6 month old wakes 30 mins after put down for bed?

[Sienna Raynes mum]

I can't figure it out!?

I am on 4 hour EASY, which I have only recently introduced ( and to my wonderful suprise it is working easier then I thought)
I get her ready for bed around 6:30pm, down for bed around 7/7:30 and it takes about 20 minutes but then she is sound a sleep...
I get so excited, come down stairs and 30 minutes later she is crying awake!

 I know for a fact she is not hungry bc I "tank her up" before bed, I do PU/PD and she will go back to sleep after about 15 minutes- then wake up again in 20 minutes 1/2 an hour!

I don't get it! Last night was very tiring, she was up every 2 hours!

I have been sleeping in her room on a cot for the last few nights bc we recently transitioned her into her crib from our bed and i wanted the transition to be smooth- seems to have worked out okay, except these night wakings!

Could it be because she is looking for me?
Am I bothering her sleeping in there?
Am I picking her up too quickly!?

Any advice or thoughts!?
 

Thanks so much!

[Lucysmom]

Hey There-

Congrats on all you have accomplished!  Now you just need to tweak things it seems.  But really you should congratulate yourself on transitioning her to her crib and getting her on the 4 hour EASY!   

I know you said that your dd is on the 4 hour EASY but could you write out what your typical day looks like?  That will help determine what is causing her nightwakings.

The first thing that popped in my head with your dd waking up soon after she is put to bed is that she may somehow be overtired/overstimulated.  At the top of this forum, Katet wrote up 10 reasons for nightwakings other than hunger and she describes this kind of early nightwaking.  Looking at her entire day and what kind of activities she is doing especially before bed should give us a clue to what is going on with her.

Also, there is a 6 month growth spurt and as is common with growth spurts it messes up sleep. 

You say you "tank her up" in the evening and this may actually be a problem.  Katet explains it better in the post I referred to above but cluster feeding your dd in the evening may mean she is just snacking and not getting a really full feed before bed.  Not quite sure about this but thought I'd throw it out there....

I am sure you will get excellent advice from others but just wanted to add my two cents.  Katet is a brilliant babywhisperer and I am sure she will be able to help you out.  But I think she (and others) would definitely want to see your daily routine and then go from there.

Take care!

[Sienna Raynes mum]

Thank you so much for your reply! I just checked out the top 10 reasons babies can wake in the night and it was very helpful, I have a feeling I have a growth spurt on my hands accompanied by a "snacker" in the day....
Also,my lo keeps rolling over ALOT and whenever I go in to check on her when she wakes crying, she is always on all fours!
How should I calm her? Do I flip her, let her figure it out?

One other thing that I think may be affecting our evenings is ever since I started her on the 4 hour routine, we have been a little sketchy about the evening cat naps.  Maybe she is overtired if she doesn't have one?

hmmm, i am going to try a few different things this week...

Our schedule (so far)

7am wakeup
8:15 am solids
9am nap
11am play
1:30 pm nap
3pm play
4-6 - this time is a little confusing for us, It sometimes can take so long to put her down for a catnap I figure we might as well just get ready for bed sooner and sleep all at once?
7/7:30 bedtime
8:15 -wakeup

Thanks for the help!
 

[Katet]

LucysMom is right, I think the 2 problems are the lack of a catnap, I struggled with that for so long & even at almost 9months my ds#2 still needs it some days (I have to fit his sleep around big brother's activities) to make it through to bed time, if he skips it night sleep pays the price. Have you tried giving it in the stroller, that is what I did for many months.

Also in the BW books Tracy talks about stopping tanking up at about 3 months as it can have the opposite effect in that they snack before bed time. what you can do is offer part of a feed then have a bath & offer the rest, as it is close together it seems to work better than a 2 hour tank up.

Also is your lo on solids in the evening? as it may be something that she is eating that upsets her at night. I can't/couldn't give either of my boys pumpkin or carrot at night or they got upset tummys.

With the getting up on all fours, really you have to 'help' them but not too much, I am dealing with the standing issue & I was in tears over it earlier today, I just can't seem to calm him & when I do he just pulls up again...I know it takes time to get better, but even second time around it is driving me mad, as I haven't yet worked out what works for HIM. So i guess what I am trying to say with the developmental part it is working out what works for your baby, rather than a one fits all solution