Lost my way with 6 mo old EASY

[JennVanessa1083]

Thank you!

Well something is going on because again he was up every two hours almost to the tee. He is 28 weeks old today. Is there some sort of growth spurt or a developmental thing happening? Teething? He won't calm down until I nurse and he takes full feeds. I'm so confused. It just happened two days ago. Beforehand he was waking up more like every 3-4 hours.

I don't know what to make of it.

[creations]

Sounds like a growth spurt.  Likely he'll go back to normal feeds in a few days.

[JennVanessa1083]

Hmmmm that's interesting I thought we already went through that but perhaps we didn't.

Ok I will plow on. I forgot to set the alarm so we are having a late start to the day.

[creations]

It does sound like a GS to me but if you feel unsure about the full feeds when he won't calm down perhaps post on the BF board about this specifically?  Sorry I'm not great when it comes to BF advice.

[JennVanessa1083]

Thanks Creations!

I think I will; funny thing is I posted about it couple of weeks ago and it was determined that it was a growth spurt because it lasted a few days. I will see what the ladies think on that board 

[JennVanessa1083]

So today I put him down aiming for a first A 2.75. Well it took him about 12 minutes to settle but he was fighting if and basically cried himself to sleep after I patted and sung. Usually (when he's not fighting sleep) it takes about 5-7 minutes to settle. Needless to say he finally went down at about 2:50 A but was still fidgety for about 5 or so minutes where I had to pat him again His A was pretty much 3 hrs. He ended up waking up after 30 minutes where I had to APOP because he would not settle. Maybe OT? Or maybe he was UT going down?

Then the second nap he cried for 10 minutes before falling asleep at 2.75A. It was horrible. He woke up at 34 minutes crying.  Was this OT? Maybe he needs a long first A then 2.5 second A?

He never use to cry like this even when extending A. Maybe I'm pushing too much?

I forgot to mention that yesterday when DS took his am nap after 2.75 A and woke up at 1:05 into it. My question is if I was able to settle (APOP) and he slept for another 30 minutes; was it him adjusting to A or was is UT and I made it worse by putting him back to sleep. He woke up fussy but not crying where I mentioned he was trying not to self settle but got so frustrated.

I'm sorry I have all these questions, I just don't want to push too hard because I'm thinking he's UT and really it's OT yk?

[creations]

I don't think you're pushing too hard. I'd go with the 3hr first A tomorrow with the 2hr 45 second A. Help him resettle any nap if needed and try not to worry too much. When routines change things do go a bit weird, it happens, things are going to settle down again. Los can sometimes appear OT when an A time is increased because they are used to having a nap at a certain time and are in this habit, it doesn't mean it is the best time for them it's just a time of adjustment.
A reminder of A times
Average A times- BOOKMARK ME!
You are right in the middle of the guidance times for 6.5 to 7 months and your LO is this age so you are spot on the guidance now.  your LO might even need longer, hard to tell just yet.
Mine would have been on 3.5hr first A time by 7 months I think.

[JennVanessa1083]

Oh wow! Yes I just looked at the link you sent me and it's true he is right in the middle. It does make sense wrt DS being accustomed to a certain A. I have been playing around with 2.5-2.45 A since he was around 5 months or so. I guess I am just being a big softy!

I will do what you have suggested for a couple of days and see if things improve.

I do wonder about the A to bed. I had him on 3 hrs to bed for a couple of weeks when I dropped the CN. What A do you think is a good starting point based on everything atm?

I was thinking 2.5 before BT?

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I was thinking 2.5 before BT?

Yes I'd try this.  The thing with trying a short A to bed is that you might avoid any OT NWs. If there is huge resistance at BT then you can always increase a little again. I'd go with 2.5hr and stay there for a while.

As for being a softy - very many parents are so scared of OT and hesitant to increase the A times, you are not alone.  IME UT is just as bad if not worse than OT.  Tracy said to keep LO up for their full A time you are to do a fan dance if necessary, anything to keep baby awake until nap time. This is for getting onto a new routine, obviously we also look for LO's mood, sleep length, cues, communication etc etc too and adapt times if LO is poorly, had a super stimulating day and so on...but the fan dance is sometimes necessary for changing up those A times.

[JennVanessa1083]

Thank you for the sound advice. I usually do a dance with him or walk around  a lot with him in my arms to lengthen A time.

I tried the 2.5 A to bed. Good news no resistance which is great!  However, still got a ENW 30 minutes after BT. I also got an hour long EW from 5-6 where he just wanted to play and roll around. I left him to it despite my efforts to calm him. He eventually put himself to sleep. I'm wondering if this is all because he is adjusting to new A so its OT or it's still not enough A so it was UT. I still got 4 NW but I'm seeing a slight improvement there which indicates I'm on the right track.

I agree UT is worse for me than OT. It's easier to resettle and to know that you won't get long NW as a result of UT

[JennVanessa1083]

Update: today I did a 3hr A before am nap; he slept for 1:24 with a slight resettling at 34 minutes which is good. However, I did an A of 2:45 for the pm nap and he woke up at 37 minutes. He was cranky and got annoyed when I tried to resettle but he resettled quickly(APOP). This is day 1 on 3 hour a and day 2 of 2:45 A. I'll still do a 2.5 A before bed and hopefully we won't get cot parties tonight. Ahhhh le sigh

Do you think I need an increase of the second and/or first A?

