6 month old night waking often

[saree's mom]

So my LO is waking up so much more than she ever did these days. Im going nuts 
She used to wake up once after DF, now once is an AMAZINGGGG nite. 
I'm tired..........
EVERYONE is telling me to let her CIO, (they say she is 6 mts now, she should be sleeping thru the nite, gotta train her...how? letting her CIO is the universal answer) what do i do ??

At what age does the 3rd nap disappear, bec last nite she wasnt sleepy by 3rd naptime and she was laying quietly for over 20 min. (almost as if she was resting or trying to fall asleep...so cute!) and she started complaining kinda like "ma i tried, not working today, lemme outta here."
So the big question was whether she would sleep better or worse w/o it and she was a little bit better, butttt it very well could be a coincidence.

I don't know whats with her that she is having so many nws lately.
 
Teething? no pain cries though...just unhappy cries. Creid out a few times in her sleep last nite, few times though she just wanted her paci, which she suddenly loves ( LO hated that thing up until this week, weird no?).

Soooo, am i missing something here or is this just one of the joys of parenthood.
If anyone who can enlighten me.....i'd be forever grateful. 

[Colin Macs Mom]

Sarees mom as you can see I split your post from the thread it was originally attached to so that you will get the most replies possible.

Tell everyone where to stick the CIO advice.    I hate it when that's people's answer for everything. She probably is preparing to drop the 3rd nap, and that can be a bumpy time for sleeping because it's a big adjustment to drop a nap. 6 mo in general is also usually a rough time for sleeping for developmental reasons, plus most drop that 3rd nap around then too. It's a recipe for disaster.   

[saree's mom]

Thanks for the advice Jessica.
I wasnt sure if this was the right time to work on dropping the 3rd nap.
I'm not sure how to go about it.
Do i try to space out her first 2 naps more, thereby increasing her A time as much as possible and move up her bedtime as well?
im not sure how that would work bec she does seem tired when i put her down for her first 2 naps after 2-3 hrs....
Her bedtime is 7:30, im not sure i can make it much earlier bec i work full time, and i gotta get home feed her, bathe her (a lil play time  ) ....
any suggestions...

[Colin Macs Mom]

You've got the right idea.  Increase her A time as much as is reasonable and maybe put her to bed 15 min earlier, if you can... I work full time too so I know how hard that is. She'll probably be cranky at first but she will adjust.

[saree's mom]

Im gonna try to work on that this weekend we'll see how it goes. Is 6 mts the average age/time to eliminate nap #3? Seems like on most days she can still use the 3rd.

Thing is, if she is having a bad nap day - like today for example, im still at work but my nanny is telling me that her first 2 naps were not even an hr. and at 3 pm she was already up to her 3rd nap bec A time bet first 2 was so short and was falling asleep on the bottle b4 the third. On a day like that even if ive switched to 2 naps, i would give her a 3rd catnap.
Is that a rhetorical question? i guess if she is falling asleep poor thing u'd have to.

[Colin Macs Mom]

Sure, some days she may just not be able to go without it and that's fine. Such as bad nap days    My DS started refusing the catnap when he was 5.5 mo., and he still really needed it but he would have absolutely not a thing to do with it.      gotta love the spirited... it was a little rough for a couple weeks until he adjusted to the longer A time and we did an earlier bedtime as well. But it worked out fine.

[saree's mom]

Right, i guess you just gotta go with the flow. See what makes sense day by day.
Now imjust plain tired and exhausted gotta get DH to help me more at nite.   
gotta go get my caffeine fix......lata

[Colin Macs Mom]

DH helping at night can make a huge difference. Colin still goes down again easier for DH than me.

[saree's mom]

Really? Why is that??

Dh helps alot in evening, at nite hes on another planet. He once got mad at me for asking him to help me,he did go to dd, next morning he had no recollection of his reaction, it was funny. When i ask him to help me, he def does, but sometimes its easier to do it myself. Another problem of mine is that i often feel i can do better myself, thats a big problem.....

[Colin Macs Mom]

I have no idea why really. I suspect it's a matter of mommies being loving and nurturing and daddies being more on the business side, if that makes sense. Like when I go in he knows he can pull at my heartstrings and I won't be as tough  but when DH goes in he knows he can't get away with anything.

[saree's mom]

Its so funny the other nite she got pretty hysterical and my gh was trying to calm her down so after a few min i went into the room to try and help and dh gave her to me bec he said she was leaning towards me like she wanted me (unless he made that up bec he couldnt handle her  , but i doubt that) I think she wanted to be soothed, it was pretty sweet actually.

I dont see how im going to move her to 2 naps, seems hopeless..... 

[Colin Macs Mom]

You will, don't worry    What's Saree's temperment?

[saree's mom]

Honestly, i dont even know anymore...
She was pretty bad the first 6 weeks of her life. Now she is great HOWEVER that is when she is kept on her schedule, she is not the most portable.... She gets cranky as soon as she is thrown off. But when we are careful (or more accurately sensitive to her routine)  she is so happy, always babbling, shrieking, smiling and laughing, wakes up happy, loves her baths....

Past 2 days, no 3rd nap, no change....

[Colin Macs Mom]

What's her temperment? Sorry if I already asked 

[saree's mom]

No problem, i didnt answer the first time.
I think she is textbook, unless im being generous, buti think i was pretty fair when i did the quiz. (i just did it again to be sure)