6 Months and NW every 2 Hours

[theu.s.lees]

I've been here before (I never really left) but the NW are still continuing, but now they are getting worse. They have been every 2 hours for about a week. I feel like I have a newborn again. I'm feeding at every NW and she does seem hungry, but I don't know what else to do. Should I be stopping feeding? She is EBF. Though solids will be starting any day now.

Her typical routine (given it's a "perfect" at home day)
WU/E: 7am
A
S: 9:30-11:30
E: 11:30
A
S: 2 - 4
E: 4pm
A
S: 6:30-7pm

She was have NW at midnight and between 3-4 am. But they've increased greatly. Starting at 10pm, then every 1.5-2 hours. I've tried resettling and not feeding, but she's back up 20 minutes later, so I give in and feed. But then she's off for the day because she's tired so she can't make a full A time. Or we leave the house, and she falls asleep for a CN in the car and throws the rest of the day off.

Thank you for any help.

[Emami]

Is she HSN?  She's getting a lot of daytime sleep with shortish A times for 6 months.  Maybe she's not tired enough to go long stretches at night.  Also the usual suspects, is she teething and have you tried meds? And do you think 6m growth spurt might be happening since she is eating each time?  It sounds like she is taking a full feed rather than just comfort sucking.  Hugs, I have a bad night sleeper too (although she started off great and lulled me into a false sense of security)

[theu.s.lees]

LOL. Thanks. They do that, don't they? Start off as these perfect sleepers, and you're like, "wow, I'm super lucky" and then they hit you!

I've considered all of those possibilities - growth spurts, teething, etc. I did try meds one night that was just major struggles. I don't think it really helped. I will watch for that though. She's drooling a ton and puts everything in her mouth. However, she's done that since she was able to put things into her mouth.

As for her A times. I think she is more LSN. But we just did a seeming to me big jump in A times to the 2.5 hours over the past few weeks. I don't think she's OT really since she is napping well most of the time. But I can try to push the A times a little as well.

We did have her in cloth diapers the past two nights. She was just cloth during the day and Huggies at night, but it seems like the Huggies make her break out in a rash. She had one badly while on a little vacation a few weeks ago (we just used Huggies then). But as soon as we put her back in cloth, she was fine. Around 4 am I finally put her in a Huggies, after changing her cloth once because I thought she might be uncomfortable (though she goes a little longer then the two hours that during the day most of the time). Anyway, after just 3 hours in a Huggies she had a rash (which she didn't have when I put it on). Long story, but we I got some more natural sposies to try tonight. FX.

[Emami]

Fwiw I love pampers 12hr+ for overnight. I've used them for both my two with very very rare leakage, and DD1 was a heavy wetter. I know that's totally subjective though, you'd probably just as likely get someone find pampers useless. Does she get a rash with all disposables?

If you think she is LSN then I would definitely cut some of the day sleep, whether that's through extending A times or capping one of the naps. I know 2hr naps are the 'ideal', but I think it's actually pretty rare for babies to do that twice a day and still do a 12hr night.

[theu.s.lees]

I tried 7th generation for nights and that seems to be working. I switched my wipes too. My first two were fine with higgies at night but she seems to have an issue. I will see if I can cap naps and extend a time. Aim for 3.5 hrs total day sleep maybe. Already off to a rotten start today.

[theu.s.lees]

Things just aren't getting better. I feel like I'm spinning circles. Her days seem to be good, but I can no longer tell if she's OT/UT teething, upset at the world, or just really likes to spend time with me 1-on-1 in the middle of the night. But I'm so so so tired.
Her NW seem all the time, I can't even record them because I'm so tired and they are so frequent.

But her day is something like this yesterday:

WU/E: 5:45am (not ideal, I tried to get her back down, but she wasn't having it)
A
S: 10:15-11:42
E: 12:10 (I was at a shoot and home just after she woke up)
A:
S: 2:30 tiny nap in the car (like a 5 minute nap) on the way home from a birthday party. Tried putting her back down in house, but she wouldn't go back to sleep.
A
E: 3:30 pm
S: 3:45 - 4:40
E:
S/BT: 6:30

Then her first NW was around 10pm. We resettled several times with shh/pat and I finally fed her at 11:15 or so.

