Baby waking at long period during night

[pipkin]

Ah perfect - thank you. I’ll let you know how we get on. I’ve put her down a little later this morning and so will see how we do. She woke up after 1 hour 15 mins again but I guess it will take a while for things to change.

In answer to your solid food question, I’ve just been thinking back and I think it probably was about the same time that we started solid food that has caused these long night waking so that could be one of the reasons.

We’ve also been struggling with settling her to sleep at night so we try to get her to sleep for 7pm but the last few nights it has been hard getting her down and she has resisted quite a lot. Last night she didn’t sleep until around 9pm! She seems to just want cuddles and gets very cross being put in her cot. She does have a bit of a cold and we got into a few bad habits when the first of her teeth came through the other week so I think that may be the cause of this.

Thanks for your help. I’ll update you in a few weeks on how I’ve got on

[pipkin]

Hello

We seem to be over the last phase and she is sleeping much better at night only waking once (sometimes twice) for food. We have even had a few full night sleeps but she now seems to be really resisting her afternoon nap. She is nearly 9 months old so i’m sure it isn’t her wanting to drop to one nap a day. What other reasons could it be?

Here is her routine:

6.30am wake and breast feed
7.15/7.30am breakfast
9.30 nap
11am wake up and breast feed
12.30pm lunch
2.15/2.30pm nap
Here she usually wakes up after 20-35 mins, she used to do 1.5 hours!

When she wakes after her second nap she has breast milk. Then dinner at about 5/5.30pm
Bath at 6.30pm
Bed at 7pm

I worried that she may be waking from hunger so today instead of giving her milk after her second nap, I fed her milk after lunch but it didn’t make a difference, she woke after 20 mins. The tears aren’t just crying she sounds really inconsolable.

She manages ok when she wakes up but she does get quite grumpy by bedtime and never eats that much dinner I think because she is tired.

Any advice would be great.

Thanks

Pippi

[becj86]

20min naps can be related to pain - if she's inconsolable, I'd be looking for something that may be causing her pain. Have you introduced a new solid food recently?
They can also be from overstimulation but usually if that's the case, LO's are up and really ready to play at 20min, not crying inconsolably.

30-35min naps tend to be from overtiredness - her A time is reasonable though - it could be longer. Her routine looks good for a 6-7mo but she's taking a good first nap (I presume she is actually sleeping that 1.5hr?) so its reasonable to leave it as is.

[pipkin]

Thanks for your reply!

We haven’t given her any new solids recently but we think her top two teeth may be coming through, although we’ve been thinking that for a while and still nothing!

She cries when I try and comfort her back to sleep and gets really cross but the tears stop as soon as I turn the light on and give up trying to get her back to sleep. The only thing that makes me think it isn’t her teeth is that she doesn’t have any problem with napping in the morning or going to bed at night. Would we have similar tears at these times if it was her teeth?

She was going through a bit of separation anxiety with me a few weeks ago so I wondered if it was because she wanted me to be with her but she has got a bit better with the separation anxiety thing recently. I did manage to get her to sleep for a further hour after she woke up a few days ago but I lay on my bed with her and let her breast feed to sleep which worked. I don’t really want to get her into a habit of doing that though as we’ve not long got out of it and I’m going back to work soon so I have tried not to do that again although it is tempting if it means she gets the rest she needs!

[becj86]

Does she go to sleep ok for that nap? Wonder if you could try increasing the second A time and see if she's just not tired yet? If she's wanting to get up, that could be why.

[pipkin]

Yeah she sleeps well in her first nap - about 1.5 hours.

Ah perfect, I’ll try that. I always worry going any later will mean she isn’t tired for bed. What would you say the latest I should let her wake up for her second nap should be so she is tired for her 7/7.30pm bedtime?

Thanks so much for all your help . I’ve found this forum so helpful for all my worries!

[pipkin]

I tried keeping her up for longer this afternoon... so her awake time was 4 hours but she woke up again after 30 minutes crying. She went down easily though so I think she was tired.

Could it be that she just doesn’t need that much sleep anymore?

[pipkin]

Ooh just another update.

I took her downstairs after her nap to feed her and she fell asleep on me.

I have been cutting back on some of the breast feeding during the day and replacing with snacks because i’m Trying to prepare her for when I go back to work. It hasn’t been a huge cut back, just a morning feed after breakfast and a top up feed after lunch. I still feed her quite a lot: when she wakes, after nap 1, after nap 2 and at bed time.

