Night Wakings at 6 months

[Kammy]

Iv recently started my LO whos 6 months on solids and she seems quite happy.  I have a couple of problems which i need some advice with. 

The problem is that she still wakes up at night and not necessarily at the same time.  Her routine is as follows but im happy to accept any advice..

7.30 - 8am wake - Feed milk and breakfast (weetabix)

10 - 10.15am - 11am -  Sleep for 45 mins to 1 hour - sometimes only half an hour.

12.30 - lunch - milk and solid

1.30 - Sleep - sometimes for half hour or sometimes for 45 mins to 1 hour.

2.30 wake and play

4pm - feed - milk

4.30 - 5pm - Sleep- half an hour

6pm -  Dinner

8pm  - Milk and Sleep

Sometimes she will sleep through to 11ish but sometimes she wakes up after 1 hour and will stay  awake til 10.30...we give her a dream feed at around 11.30ish.if she stays asleep.  Then she will wake at around 3ish, sometimes 4, sometimes later...and wont sleep unless we feed her and will then wake up around 7.30am...

My other problem is that she will not always have a full milk feed  - maybe 4oz max...is this b/c she is now on solids??  She doesnt seem to like having her milk so much now and im worried that shes not getting enough milk...? 

Can anyone help with my routine or structure a new routine that will make her sleep at night..i dont really know what to do and sometimes get a bit stressed as nothing seems to work.

[teezee]

it could very well be that your lo is getting too much solids too soon and that is taking away from her milk feedings. i would cut down and see if that helps. if not, she could be getting more milk calories at night so not NEEDING to take them during the day.

if you are doing the df, it is 'supposed' to be done before 11pm. in tracy's teachings she says that anything past 11pm could cause night wakings - as it is considered 'night sleep'.

how is lo's first milk feed in the morning? compared to the rest of the day?

[teezee]

and another thought - has your lo just started having shorter naps? if so, then it could be she is getting ready to drop the catnap. when my dd was that age i would sometimes give her the catnap depending on whether she seemed she could handle being up longer that day...and somedays rather than the catnap i put her to bed an hr to an hr and a half earlier.just a thought - she may not need the rest of the day sleep as she is getting enough with the nap kwim?

[Kammy]

Hi teezee

thanks for your reply.  As she gets up at 8am i do her feeding at 8, 12, and then 4 and then 8pm again which is why i give her the dream feed at 11.30 as i felt that it may be too soon after the 8pm feed.  Do you think that i should still give it at 10.30pm.?

Her morning feed at 8am over the last few days has not been great..she wont have more than 3 - 3.5oz and then wont want any more...i therefore give it to her in her cereal..What do you think?  During the day its about the same..sometimes she will clear 6-7oz and sometimes only 3 oz.

Her naps during the day will vary..today she slept 1 hour in the morning...10-11am and then 1 hr 45 mins in the afternoon..from 1.30 - 3.15 and then she is having a short nap at 6ish as she seems very tierd. for half an hour.

The other thing i thought is that she may be teething..but would that make her lose interest in her milk feeds??

[teezee]

i would def try the df earlier if not at 10:30 than not a minute after 11pm. tracy suggests it earlier b/c after 11pm is considered the 'night' and you don't want to interrupt 'night sleeping' kwim? and the df isn't necessarily to be looked at as a FULL feeding - i think that the amount of time between the last feed and the df even if df is at 10:30 will be just fine.

i would honestly try for a couple days to drop the catnap and see how putting her down to sleep at say 6:45 - 7ish works.  give it a couple days to see what happens, and if you aren't a fan of the results you can switch back to the catnap.  the first day w/o the catnap will be a little hard and that's why i suggest bedtime a bit earlier (for a few days at least) and then hopefully the naps will start to extend (and if not you could try wake to sleep, or pu/pd to extend them). i also think six is too late for a catnap if you opt not to forgo it.  i think 5 or 5:15 should be the very latest it should occur at without having an impact on the night wakings.

when my lo was teething she does lose interest in milk feed...then sometimes she will nurse well but won't eat solids..i try not to let it frusterate me anymore as we have been through it now it feels like a million times! and i found the more frusterated i got the longer she would go without eating much...when i stopped stressing - she ate! amazing concept!! anyway, how long have these feedings been low for? if it more than a week to two weeks i def wouldn't relate it to teething.

i am also posting a link about weaning the night feedings - i used it with my lo at 6 months as she was still feeding one to two times / night, and it took about a month and then a little bit of sleep training after that - but by 8 months she was completely sleeping through 11 hr nights! here is the link:

https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=46907.0

if you have anymore quesitons pls let me know!!