even more at night!  ???

Offline nevinsmama

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Re: Help with 1.5 to 2 hour night time wakings with nearly 6 month old
« Reply #1 on: October 25, 2014, 01:51:59 am »
Hey there, I am so sorry no one has responded yet! :( :( . I will try to be of help, but honestly 6 months can be so tough! Any chance he is in a growth spurt? How much is he nursing at night? Are you feeding at each nursing? Does he go to sleep on his own at all in the night? When you are doing PUPD I would make sure it is an "I need you" cry that gets you back in there, not him just sorting out his day. A lot of BF babies are still on 3 hour EASY, some are on 3.5 or some other variation. It just depends on the LO. I think mine were 3.5 at this age and less when they had lousy naps ( a lot of the time). OK, if you don't mind to give me a bit more information we will try to help you out! I would be wary of any nap cutting at this age, it can send them in to such an OT loop. Keep us posted, hang in there!

Maryn


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