Feeling Hopeless with 6 month old's sleep!

[eogan0622]

Ok- still doing alright with naps over here.  I've been really trying to extend them to get the 2 longer naps which has been going ok.  Yesterday, her 2nd nap ended at 2:40 so we did BT at 6pm.  Her NW are still kind of nuts, but I'm hoping this will be over soon.

If she does do a CN in the afternoon/early evening, I've been putting her to bed a little later, around 7 (which eventually would be ideal once she gets a little older and more used to this 2 nap situation).  My only concern is that since she's still sometimes taking a CN and sometimes not, is it bad to have BT all over the place?  Would it be better to just stick to one BT no matter if she does CN or not?

[lily_layne]

It's fine to have BT vary based on whether or not she has a CN. A rare few kids are very clock-oriented and go to bed at the same time no matter what but lots of sleep experts encourage a BT that shifts a bit depending on naps. When DS's last nap was ending anywhere from 245/315 BT was always the same (the extra half hour didn't seem to matter) but right now he's in a transition and naps can vary quite a bit so BT is shifting too.

[eogan0622]

Hi Again,

I'm desperate for some help and feeling, once again, like nothing is really working over here!  DD's NW are all over the place and we are exhausted.  The good news is that the 2 nap set times schedule has been working pretty well and 90% of the time she does 2 longer naps (9 or 930 until 1030 or 11, and 1:30 or 2 until 3 or 3:30).  Granted, the naps do require some assistance to extend them sometimes, but we have been focusing just on overall time and less on the way to get there at the moment.  BT is between 6 and 7 depending on when she's up from nap #2.  But NW are seriously ridiculous.  A couple things that I'm trying to keep in mind:

1) STILL NO TEETH- but I am CONVINCED they are coming- how long does this take?!?! I was so sure a couple weeks ago that she was getting a bottom one, but it's still not here!  Chewing, drooling, mouthing, etc but no tooth yet!

2) She has been super stuffy and snotty at night for the past week.  So I know this can affect sleep. But I just don't know how to approach those wake ups when she's uncomfortable besides just soothing her and, what ends up feeling like APOP.  However, I've been APOP for a week now and I'm afraid it's habit!  When she cries at night and we pick her up shes so stuffy- so we have to clear  out her nose and hold her upright for a little bit, and she ends up falling asleep on us, and then we have to put her back into the crib...repeat....

3) We have been traveling for the past week.  SHe's been having to sleep in 3 new places (my parents, my sisters, my in laws) and I know that can screw things up as well...

4) We are doing solids 2x a day, but she doesn't always consume that much! That being said, she is in the 1% for height and weight so she is quite small...

5) For the past week she has been showing signs that she might be crawling soon- in her crib she gets on all fours and just rocks back and forth.....


But, despite all these things- UGH! She's waking up SO MUCH at night.  And, despite all the above, we were able to keep her naps pretty consistent throughout the week of travel.  Here's a sample EASY from a typical day/night:

6:45: WU
7:50: E
8:30: Solids (she only takes a couple TBS MAX of baby food)
9:15-10:30: S (independently, no wake up, no paci)
10:40: E
11:30: Solids
1:00: E
1:15-2:45: S (woke up 40 mins in, was able to get back down within 10 mins)
4:20: E
5:45: Bathtime/bedtime routine
6:15: E (she takes 8 oz bottle before bed)
6:20: S

NW: 8:30, 9:30, 11:00, 12:55 (E), 3:00, 4:15 (E), 5:30, 6:00 -->> WHY?!!?  Do all the above developmental things (teething, cold, crawling) mean that this could be temporary wake up stuff??  Or is this cause to start sleep training again?!?!

Please help!!!

Also- we did PU/PD and Shush/ pat a couple months ago with *some* success- but is this the process we need to revisit?

[lily_layne]

I'm glad the set naps are working but boo to all the NWs. It really could be developmental. DS gets tons of NWs during wonder weeks (do you have the app or the book - is she in a leap?).

How is she going to sleep at BT?

It can take a long time for a tooth to actually cut - both of my LOs are slow teethers and the most painful part is when the tooth is pushing down through the gum. I always medicate if I suspect teething pain - advil and Hyland's teething tablets.