Fretful nightime sleeping at 6months

[Jane Pitt]

I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction as to which 'problem' may be the best to tackle first. 

C was born in July '05 and thanks to Tracey's books, I realised he was a spirited baby, very happy, but very spirited - much like me!!

He's now nearing the 6 month mark and has, progressively since the Christmas period, been having a more and more fretful night sleep. He was breastfed exclusively until 13 weeks and then a mixture of formula and breast until 21 weeks when my milk finally dried up.  He went through the night at 16 weeks and was sleeping well, going down around 7.30pm, awake and gently soothing himself to sleep in about 20 minutes, rising at around 6.45am, happy.  We gave him a dummy at around 8 weeks as he was constantly demanding to suckle and snacking - this solved the problem overnight and made him much happier.  He has always had his dummy to soothe himself but C always drop it once he hit the deep sleep.

Around the beginning of December, he developed baby eczema.  This flairs and then we get it under control but it hasn't gone completely.

Currenly we have a still happy baby but with increasing fretful sleep.  He doesn't actually wake up and goes back to sleep when we put the dummy back in his mouth but will cry again in anything from 45mins upwards in 45 minute intervals.  We cannot decide if the problem is:
1. The dummy has become a prop
2. The eczema is causing discomfort
3.  He is dreaming
4.  He's going through a growth spurt
5.  It's all part of teething.

We would love some suggestion on which problem to tackle first or that it's just a 'phase'.

Just for information, his routine is:
6.30/7am - wake and milk
7.45am - nap until around 9am
9am - activity including breakfast at 10am
11am - nap for around 30 - 45 mins and then activity
1pm - food
2pm nap for around 30 - 45 mins and then activity
4pm - food
5.30/6pm nap around 30 mins
6pm - bath
7pm - milk
7.30 - bed


Thanks

[Liz R]

ok I am no means an expert, but have been in a similar situation.
Some thoughts;depending on how long you've been weaning onto solids, you could try increasing the meals to try to tackle any growth spurt.Mashed potato &something works well for jake, (or and kind of carbs) as his last meal.
His naps are a bit short, Maybe try keeping him awake a bit longer in the morning, possibly bring forward his breakfast, to 8.30 ish than a nap at 9.30 ?
Also jake had that 5pm/ 6pm cat nap, I have more or less got him out of it by extening his other naps.It took a few 6.30 bedtimes, but that helped us too.
I have just posted about cold turkey dummy dropping, as we were constantly having to put it back for him. that was tough though!
Hope this makes some kind of sense am a bit distracted by my crawling boy!
Liz x

[Jane Pitt]

Thanks for the reply.  He did manage a 4 hour stretch last night funnily enough!!!

I have also managed to extend his nap this morning (he had just over 30mins + another hour after resettling) so we'll see if he is any better tonight.

Thanks again.

[mthyne]

Jane--
just so you know, there is another post titled "why does her sleep suck between 2-5am?"  that has a host of moms with lo's 5-6 months all in the same boat as you.
You may want to check it out!  And know you're not alone!
Melissa