Does my routine need to take a step back?

[LaraAndrea]

She wakes and talks, coos and plays. I did feed and hope she would resettle, but She just ramped up the playing, wide awake.

We only dropped the dreamfeed fully a few days ago, so there have been changes.

Prior to this sleep regression, she would occasionally wake around 5 play for 30 mins then go back to sleep till 7 ish. Her daytime sleep used to be better as well.

[jessmum46]

Like Shiv said I would wait a few days to give her time to adjust to later bedtime, and then reassess if no joy.  I'd also make sure the simple things are covered - make sure room is dark, no noise disturbing her etc.  What do you do when she wakes?  Do you get her up?

[LaraAndrea]

We won't likely make it to her later/desired  bedtime tonight. I am going to have to push her to OT just to get her down for 630

If she is content I let her play on her own, this practice used to lead to falling asleep again, now after 45-60 min I will "wake" her officially. This is typically 6 AM these days.

We live in a construction zone full of all sorts of unwelcome sounds this doesn't usually affect her mornings or night sleep but it has disturbed many a naps

[jessmum46]

How did today go for you?

[LaraAndrea]

Her days have improved greatly, but her nights have gotten worse.

Wondering if teething could still be culprit? How long does it last? She cut her 2nd tooth just about a week ago.

[LaraAndrea]

Question: what is more important total daytime sleep or preserving BT?

LO BT usually is 7-730, but I am finding that on many days she does not have time in the day for much of a 2nd nap. We end up capping her 2nd nap to preserve BT, but she would like to sleep longer and on those days her total daytime sleep is less than 2.5h.

Is it better to cap the nap to keep BT, or let her have better daytime sleep and possibly do BT later 745-8pm??

Her wakes times are not consistent yet, it may help some when/if that normalizes.

[Shiv52]

How is her form when you wake her?

I tended to go for longer day/shorter night when on two naps as mine were gremlins being woken up. We tended to have 11/11.5 nights which became 12/12.5 when we moved to one nap. The later bedtime didn't bother me though.

[LaraAndrea]

She is a bit dazed and confused when I wake her but once she wakes and becomes more alert she is happy.

[jessmum46]

I think it is very child-dependent, and I guess family-dependent!  (I like the kids in bed by 7/7.30).  DD did much better on less daytime sleep and a longer night, she was bit grumpy to wake but would come round fairly quickly with a cuddle and distraction.  DS is horrible to wake, a total bear for the next hour or more and is therefore much better being allowed to nap, though we do get fairly early mornings as a result.  DD eventually dropped her nap far earlier than DS so I think perhaps it's a case of trial and error and what fits with your family. 

[LaraAndrea]

She is pretty pleasant even when we wake her. Yesterday I split the difference let her sleep a bit more and woke her at 445 and put her down for 745.

Today will be a good comparison (assuming her day goes well *crosses fingers*) we got our ideal wake up time today, so if all goes within her current routine she has a bit more opportunity for daytime sleep before desired BT of 7-730.

[jessmum46]

Fingers crossed!

[LaraAndrea]

Her day was good, but I am still having these awful night wakes.

[Shiv52]

What happens when she wakes? How do you resettle?

[LaraAndrea]

For some it only takes a touch to the back, little rub.

But on the worst couple days it required PU/cuddles, Tylenol (as it seems like teething may have been part of the problem).

[LaraAndrea]

So much for my good days. We had a nice (short but nice) run. She is back to fighting her 2nd nap for the past 2 days.

I get that they are babies... They don't read the books that we do, they don't follow some plan, or at least not one that we know of. But this is so frustrating!!

I think it is ridiculous that they say babies of this age need avg 14-16h sleep. How do they figure that out? Between teething and developmental milestones, does anybody have an 8month old who sleeps that much (give or take a couple days)

Rant over...