Also, if a nap is running to late in the day and it could push BT very late (past , is DS too young for a nap being capped? Say the pm nap? He slept for 1:45 and didn't want to go to bed! He getting into crawl stance and rolling all around in the crib for more than an hour. Tonight BT was supposed to be 8 pm but he stretched himself to  almost 9!!! I had to rock bc he was crying when I dared to try to put him to sleep with patting. I walked out twice and he just played and babbled. Then he started crying hysterically. I couldn't take it anymore so I rocked him. Ugh I haven't done this in awhile. I'm rocking him as I type. Maybe BT is too late? I aimed for 2.5 and got over 3 hours A.

What can this be?

When he rolls around and doesn't want to settle does that mean he's not tired enough? But then last night a 2.5 A to BT made him have OT ENW and tonight he seemed UT then got OT. Ahhhh I'm confused!

[creations]

Oh I'm so it's all so confusing and frustrating. Try not to think too much about it, there are so so many things which disturb sleep that many times we don't fully know what the exact thing was or which combination.  Learning to roll and pulling into a crawl position is a huge developmental leap and IME developments always lead to sleep disturbance, it's just something that happens when LO are growing and we can't stop it all we can do is help them the best we can, not worry too much about AP/props and roll with it until they come out the other side.  You are not alone in going through this tricky phase I promise you, we all have these tricky phases xx

I would hold on those A times one more day then possibly increase the second A to 3hrs.  Some people do find the need to cap a nap, I know it seems unthinkable to try so hard for weeks to make baby sleep and then the wake him up!  Others find it more suitable to let the night go a little later/shorter.  I would continue as you are for now.
WU
A 3hr
S
A 2hr 45
S
A 2hr 30
BT

Those early evening night wakes, if nothing helps them it is a case of accepting this is how he is. For lots there is a solution by resolving the day time routine, having the right length nap and the right length A time before bed etc...but I know for sure with mine he settled on a good routine, was sleeping well, good mood and all that and yet still had noisy early evening NWs basically every night. He still frequently makes noise in the early part of the night and is almost 5yo but these days it is no way as hard as when he had them as a baby, he dreams a lot in that part of the night and processes all his day time experiences and developments, it just disturbs him and no amount of routine tweaking makes any difference.

Have a good day x

[JennVanessa1083]

Thank you creations for the reassurance! It gets hard sometimes. He's such a happy, active, and alert baby which I am so so thankful for. The only thing that worries me is the sleep. As you said, I can only do my best and from there go with it since babies as I'm finding out always have something going on with them! I'm sure it doesn't help my little guy that he is teething.

I will try the new routine for another day and see what happens. Then I increase second A to 3 hrs correct and hold for 4 days?

Two questions:
1. For the past two days the am nap has been about 1:20 minutes on a 3hr A. Is that still considered an UT nap? I resettled both times in crib at the 39 minute mark . I can definitely wait to see what happens if I lengthen the second A do 3 hours to see if am nap lengthens if I need to.

2. Should I then cap my pm nap to 1.5 or leave it and see if he gets tired after a 2.5 A to bed?

I do appreciate it! As you said it could be my DS is like your DS...I suppose we will see!

Xx

[creations]

1. For the past two days the am nap has been about 1:20 minutes on a 3hr A. Is that still considered an UT nap? I resettled both times in crib at the 39 minute mark . I can definitely wait to see what happens if I lengthen the second A do 3 hours to see if am nap lengthens if I need to.

Personally I'd look for a third sleep cycle to get to 2hrs, that's what mine did.  You might decide that 1hr 20 is enough for him but usually we recommend 1hr 30 or over for restorative sleep.
Adding 5 or 10 mins on to the first A time could give him the extra bit of tiredness to get him through that transition - see what you think of his mood before and after nap to judge if you can add more or not.

2. Should I then cap my pm nap to 1.5 or leave it and see if he gets tired after a 2.5 A to bed?

I'd leave the nap uncapped for now and see what happens at BT for a week or so.

You're doing great.

[JennVanessa1083]

Thank you! Ok I can definitely experiment and see. Yesterday he did 3:05 unintentionally and today just under 3hrs A. Both days I got a 1:20ish day. The thing is that I have had to literally hold him down to get him to fall asleep because all he wants to do is roll around and practice crawling then gets agitated and cries when I hold him down while conducting shh pat  so not sure what to make of his mood beforehand. Either he's just not tired enough or is too busy trying out skills that he rather not sleep to practice.

He wakes up fine after the first nap and fussy after the pm nap. I'll observe tomorrow and see if maybe adding 5-10 on the first A may help.

I had to APOP bedtime bc his bath ran over and we went over 2.5 A. Didn't want to fight him to sleep knowing he's already OT. We will see what tonight looks like.

Can teething cause long night wakings? We have had long NW including one tonight where he cries hysterically or he wants to play and then cries. Ok not sure of this is accumulated OT or if it's the teething. He has sore swollen gums but not cutting yet. Poor baby has been teething for a while but it seems it's progressively getting worse. We medicate but it seems to do next to nothing which is why I wonder if it's also OT.