Her typical day is a 2.5-3 hr A time, (1) 2 hr nap and (1) 1.5 hr nap. Though lately she's EW from those naps and not resettling. It's closer to 1.5 hours which is okay, but then seems like she's tired much earlier for that second nap or BT.

Thank you for any ideas/help.

Oh, she hasn't cut any teeth. And I don't honestly feel any close. I did try Advil several nights ago after her up all night long (every 30min-1 hr) and she did a stretch from 4pm-7:30am. But she also couldv'e just been so tired from a long night.

[Emami]

Teething is tough. Both my two have been much more grumpy and showed all the signs when the teeth are moving through the gums, so I doubt myself giving meds or thinking it's teeth when I can't see or feel anything. But then they will generally cut in a week or so. So she could be teething  I know this has been going on for a while though so that's probably not the main issue.

What happens if you leave her for a bit? Obviously not suggesting CIO, but I know I have a tendency to rush in at night because a cry that I'd leave during the day sounds so much louder, plus just wanting everyone to get back to sleep as quickly as possible. You said you resettle with ssh pat, but is she already really needing you at that point? Also are you settling her all the way back to sleep? I have had the same issue with bouncing DD2's mattress, it used to be a quick fix but then took longer and longer and I had to just stop as it was killing my back and nobody was sleeping.  She still has long NWs but at least I'm not having to be in there as much.

[theu.s.lees]

I've tried waiting a little bit though probably not as long as I should. I've also sent DH in to try to resettle so it's not always me and/or she doesn't smell the milk. But that usually doesn't work.
Should I not be doing shh pat? Is it time for something else?
Yesterday naps were all off and we had three NW and an EW. The first NW at 11. I just don't know anymore if day sleep is affecting or if it's a bad habit or something else.

[lauradj]

Hi love!  I'm sorry you're not getting any sleep, that sucks! 
I don't know how you feel about this but I'm in the process of dropping the CN with my H.  He was waking around 5:30am for a good chin wag before passing out again for a bit, and that in turn was waking both myself and, I think, T.  Regardless, I pushed him to an 2hrs and 45mins this week and so far it seems to have taken care of the EW's.  It took a tremendous leap of faith on my part though.  So right now he naps at around 9:30/9:45 and 2pm.  He naps for about 1.5 in the morning and 2-2.5hrs in the afternoon.  I do try to let him nap until 4:30pm if he will but this doesn't always happen. 
Do you think that might work?
Also, regarding the waiting in the middle of the night.  When T was going through a phase of blast cries, we had to set a timer and we made ourselves wait 2 minutes before going in.  It's so easy to rush in because it just sounds so wretched but we learned that 95% T wasn't even awake!  Just a though.

[theu.s.lees]

Thanks Laura!

We don't have a CN anymore. But it seems hard that sometimes BT is so early. I'm trying a similar schedule so we shall see.

Also, I have upped solids a little bit, we were just doing a little bit, but maybe she is hungry. Last night I added a "dinner" solids feed as well, and she only woke up twice last night. She was at my parents for yesterday, so I don't know exactly how her day went, though my mom said she took a 1 hr nap and then a 2 hr nap. It took a long time to get her down at night because she fell asleep in the car on the way home. And there was a little resettle a little after that, nothing major. But overall a better night.

We shall see how things progress.

[Emami]

I wasn't suggesting you shouldn't do ssh pat, just trying to get an idea of the NWs and if you're feeding, rushing in etc. Hope the extra A time and solids do the trick

[jgy]

My 7 month old son did that when he turned 6 months. During the first wk, he was hungry and really feeding. But by the second wk, he just got used to it that he'd wake up and suck. Did PU/PD and it worked! You just have to be really patient 😁.  Goodluck!

[theu.s.lees]

Thank you. I have feared that coming. I will have to start tomorrow. It's just hard to know real hunger or if it's a daytime issue. Or just habit now.
It seems as if she's developed separation anxiety too. Even if I'm in the room it's like if someone else tries to see her she panics.