Help - 6 month old night waking

[judesmith]

We have been using EASY and PU/PD with our 6 month old for 5 days now.  Things are falling into place as they should, she no longer need her pacifier to fall asleep and she is taking two 1 1/2 - 2 hour naps a day plus a short 30-40 minute cat nap. She goes down easily for the night at about 7:30 but our problem is that she keeps waking up between 3 and 5 am and we can't get her back to sleep. This morning she woke at 3:20am and was wide awake, it took us 2 hours of PU/PD to get her back to sleep. She finally fell asleep at 5:20 but then woke again at 6 am. I got up and did PU/PD with her until she fell asleep just before 7 am. She woke about 10 minutes later and my husband went in to get her and we began our day. Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas for us? Is it possible that she just doesn't need 12 hours of sleep at night? I'm feeling quite frustrated we just can't seem to get over this hurdle......Thanks.

[M and N's Mom]

Could she be hungry?  6 month growth spurt?

[Colin Macs Mom]

I was also wondering about hunger, but I would also suggest dropping the catnap - I suspect she's getting too much day sleep.

[judesmith]

Thanks for the suggestions. I don't think it's hunger, I tried putting a pacifier in her mouth and she didn't spit it out. I will try dropping the catnap and see how that goes, although she seems to need it at the time.

[Colin Macs Mom]

Just remember that it can take some time for things to straighten out.

[shimzy]

Id have to agree that she may be getting too much day time sleep. 2 naps of 1.5 to 2 hours (3-4 hours) plus a cat nap is a bit much.. the average day time sleep is 2.25 hours and night time is 12 hours.

Can you post a routine for us to look at?

[Tobysmum]

SHIMZY - where did you get the information about average daytime sleep for babies?  Just interested - my lo sleeps about 3 hrs during the day but probably slightly less at night - I was wondering if I could cut down on daytime sleep a bit to add to nighttime (that's probably wishful thinking

[shimzy]

Tobysmum - here is a link to another thread on this website: https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=3195.0

Along with a list of average awake times for babies given by another mod on this forum:

Awake time for babies
Newborn 50-60 mins
1 month 60 mins-hour and 15
2 months hour and 15-20
3 months hour and 20-30 mins
4 months hour and 45-2 hours
5 months 2 hours -2.25
late 5 months, early 6 months 2.25-2.5 hours
6.5- 7 months 2.75-3 hours. .some are getting more