Author Topic: please help! how to get her back to sleep?  (Read 953 times)

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Offline jaigas

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please help! how to get her back to sleep?
« on: March 28, 2006, 08:57:20 am »
hi, i really hope someone can help me! my dd is 8mths old and for the last 3 weeks has been waking in the early hours and is wanting to get up for the day then. firstly I'll answer the questions!



How old is your child?
She turned 8mths on 19th

What’s his/her daily routine?
i get her up for the day 7am (she's usually awake already and plays in her cot) she has 7oz of milk, i then dress her and we come downstairs and have breakfast at 8am. she has a nap at 9.30, although i struggle to get her to go down for this one! she has a 6oz bottle at 12 followed by her solids. she has another nap at 1pm and sleeps really well at this one and has between 1.5-2hrs. dinner is at 4pm and she has more solids with some fruit juice to drink. occasionally she'll nap at around 5 for 30Min's but not often anymore. she has her last bottle of 8oz followed by a bath. she goes into her cot after this and goes straight to sleep no problems.

What’s nap routine?
she goes for her first nap at 9.30am but takes at least 30Min's to settle and only sleeps for 30-45 Min's. her afternoon nap is at 1pm and she goes down straight away and sleeps for 1.5-2hrs. if she's a bit crabby after dinner (this isn't very often though) she'll sleep for another 30Min's at 5pm

How long are naps?
answered above

What's bedtime routine? Time?
bedtime routine starts at 7pm with her bottle, then a bath, after she's dried i sit down with her in her room and we have a 5 min cuddle. when i feel her relaxing (she starts to play with her ear too) i put her into her cot awake and she goes to sleep straight away. has always done this.

Do you bottle or breastfed??
she has been bottle fed since birth

How much? or how long?
she has 3 bottles during the day (she dropped the tea time bottle herself at 6mths)
and has 21oz in total

How many wakes per night?
she sleeps brilliantly until somewhere between midnight and 3am she then fidgets around alot in her cot and begins to cry. i settle her back to sleep and she will sleep for another 30Min's before doing the same thing this carries on until around 4am when she starts gurgling, and playing and shouting (she doesn't cry at this point) until i get her up at 7am

What’s your LO like when waking at night? How long is he/she up?
answered above

When you go to him/her is she fussing or crying? Or is it a mantra cry?
the first waking are fussing and crying, the last waking she doesn't cry at all but it's impossible to sleep through her gurgling and yelling as she is so loud!

What have you tried to settle??
i give her her dummy, tuck her back in, give her teddy and she goes off fine, but only for 30mins

What do you do for A time and how long is it?
activity time varies, she has plenty of time on the floor playing with toys and trying to crawl (she's not quite there yet). on days i need to take my son to playschool, we walk so she's in her buggy and we go to a mother and baby group while he's there. her activity time is all the free time between her eating and sleeping routine.

Are there developmental issues such as teething or milestones?
she just got her 4th tooth through, and is trying to crawl. she was an absolute angel at night from 14wks until a mth ago. we have tried pick up put down but she gets more agitated and still doesn't go back to sleep after her 4am wake up!

Do they have a prop? If so what is it?
she has a dummy. it falls out after she first goes to sleep and she doesn't wake until at least 4 hrs later. when she does wake i give her dummy again. she also has a cuddly elephant which she holds next to her cheek in her cot. 

Do they have a lovie?
not sure what a lovie is, sorry!

I've asked my HV about this and other mums i know and the all suggest trying to use controlled crying. i don't want to do this though as she is so good at going down and going straight to sleep that i don't want her to associate her cot with something bad. also her 4am wake she isn't crying anyway and i do leave her to chat and play already. I'm not sure what else i can try. someone please help! x

Offline teezee

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Re: please help! how to get her back to sleep?
« Reply #1 on: March 28, 2006, 17:14:54 pm »
i wouldn't 'resort' to controlled crying as it will most definately break trust with your lo.  it could be that she is learning to crawl and will pass once she reaches the milestone.  i definately think that by this point she should be past the catnap stage, and if she is getting one may be causing her to get too much daytime sleep and causing her to be unsettled near the last stretch of the night b/c she is no longer tired.  my lo woke early at around the 8 month mark and still am not positively sure why but it did stop with me tweaking her routine a bit (naps, A time, etc.).
Tawnya
Mommy to Alecksandria
June 11, 2005




Offline Kimberly®

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Re: please help! how to get her back to sleep?
« Reply #2 on: March 28, 2006, 17:25:09 pm »
I agree with Tawnya.
Looking over your routine, it looks like a solide routine, my first thought though is, is she ready to go to one nap. At the very least I think it may be time to forgo the cat nap.
what you can try is moving lunch to 11-11:30am and her nap to 12pm, let her sleep her 1.5-2 hour nap then at about 4:30 let her have a cat nap (about 30-45 min) you may need to also move your bedtime routine to start at 6:30 and have bedtime at 7.

This should balance out her day sleep and let her have more night time sleep. It will also eliminate the need for CC :)

HTH
Kimberly

Offline jaigas

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Re: please help! how to get her back to sleep?
« Reply #3 on: March 29, 2006, 08:21:24 am »
Thankyou both so much for the replys!  i will cut out the catnap altogether now, and see if that helps. hopefully once she gets the hang of crawling properly she'll settle again too. she's now mastered going backwards, but is getting very frustrated with it, lol. if she's still unsettled after this i will try tweaking her routine as Karita sugested. Thankyou!