Author Topic: 6 month old great sleeper now fighting bedtime, change A time and drop catnap?  (Read 2986 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Leahj17

  • New & Learning The Ropes!
  • *
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Posts: 5
  • Location:
I have been following Baby Whisperer since my lo was 2 months old. She has always been a great sleeper, nap time and bed time, however we had some issues around 4 months and now we are having issues again. She transitioned to the 4 Hour EASY just before 6 months after trying at 4months unsuccessfully and will be 7 months on Feb 10. Her 2 bottom teeth started coming through about a week ago which caused quite a bit of pain for her at night so there was a lot of waking and not resettling herself without a few mom cuddles. Now that the teething seems to have settled, she is having a hard time settling at bedtime but is fine at nap time. We have a full bedtime routine but she is very restless in her crib for 1-2 hours until she finally goes to sleep, then wakes up crying after 30min and then falls back asleep close to 9pm for the night.

Here is her usual EASY routine:
E - 7am - wake and 3-4oz formula
     8am - 2-3 tbsp cereal
A - 2hr
S - 9am - Nap 1.5-2hr
E - 11am - 3-4oz formula
     12pm - 2-4 tbsp veg and fruit
A - 2hr
S - 1pm - Nap 1.5-2hr
E - 3pm - 3-4oz formula
A - 2hr
S - 5pm - Catnap usually 30min, sometimes 45min depending on how daytime naps went
E - 5:30pm - 4-6tbsp meat, veg, fruit
A - Play, Bath, Change, Story
S - 7pm - 3-4oz Bottle and bed, usually asleep by 7:30-8pm latest
E - 11pm - Dream feed 5-6oz

I am at a loss, not sure if she is overtired because of the week of teething or if it's a sign that she needs to drop the catnap or if she needs to extend her A time and shorten her 2 naps or if it's separation anxiety or if it's because of a development leap. Last night I tried putting her to bed 15min early at 6:45 and tonight I tried putting her to bed another 15min earlier at 6:30pm but still the same result. Any thoughts/suggestions? Thank you!
« Last Edit: February 02, 2016, 13:58:27 pm by Leahj17 »

Offline Lindsay27

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 78
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 4031
  • Location: Ontario, Canada
Hi there!  I think you already hit the nail on the head, she needs a bump in A time and to drop the CN.  I'm guessing she's HSN if she's giving you long naps on a 2hr A time, most LOs this age are doing closer to 3hrs.  If you increase the A times it will push the CN out completely and then you should be able to get a good BT.

Can you try increasing her A time every few days and see how she gets on?  I might go a bit wonky for a few days as the A times gets longer and it will be a long A to BT without the CN, but you can just bring BT forward if you need to.



Offline Leahj17

  • New & Learning The Ropes!
  • *
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Posts: 5
  • Location:
Thanks for your reply! What does HSN stand for? Today I attempted stretching her A time to 2.5hrs and it went pretty good except her naps shortened to 1hr due to messy diapers. So she woke from her afternoon nap at 2:30 and had a long stretch but we got her into bed by 6:10pm and asleep in 10 min. Crossing my fingers for the night and the next couple days!

Offline Lindsay27

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 78
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 4031
  • Location: Ontario, Canada
HSN is high sleep needs.  Great job on stretching her A time :). It may take a few days before things even out.



Offline Leahj17

  • New & Learning The Ropes!
  • *
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Posts: 5
  • Location:
Ok thanks, she does like her sleep. She is eating a good amount of solids now so I was contemplating dropping the dream feed as she'll be 7 months in a week however she's not taking much formula during the day, any thoughts on that?

Offline Lindsay27

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 78
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 4031
  • Location: Ontario, Canada
Is she taking any other night feeds other than the DF?  I found my son used to take a NF around 5am but then he would never want his morning bottle, so I had to wean him off that NF.  That was closer to 8 months though.  I never did the DF myself because I found it just disrupted sleep.

Do you offer the bottle before solids?  We recommend to give formula first and then solids about an hour after so that they don't fill up solids before the bottle.



