8 months - NW

[my_tribe]

LO just turned 8 months old and has recently begun waking up In the middle of the night for the past week, some where between 2 and 3 am. She been fussy and it's hard to get her back to sleep and takes an hour or so if not more Naps have also been rocky the last couple days.

She was sleeping through the night and napping so well. Our Easy was consistent and looked like this give or take 30mins...

7 wake nurse, solids
10 nap
12 wake nurse solids
3 nap
4:30 wake nurse solids
7:30 or 7:45 nurse
Bed by 8 
Dreamfeed at 10:30 (the last few week she starting to drop this and not want to nurse so sometime dream feed sometimes not)

What do the awake times need adjusting? Any suggestion would be so helpful!

[Kellyjs]

Hi there. Yep, it's sounding like a bump in A time is on the cards for you hun. Those NW's sound very much like UT cot parties 

Around this time, some LO's need quite an A time boost as the near the 2-1 in a couple of months. So things start to change quite rapidly. I might also consider capping both naps to 1.5hrs if you can. That might help keep the day the same length. Considering she's still taking good naps perhaps just add 15mins onto both the A times, naps capped at 1.5hrs, so something like this...

Wu 7
Nap 1 10.15-11.45
Nap 2 3-4.30 (as before)
BT 8 (as before)

Wdyt? Is it doable with family life? I think this may be a good place to start, hold for a few days and see what happens x

[my_tribe]

Thank you Kelly! I think that will work fine for us... Although I am sad to see the 2 hour nap go;) We are going to start today and see how it goes. I'll Keep you updated!

[Kellyjs]

I know, it sucks when that happens! Just look forward to the 2-1.. After they're through it the nice long nap comes back  . Let me know how it goes and/or pop back if you need to x

[my_tribe]

Hi there mamas
Over a week has gone by since we made the adjustment LO's nap and awake time and things just seem to had been getting worse with the night wakings. She has been waking up crying every hour or two starting from 12:30am if not earlier. Some  nights she will instantly fall back asleep in our arms when we pick her up other nights like last night she will just lay there awake for a couple of hours but if we put her down she's inconsolable until we pick her up. Lady night we were just so exhausted that we laid her in bed with us at 3:30am and she slept fine until I woke her up a little after 7am. Where do we go from here?

[Kellyjs]

So sorry it's not getting any better hun. That does sounds like teething. Anything you can see? Have you tried medicating to see if it helps? How's your day looking now? Sorry for all the questions 

[my_tribe]

No it's totally fine! Thank you so much for your help!
The days have been ok she hasn't been fussy and pretty much herself. Although yesterday afternoon her nap wasn't good. LO woke up at 40mins and then needed help to resettle then slept for a little bit but then woke up 30mins early and was up till 4. It was super hard to get her down for bed and she wasn't asleep until almost 9am. She was then up 6 or 7 times throughout the night until 6:30am. We have tried giving medicine before bed but it hasn't seemed to help:(

[Kellyjs]

Do you think she might have been slightly OT hun? Could you post your day in easy format and let's see if we can tweak things a little for you again x

[my_tribe]

Our days have looked something like this...although it's been changing every day.
WU 7
Nap 10:15
Wake 11:45
Nap 3
Wake 4:30
Bed by 8

The 2nd nap has been hit or miss. Bedtime was a nightmare and she was up crying 5+ times a night.

Last night we had some victory though!!! LO slept through the nigh!!!! this was our easy it was a little different cause we were traveling a couple hours to grandmas house but it worked...

WU 6:30 (woke her up early because we have to leave)
Nap 9:30 (fell asleep at 8:30 in the car)
Wake 11:45
Nap at 3:00 (fell asleep at 3:10ish)
Wake 4:30 (woke her up)
Tryed bed at 7:30 but she wouldn't go down her eyes would flutter but she wouldn't nod off. So lastnight i decided to let her play a little longer...
At 8:40 she fell asleep easily
DF at 10:30
Fussed at 3ih for a min or two and then went right back to sleep on her own!!
She started stirring at 6:30 this morning but has lying in her crib quiet for 20mins.

What do you think? How can we adjust it? Bed at 8:30 is pretty late right?

