Too much day sleep messing with nights? 7 months old

[asvbloch]

Greetings:

My LO recently has started getting up 3+ times a night. She is an independent sleeper for naps and falling asleep at bedtime for months now.  She has never STTN.  Most we have ever gotten in a stretch is 6 hours.  Which I will consider a win!  Lately though she has begun waking for her dreamfeed and I think that begins a pattern of every 3-4 hours she wakes.  Now I am involved in accidental parenting at this point because I started feeding her thinking it was a growth spurt.  So how do I begin eliminating some of those night wakings?   Here EASY is below.  Thanks for any and all advice!  Also she isnt super interested in solids and is EBF.


6:30-7 Wake & eat
9:15 Top off BF
9:30/10:00 Nap  (She has a three hour awake time each morning) She naps for about 2-2.5 hours I don't let her go past 2.5
11:30/12/12:30 Wake
12:30/1 BF
2:30/3:00/3:15  Nap (This nap length varies at least an hour but I never let her sleep past 4:30)
4:30 BF
5:30/6 offer solids
7:30 BT
NW 9:30-10
NW 2:30/3
NW 5:00

 * every days where we run errands and she naps in the car she sleeps longer stretches at night so but those days she only gets about 2 hrs total of daytime sleep.  Could longer naps be messing with her nighttime sleep?

[asvbloch]

*Also I think she is making up for nighttime sleep during the first nap because her naps used to only last 1.5 max twice a day.

[asvbloch]

Yesterday and Last nights EASY ... anyone have any thoughts?

Today's EASY

5:00 am NW - Fed and treated as first feed of the day (this isn't normal)
6:30 Wake
8:00 - BF
9:15- 11:30 Nap
11:30 BF
2:00 Top Off
2:15-4:00 Nap
4:00 BF
6:00 offered Solids
7:00 BT
8:30 NW - Put self back to sleep
9:05 NW - Picked up , Rocked, and put pacifier in.  Normally I would just BF
9:30 NW- BF
1:15 NW - No real crying, attempting to put herself back to sleep.  Waited until real crying started around 1:30- then did PU/PD till 2:05
2:05- BF
6:21- Woke up
6:30- BF and started day. 

[Kellyjs]

Hi hun, sorry things are a little tough right now.

So this NW thing is recent is it? May I ask when she dropped down to two naps?

I do think you may have a point in that these longer naps are taking away from your nights especially as she used to only sleep 1.5hrs and now is sleeping longer.

I am wondering if 3hrs to BT might be a tad too long for her though. She's waking in the early part of the night which could signal OT. My DD used to do that until I got her A time right. Wdyt? Around this age they may start to show a preference for either a longer A in the morning or longer A before BT. For example, when my DD hit 8mo she was doing nearly 4hrs A first thing but could only manage 2.5hrs to BT.

How she is at these NW's? Are they different in the early part of the night? Are they easier to resettle?

Sorry for all the questions, hopefully it'll give us an idea as to what's going on so we can make a plan x

[asvbloch]

Hey Kellyjs, thanks so much for responding.  Sorry I'm just now responding.  The early night waking is new.  I had been dreamfeeding her around 10:30-10:45 and then she would sleep till 3 wake to feed and then down again till 7am.  We have been at two naps solidly for a couple of weeks now.  We did a few weeks of the 3-2 transition, some two day naps and some three day just depending.  Now though her naps solid at just two a day that happened when we finally got her first A time extended to three hours.  When we finally got the first A time to three hours her first nap jumped from shorter naps of 1.5 to longer naps of 2+hr.  Her second nap tends to be about 1hr -1.5 it rarely is 2hrs.  Then we keep her last A time at 3 hours which she used to be able to do no problem.  Now we are struggling to make it to bedtime at 7:30.  We go by the three hours instead of the solid 7:30pm.  I'm wondering if her second A time needs increased to longer than 3 hours so she takes a longer second nap which would be more restorative and help her to be able to make a 3 hour A time for the final stretch.  It used to be that her A times increased during the day and now they seem to be decreasing for some reason. 

Also her EW in the morning is new.  She was able to sleep from the 3am feed to 7am sometimes even 7:15am but now she is waking at 5am and then again around 6:20-6:30.  I'm just not sure what went wrong.  Is her first A time too long? Or is it too much daytime sleep?  She is kind of whiny in the morning a bit but I hold out for the 3hour mark and she doesn't cry or meltdown or anything just is minimally fussy.  I have begun to wean the additional feeds at night and trying to feed just at once, gradually decreasing the habit I started thinking it was a growth spurt.  She has responded well but still wakes up. 

Also last night she woke around 4:15am and played in her crib until 5am when I went in to feed her back to sleep.  Yesterday she napped a 1hr in the morning, 2 hr in the afternoon.  I'm just really confused.

Thanks for your help Kellyjs!

[Kellyjs]

Oh dear, that all sounds like classic wonder week shenanigans. Do you follow those at all? And I would really check for teething too.

I think you've done so well throughout the transition. Sometimes a little tweaking here and there is all that's needed afterwards. It is around this age that the A times might vary as I said before.

I think you're totally spot on, that second A might need an extra 15mins added on. I wouldn't let her sleep 2hrs for that one though, perhaps 1.5hrs is enough (if she sleeps as long as that). Then I would try BT at around 2.5hrs A (provided the nap is longer than an hour). That would keep your day the around the same length whilst we tweak.

I also wouldn't let that first nap be longer than 2hrs personally, but I totally understand why you've done it so far. It may be that she using that nap to catch up on lost night sleep. I would cap at 2hrs for now, hope for 1.5hrs in the afternoon and that slightly earlier BT might just do the trick hopefully. Wdyt?x

[asvbloch]

Kellyjs sounds good!  Thanks so much.  I do follow wonder week stuff and we aren't at a technical one, she is 32 weeks next week I think the next wonder week is 35, but maybe she is just starting a smidge early?  I'm not sure.  I should have mentioned that about a week maybe a bit longer ago she cut one of her top teeth so maybe the other is trying to make an appearance I haven't seen or felt the other one yet though. When the bottom two came in she only had one wonky day/night. 

 I'll try a longer A time for the second one and see how that goes as well as capping that first nap.  Thank you so much for your help.

Sometimes I think PU/PD is a bit overstimulating for her.  Is that possible?  If so what would I even try next?  Sometimes though she responds right away to PU/PD and sometimes it seems to take forever. 

Again I really appreciate your input.  This forum has been a life saver to me!  We struggled with short naps until almost 4 months old and after a post on here and a bump in her A time we have gotten to a great place so I am always SO appreciative of the advice/suggestions on here.  Thank you again!  I'll keep you posted.  Fingers crossed, right?

[Kellyjs]

I would try medicating with ibuprofen and seeing if that helps somewhat. From what I've found teething gets more and more difficult. We had the exact same thing.. First two came through without a problem then they've gotten gradually worse. The canines were hell, sorry to say 

Yes pu/pd can be over stimulating especially for spirited bubbas. Mine especially hated it, just used to fight more. At this age, I would only use ssh/pat or rub and keep repeating your bedtime phrase such as 'it's sleepy time'. Later one using pd when she's standing and using your words, is all that's needed really.

This forum is definitely a life saver. I was speaking to someone recently that had a child 10yrs ago and she really wished there was something like this for her then as she just felt so lost with all the input from friends and family. It was just too confusing for her. Personally I think writing it down and having someone have a look makes all the difference.

Always fingers crossed, here to hold your hand too. Always repeat the mantra 'it's just a phase, we will get through this'  . I really think a slightly shorter A to BT will help, let me know xx