6.5 mo schedule and night time problems

[polla]

Hi,
Please help me to figure out how the naps / feetings should look like for my 6.5 m.o

wakeup: 7:30
milk
nap: 10-10:40
solids: 12
nap: 1pm-2:30pm
Milk
solids: 4pm
Milk
bedtime: 6-6:30pm

After bedtime she wakes up every 2 hours to nurse and goes back to sleep with patting
Here's the biggest problem: she wakes up at 3:40 am and stays awake until ~5:40. Last night she was trying to fall asleep, then woke up 10 min later. It happened 4 times until about 6am - then she slept until 7:30-7:40
Yesterday and 2 days ago she didnt even try to sleep and was fully awake and bubbling between 3:30 and 5:30 am. Her room is dark, and I only come occasionally if she starts crying (if she's crying, that means she's trying to fall asleep and may need my help. If she's bubbling , she's not interested in sleeping).

One more thing I need to figure out: she only has 2 solid meals, and she's supposed to have 3 meals by now. She used to have solids in the morning, but now she refuses to eat at 9am. I think she's too sleepy for solids at that time.

Please help, I have one more older kid that just started school, and i cant let my LO cry at night

[creations]

Hi there, welcome back to BW forums

At this age your LO probably needs 2 long naps.  Having 1 CN of 40 mins and 1 long nap of 1.5hrs is perhaps making her a bit OT and leading to the long night wakings.  You might see better nights if you can extend the amount of day time sleep.
From your EASY you are also offering a 13 hr night which is pretty long - it might be you are giving an early BT because those day time naps just aren't long enough to take up the hours in the day, so if you can extend nap 1 and put down for bed later you might get a better balance of day and night sleep.

In terms of feeding.
Feeding every 2hrs over night is likely too much. This is probably why she isn't interested in food in the morning as she is getting lots of milk over night.  For BF babies it would be normal to have 1 or 2 night feeds still but I'd say every 2hrs is more habit and taking calories at the wrong time (ie over night instead of in the day).  You can do some resettling and sleep training overnight to help with that.
It isn't necessary for a 6 month old to have 3 solids meals - some do but some are not interested in solids until more like 8 or 9 months.  I wouldn't worry about her not having 3 solids meals in the day, 2 is plenty, but I would focus on getting enough milk feeds in during the day and gradually reducing some of the night feeds.
Milk is still the primary source of food for your LO until 12 months old.
LO needs 4 milk feeds in the day and perhaps 1 or 2 over night.  From the EASY you posted it isn't clear if she is getting those day time BFs.  Here is an example routine:
WU 7.30
E 7.30 milk
E 8.30 solids (but not all 6 month olds take 3 meals)
A 3hr
S 10.30 - 12
E 12.00 milk
E 1.00 solids
A 3hr
S 3.00 - 4.30
E 4.30 milk (or some people give this one before the nap)
E 5.00 solids
A 3hr
E BT milk
BT 7.30
DF 10.30pm
plus a NF after minimum 3hrs

How about if you try something close to the above routine for the next week or so and see if things improve?
The differences are mainly the additional milk feeds, the first A time is a bit longer (and you would resettle the nap if she woke early, or use a W2S to keep her asleep at the transition and to teach her that she needs to sleep longer at that time) and the second nap comes later in the day.
What do you think?

[polla]

Thank you, it makes a lot of sense. To your questions:

+ She's getting enough milk during the day - every time before and after sleep.
+ The first or second nap are usually in the stroller, i think that's the reason why they are short . I'll try to stay at home with her at least for a couple of days

[creations]

OK.  If you are feeding before and after naps is there a feed to sleep prop?  That could be impacting on night sleep because when she wakes in the night she could find it difficult to get back to sleep without being fed to sleep.
That might be something you feel ready to change?  So sleep training for naps and during the night so that the feeds are there when needed for hunger but the habit of feeding to sleep is broken so that she learns to self settle.

If you want to continue with some stroller naps then IMO that's fine as it makes it easier to get out and about. The more consistent you can be though, the better, so for instance keeping it to the same nap each day so she learns the habit rather than changing which nap is in the stroller day to day - hope that makes sense.

[polla]

Thanks for your advices. Here are some updates:
* She's 7 mo today
* She can only handle 2 hours activities during the day, and 3 hours before night time.
* She's falling asleep for naps without a problem I guess (I breastfeed her, then she's in bed still awake but a bit drowsy, I may give her pacifier if she still wants to suck. She's falling asleep with patting and pacifier). Her naps are about 1.5 hours
* At night she may wake up every 20 min. Maybe something bothers her? She may be constipated a bit. I nurse her, she needs to touch my hand to fall asleep and she is up 10-15 min later. It may continue for 2-3 hours until I finally change her, nurse her again, she may pass some gas and then fall asleep. Should I take it as a failure in sleep training, or as a night with tummy problems when she needs more reassurance?
* I think she doesn't eat enough solids. She may eat a lot of avocado, but wouldn't take most other foods. Should I just give her avocado for every meal? How should it work?

7 wakeup
8 solids
9 nurse and sleep until 11
12 solids
130 nurse and sleep until 3
4 solids
5 nurse
6 nurse and sleep until 640
640 wakes up fussy. Nurse and may continue sleeping until 10 and nurse again. or may wakeup every 20-30 minutes until 9-10 pm
12 and 3 nurse
7 wakeup


Sorry for a long post, I'm feeling lost 

[creations]

Hi there
This EASY is different to the first EASY you posted about 10 days ago - have things changed?  Is she now taking 2 long naps?
Also, you said previously you are BF after every nap and before every nap, but these are not in your recent EASY times, did you just forget to put them in?  Do you BF at morning WU 7am? and again at 11am and 3pm?

Really a 2hr A time is suitable for a 4 month old baby, not really suitable for a 7  month old. My guess has two points:
- showing tired signs at a short A time can be habitual, LO learns to expect a nap at a certain time and so begins to feel drowsy but might not be tired enough to sleep properly or this might be an unsuitable time to get through a full day of 12 - 13hrs
-  because you are BF her at that time she is becoming tired from the BF, eating can make LOs sleepy and breast milk has sleepy hormones so often they do appear drowsy when feeding. They are less likely to nod off when fed right after a good nap.

Waking frequently in the early part of the night sleep can be because the last A time is too long or because LO just isn't ready for the night sleep yet, it looks like she is taking a CN and then having a couple of hours of fussy A time before going to sleep properly. I really think her BT is too early but you would need to extend the earlier A times from 2hrs to closer to 3hrs to spread out her day sleep and make a later BT possible.
If you feel the NWs are purely down to gas and tummy discomfort I would cut down or drop the evening solids for now and see if things improve over night. You could re-introduce the third solids meal in a month or so and her tummy might be more ready for it.

I think she doesn't eat enough solids. She may eat a lot of avocado, but wouldn't take most other foods. Should I just give her avocado for every meal? How should it work?

Please feel free to begin a thread on the Feeding Solids Food board for support with solids meals.
In short, no I would not feed avocado for every meal.

hope this helps