Help - need to reduce/stop NWs in 6 month old!

[Natazha]

Help! I am so confused. I have a couple of issues with DD2 related to getting her to eat more at daytime feeds, reducing/stopping NWs and working out an EASY schedule that works (she's on a 3 hour E schedule but down to 2 naps and 1 catnap a day with a 2 hour A time).

I didn't EBF until DD2, so I'm a little new to nursing. With DD2, who is now 6 months old, I'm breastfeeding except for a top up formula bottle (4oz) at BT which I introduced because I felt like she wasn't getting enough. I did a yield and my supply is fine. DD2 wakes up 2-3 times a night (down from 6x a night!), and feeds a full feed at least 2 of those times (I can usually get her to go back to sleep one of those times). She was waking up around 1am and 5am and then only taking a partial feed at 7am (her WU time), but now the NWs are becoming a little more erratic and have been for about 2 weeks. She has never STTN.

We just started solids (this is our 4th try and it's finally working) - and she has one solid meal a day consistently, and sometimes two.

We've just transitioned her to a different nap schedule, because she was able to do longer A times, and her naps got shorter (30-45mins each). Now she's (FINALLY!) consolidating her naps again and sleeping longer, which is really messing up the E part of our schedule. She is still on 3 hours E during the day because I read somewhere (Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Sleep Problems?) that if baby is not sleeping through the night, you shouldn't move to a 4/4 routine. She naps at 9ish and 1ish and catnaps at 5ish. So we're doing this messed up EASY that looks like below.

I feel like the problem is that she is not taking full feeds during the day and so is obviously hungry and waking up at night. She puts herself to sleep (taught her that at 3 months with shush pat - worked a charm) at BT and nap time, so it's not a sleep association/ prop issue. But I'm not sure how to make her feed longer during the day? Getting her to take the feeds below are hard enough - she is SO distractible! Help! Any advice on how to make her feeds more substantial during the day and get her to stop waking up at night, as well as advice on my EASY would be appreciated!

700 WU E (full feed)
725 A
900 S
1000 E (full feed?)
1015 A
1115 Solids (fruit/veg - 2 tsp)
1245 E (full feed? - I nurse her here to get her to nap longer, otherwise she wakes up 30mins into the nap and is starving, but I'm worrying about the nursing to sleep association? Also, I find if I nurse her here, she takes a good feed. Any other time, she's distracted)
100 S
230/300 A
400 E (partial feed)
410 A
500 S (catnap)
530 A
600 E (partial feed, but screams for it)
610 A (bath, PJs, bedtime routine)
640 E (full feed plus 4oz formula top up)
700 BT (no cry, she puts herself to sleep)
100 NW - she takes a full feed
400 NW - sometimes she wakes up but will not take a full feed
500 NW - she takes a full feed
630 NW - fusses, I try not to feed her
700 WU and E (partial feed)

[jessmum46]

Hi Natazha,

Routine-wise I think she's getting a little too much daytime sleep, I would be tempted to work towards dropping the catnap by stretching your first A slightly to get a longer nap, which would push your second nap later and allow you to drop the try nap in favour of earlier bedtime.  So maybe WU 7, nap 9.30-11, nap 2-3.30/4 and BT 6.30/7pm.

I don't think there's any need to stick with 3 hourly feeds if she is showing signs of going longer.  Although all babies become much more distractable as they get older, I have found with both of mine that the distracted behaviour is far worse if they aren't properly hungry.  If you can push out A times a bit and get some decent naps, that would have the effect of lengthening your E times anyway.  4h may be too long for an EBF baby before solids are well-established, but you can try offering some top-ups say 30 mins before a nap if you're worried she's going to wake hungry.

My feeling would be to get that catnap dropped first and then see where that gets you with NWs - you may find with increasing A times that NWs improve somewhat on their own