Offline Leahj17

  • New & Learning The Ropes!
  • *
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Posts: 5
  • Location:
She hasn't had a night feed since around 2 months and she takes the most amount of formula at night so I've been nervous to drop the dream feed. I offer the formula first and wait about an hour after to give her solids.

Offline Lindsay27

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 78
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 4031
  • Location: Ontario, Canada
There are more calories and nutrients in formula than there are in solids, so I think you should keep the DF and if anything drop the solids down a bit.  How much formula is she taking in 24hrs and how much solids?



Offline Lindsay27

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 78
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 4031
  • Location: Ontario, Canada
Just wanted to see how you were getting on hun



Offline Leahj17

  • New & Learning The Ropes!
  • *
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Posts: 5
  • Location:
Sorry I didn't get a chance to reply, hubby was away for the weekend so it was a little crazy! She is taking about 20oz of formula and eats 3 meals of solids. I pushed her wake time to about 2.5hrs but her naps are only about 1-1.5 hrs so she is having a really hard time around 5pm and is very upset by 6pm so the bedtime routine of a bath, bottle, story is not very pleasant and she has been going to bed early. Now she seems to be getting tired and wanting to nap by 9am and then 1pm so I am thinking of putting the catnap back in but earlier around 4pm.

Offline Lindsay27

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 78
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 4031
  • Location: Ontario, Canada
Oh weekends alone are crazy, good for you managing it all!! You may find the CN isn't necessarily all or nothing ya know? It may need time to phase out, it is a transition so some days she may need it if naps haven't been super great, some days she may not if she's managed 2 good naps.  It was like that with us for a while before DS dropped it completely.



Offline cpalacios

  • New & Learning The Ropes!
  • *
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Posts: 2
  • Location:
Re: 6 month old fighting bedtime
« Reply #11 on: February 17, 2016, 20:03:50 pm »
HI THERE, IM STRUGGLING WITH MY 6 MONTH OLD (SHE TURNED 6 lasts week). We have worked really hard at extending her naps (usually they are 45 minutes but now she's being doing on and off 1 nap of 1.5-2 hours and the other one stays at 45 minutes if we don't extend it).

My real struggle though is the bedtime. She fights it and screams so much. It usually takes us 2 hours to calm her down...not sure what we are doing wrong. Also she's been waking up at 3am and 5am ...think the 3am is habitual waking and the 5am is probably hunger....below is the schedule we are trying to follow.

I really need to start sleeping through the night...im exhausted. Hope someone here can help me!!!

The Easy routine we try to implement is the one Tracy suggest for 4 months and beyond:

E - 7am - wake and breastmilk
A - 2hr
S - 9am - Nap 45 mins - 1.5hr
E - 11am - breastfeed
     12pm - solids
A - 2hr
S - 1pm - Nap 45 mins - 1.5
E - 3pm - breastfeed
A - 2hr
S - 5pm - Catnap usually 30min, sometimes 45min depending on how daytime naps went
E - 5:30pm - solids
A - Play, Bath, Change
S - 7pm - breastfeed and bed
E - 11pm - Dream feed
« Last Edit: February 17, 2016, 20:06:27 pm by cpalacios »

Offline Lindsay27

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 78
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 4031
  • Location: Ontario, Canada
Hi hun!  Gosh those unsettled evenings are a killer aren't they!?

I think you are in a similar UT/OT loop which is probably causing both the short naps and unsettled evenings.  I think you probably need to push those A times a bit to 2.5hrs, do you think she can handle a push if you increase by 10-15mins every 3ish days?  It might push the CN out and you may need to bring BT forward a bit.

As for the NW it's not uncommon to still have a NF until solids are well established.  My DS had a NF until 8 months and didn't STTN until a year.  Have you tried feeding at the 3am NW to see if it is fact hunger?  Feeding them might be enough to to get her through until WU.  That said if it isn't hunger, wake to sleep is a great option to try.  I used it a few times with habitual waking a with my DS.  It's worth a shot :)