Could it be linked to weaning? Perhaps I have cut back too much and she needs the comfort of having me around? I don’t think it can be hunger because she hasn’t had lunch that long before her nap.

Thanks

[becj86]

I always worry going any later will mean she isn’t tired for bed. What would you say the latest I should let her wake up for her second nap should be so she is tired for her 7/7.30pm bedtime?

Some LO's do fine with a shorter A time to bed. It really depends on how ingrained the 7:30 BT is (some babies develop this body clock that has an unshakeable BT and they'll go to bed for the night almost regardless of how recently they woke), how long she has slept and how long her A times have been through the day. Bit of trial and error will help you get to know your LO's taste.

I tried keeping her up for longer this afternoon... so her awake time was 4 hours but she woke up again after 30 minutes crying. She went down easily though so I think she was tired.

That's a lot longer than 3:15... that's an OT nap - doesn't mean she can't cope with those 4hr, just possibly she's not used to it. Any luck resettling? If not, perhaps try again and just be ready to resettle.

How old is she now? Her sleep needs will reduce as time goes on and one nap will get shorter as she moves towards one nap (don't worry, this process take ~6 months.

Could it be linked to weaning? Perhaps I have cut back too much and she needs the comfort of having me around?

Yes, it could be this. Certainly its nice for us to feel they're ready to go to daycare and they'll be ok without us. However, when we're there and not offering, they can feel that we're withdrawing or something - DS did a similar thing when I tried don't offer, don't refuse to wean though he was a bit older. When she's at daycare, she will work out how things work there and they will be different from home, so its ok to still offer at home and know she'll be ok at daycare.

[pipkin]

Hello

She is 9 months now. Yeah we’re still having trouble with the second nap. Yesterday she only slept for 15 mins and woke up really upset. We tried to settle her but she didn’t stop crying and was arching her back so I got her up and gave her some breast milk and then she fell asleep on me for 45 mins.

It seems to be linked to breast milk but she is using it as a way to get to sleep. I’m pretty sure she isn’t hungry as she eats well at lunch and the other day I gave her a yoghurt for a snack just before bedtime just to make sure she wasn’t hungry. I could try feeding her before she goes to sleep as she usually goes down about 2.30pm? Maybe I’m wrong and perhaps she is hungry but for milk rather than a snack? Or maybe she needs the comfort? Although I did try a day when I gave her lunch and then breast milk to top her up and she still woke up but perhaps if I try feeding her before naptime and then take her up?

I’ve tried a few awake times prior to the nap: 3 hours, 3 hours 15 mins, 3 hours 30 mins, 3 hours 45 mins and 4 hours but all of them seem to still make her have a short nap.

I’m sure she isn’t one of those babies who wants to drop her second nap early because she is always ready for bed about 3 hours/ 3 hours 30 mins after she wakes up in the morning and wouldn’t be able I cope at the moment with that being pushed later. Interestingly she would still sleep 1.5 hours even if I put her down 2.5 hours after she wakes up in the morning (which I had to do the other week as we needed to pop out so I put her down early and it didn’t affect her napping).

Thanks so much for all your help

Pippi

[becj86]

The age of separation anxiety!! It could well be a combination of that and the change of milk feeds.

I’m sure she isn’t one of those babies who wants to drop her second nap early because she is always ready for bed about 3 hours/ 3 hours 30 mins after she wakes up in the morning and wouldn’t be able I cope at the moment with that being pushed later.

This can be a habit thing - is she still sleeping solidly through the early hours of the morning?

This is not really an age at which you're going to get two 1.5hr naps unless you've an extraordinarily sleepy baby (like didn't drop to 2 naps until 8 months type sleepy). If you're aiming to get that second nap to be 1.5hr, I think you're going to be disappointed regardless of the A time you try and you could jeopardise your night sleep. When you say these naps are always short, were any of them 45min-1hr? If so, stick with that as your A time for a week and see if that settles.

[pipkin]

Hello

We’ve had a bit of a breakthrough! On Sunday we had a bad day and she was very upset when she went down for her nap. It took half hour of comforting and her screaming and eventually she fell asleep, I think exhausted from the tears. She then slept for 1.5 hours and I had to wake her!

The next two days I have been feeding her after 3 hours 40 mins awake time. Then putting her down. She gets to sleep in about 5 mins and sleeps for 1 hour! It has made her evenings better because she isn’t overtired and she is sleeping better at night. Fingers crossed it continues!

Thank you so much for your help - I so appreciate it!

[becj86]

Glad things are better it sounds like you could push those A times a bit more yet - 1hr is still an UT nap.