[Kellyjs]

It is a long day, but that can work for some if the naps are good. I think it is showing that she's needing a little less sleep overall iykwim?

How about we look at pushing the A times so your day gets a little longer? Or else we could look at capping one of those naps now. Which would you prefer and would work best with family life? For me, an 8.30pm BT is far too late, but that's because I'm normally gagging for a glass of wine by then  x

[my_tribe]

I'm with you sister 8:30pm is a long day for sure! By that time my feet are up and I'm enjoying a glas of wine and dark chocolate!
What would it look like to stretch out the A times a little more? I don't think that she ready to fully drop down to one nap yet but I'm open to moving in that direction for sure bed at 7:30-8 is ideal for us.

[Kellyjs]

Good to know we're on the same page 

Ok, the wine-friendly version would look something like this..

Wu 7
Nap 1 10.30-12
Nap 2 3.30-4.30 (capped)
BT 7.15/7.30

BT might need some playing around with as some can do a longer A last thing than others. Signs to watch out for are OT NW's in the early part of the night. If this happens we might need to reduce the last A a little and/or bump up the other A times. Remember though, we can just give this a try for a few days. Around now the A times start to increase rapidly and the routine starts to change with it so we might not be able to keep this routine for too long xx

[my_tribe]

So it's been a few days now... But we've had a bit of a crazy extended weekend. we road tripped to my inlaws house so things haven't been as consistent as usual.
Here's what the last few days have looked like... 

Sunday 
(Didn't fall asleep till 9pm the night before but then STTN)
7WU
Fell asleep in the car around 9am for about 15mins. we didn't realize until we arrived.
Nap #1: 11-12:15 late and short because of car catnat nap 
Nap #2: 3:30-4:30 
BT 8pm 
DF 10:30 
Woke at 1:30 was wide awake until 3:30am. 

Monday
7:00 WU
Nap #1: 10:15-11:45 
Nap #2: 4-5pm LO was super fussy from 3-4pm with her first ever diaper rash:( 
BT and asleep at 8:40 bc of late nap
DF 10:30
STTN

Tuesday 
7:00 WU
Nap #1: 10:30-12
Nap #2: 3:30 - 4:30 
BT 7:50 
We were traveling home LO was ready for bed by 7:30 but it just didn't happen till 7:50
DF 10:30
NW at 2:40pm - 4:30am 

So as you can see things have been a bit messy around here. Yesterday,Tuesday was the first day WT was extended to the full 3:30mins. The days before she was DONE at 3:15mins. Yesterday she could handle it but was  sleepy and fell asleep right away at 3:30min mark.  I was thinking maybe I would try the new EASY one more day and see how it goes tonight but from the last few days it's looking like we are going to need to make some more changes. What do you think? 

[Kellyjs]

Yep, so far I think it's showing she's had a drop in sleep needs overall. Obviously it will depend when you get home as extra stimulation etc probably threw a spanner in the works 

The best day you had was on the Monday. That's with the later BT. I'll disregard the first day as there was an extra nap that happened there.

So what we can do is either cut that second nap back or try and stick with Mondays routine for a few days whilst you're home and see if it works? How is she during these long NW's if I may ask? Is she playing around or really upset? Sometimes whatever your answer is not a great indicator though. My DD hand lomg NW's which I presumed were OT at the time as she was so upset, but I'm thinking she was just very miffed at being awake during the night!! Once we bumped her A time drastically and cut down the second nap, it did all get back to normal.. But as I said previously, I'm a fan of an earlier BT than a much later one!! X

[my_tribe]

During the night wakings she is either really active or she she just lays in our arms. If we leave her in her crib or put her back in she cries and cries and is so upset. For an example Sunday night/early Monday morning she was crawling around like someone had gave her a redbull. Last night after she woke up at 2:40am at first she just fussed a little but than began really crying and need help resettling. My husband went in and helped her settle but she woke up 5-10mins later fussed for about 10mins the really began to cry. I went in and lo laid still in my arms but with her eyeswide open. Everytime I went to lay her back in the crib she would get so up set. Eventually I was so to exhausted I laid with her in bed with us and she eventually fell asleep around 4:30am. So from 2:40 - 4:30 am she was pretty calm.

How far back do you think I should cut the pm nap?