6 mth advice

[shimzy]

How old is your child? 6 MONTHS
What’s his/her daily routine? 7AM WAKE, 8AM CEREAL, 9AM NAP (VARIES FROM 40 MINS TO 2 HOURS), 11AM BOTTLE, 1-2PM NAP, 3PM BOTTLE, 6PM BATH, 6:30 BEDTIME (BECAUSE OF DROPPED CAT NAP NEEDS EARLIER BED TIME)

What’s nap routine? SEE ABOVE

How long are naps? LATELY ITS BEEN 40 MINS - 1.5 HOURS. SHE WONT NAP ANY LONGER THAN 2.5 HOURS IN THE DAY NO MATTER WHAT ORDER I PUT THEM IN

What's bedtime routine? Time? BATH, MASSAGE, BOTTLE, SWADDLE, SOOTHER, BED 6:30PM SLEEPING BY

Do you bottle or breastfed?? BOTTLE FEED

How much? or how long? 4 BOTTLES (LATELY ITS BEEN 1 AROUND 3AM TOO)


How many wakes per night? NO WAKE UPS UNTIL 2AM AND THEN SHE'S UP FOR 45 MINS)

What’s your LO like when waking at night? How long is he/she up? CRANKING WHICH TURNS INTO CRYING IF I DONT GET UP WITH HER

When you go to him/her is she fussing or crying? Or is it a mantra cry? FUSSING WHICH TURNS TO CRYING

What have you tried to settle?? GIVE SOOTHER BACK

What do you do for A time and how long is it? 2.5 TO 3.5 HOURS

Are there developmental issues such as teething or milestones? I DONT KNOW. SHE LOOKS LIKE A WALKING MOTRIN BOTTLE LATELY. TOP TWO TEETH ARE READY TO POP.

Have you introduced cereal? Why, how much, and how many times a day? (for LO’s under 6 months) YES ONCE IN THE MORNING JUST STARTED A FEW DAYS AGO

Do they have a prop? If so what is it? YES SOOTHER AND SWADDLE .IVE BEEN TRYING TO BREAK OF THE SWADDLE BUT I DONT THINK SHE'S DOING SO WELL

Do they have a lovie? NO

[AnnaBenwell]

Just wanted to say hi, Your DD Is so cute! Just not in the middle of the night. How do you get her back to sleep Feed her?

Anna

[momofclaire]

It seems as if your lo has short (only 2 hours) of A time in the morning but then 4 hours of A time after her second nap.  If her first nap is 40 min then she is getting about 4 hours A time there also. Am I reading that right.
Have you tried extending A time in the morning and pushing things back a little?  Maybe put her down for nap 1 at 9:30.  She may be over tired which is causing her to wake at night.

It could also be the cereal some babies have a hard time with that at first.

[shimzy]

Hi ladies thanks for responding 

The last few nights I have had to feed her and she takes like 9 oz. I only make a 4oz  bottle but end up having to make another one.. which she drains as well.

I suppose it could be chalked up to a growth spurt. I seem to remember someone else suggesting to put her down for her first nap at 9:30 

For instance, today I put her down for her nap at 9:15.  She slept until 10:15 where she refused to go back to sleep no matter what I did. So I pulled her out of bed. I will be laying her down for sleep just before 1pm. So thats about 2hrs 45 mins midday.  I'm hoping that she sleeps as close to 3 as possible so that she can be in bed for 6:30.  I cannot give this girl a cat nap, otherwise she won't go to bed on time and gets up every hour on the hour laughing her butt off.

[momofclaire]

Well at least she wakes up laughing!!!

[shimzy]

its not funny when its 3 am 

 

[shimzy]

Well I just dont get it. I laid her down for her nap at 1pm. SHe went straight to sleep. She slept for just about quarter to 2 (she had 2hrs 45 mins awake previous) and woke happy as a lark! She's playing on the floor with her brother right now.

 

Just makes a person want to give up and let her sleep just wherever she is. I'm so tired of getting her awake times right, it never gets right and her schedule is all over the map. Nothing ever works for longer than 3 or so days and then its back to square one 

[shimzy]

Is learning to laugh and play with her brother a milestone?

She is playing with him right now and laughing so hard she is belly laughing!!

I'm laughing through my tired tears   

She is laughing so hard she has to catch her breath.

Is that a milestone?

[Colin Macs Mom]

Absolutely! Laughing is definitely a milestone. DS used to wake at night laughing too when he first got the hang of it. It's cute the first time and then after that it gets old. 

[shimzy]

Im so so so frustrated. She wont go down to naps now.When I lay her down to nap she cries when I leave. She is soo soo soo over tired I dont even know where to start.

[Colin Macs Mom]

Does she have anything medical going on? How about gas?

[shimzy]

I really dont know. We started solids 2 days ago for breakfast and lunch. SHe loves them so much she eats about 2-3 tablespoons for each 'breakfast & lunch'. And this is her first time at solids. So she is eating well. Taking 4 bottles a day at 6-8oz per bottle.  She is 'talking' alot these last couple of days. Not sure if thats it. She's been trying to sit on her knees trying to get in the position to crawl but thats not going anywhere so I'm sure thats not it. We just finished the 6 month growth spurt. Her top two teeth are trying to pop through. I've been away a lot working in the evenings so I haven't been around in the early evening to put her to bed like I have since birth but my husband has been doing everything I asked him to do (in his own way) but in the same routine that I've set for her. Thats been going on the last 2 weeks or so.  I'm overly tired during the day so I guess I haven't been 'myself' lately. I've been really snappy to my 6 year old. We were in a car accident a week ago so we haven't had a vehicle to get anywhere and I've been having to walk everywhere with her when we usually take the car.

Maybe thats all it. I don't know. What do you think?

[Colin Macs Mom]

Solids can disturb sleep at first since it's something totally foreign and more complex to a "virgin" digestive system. It might help to do just one solid meal for breakfast for now, and then in a month or so re-introduce the lunch meal. It might be that she's having some tummy upset and gas.

The change in routine might be throwing her off a little too  - meaning DH putting her to bed rather than you. If she's sensitive to her routine and any changes that might be a big deal to her. The teeth too of course are probably bothering her.

I'm sorry to hear about the car accident! I hope everyone is alright. Your stress from that and not feeling like yourself might be affecting her too. LOs are very sensitive to our vibes and emotions.

[momofclaire]

Sorry I was joking about her laughing.  I know you are frustrated. 
It could be the solids or the milestones.  Has this been going on more than a few days?

[shimzy]

Thank you for the words ladies 

With Madison it weens and it wanes. She will have 3 or 4 really great nap days and then 2 or 3 really bad nap days. This has been going on for the last month or so...Her nights do the same thing. There is no consistency with her.  I will try to strap down for the next two weeks and do exactly what I need her to do for those times and not wane at all myself. Perhaps that way I will stabilize some consistency in her day and get things back on track.

Thanks again ladies.

Lisa

[momofclaire]

Good luck Lisa let us know how it goes.

[Layla]

Shimzy - I feel for you as Jasmine was the same. Totally inconsistent and we had nightwakings of up to every 3 hrs at 6 months. Hers were more to do with hunger, i believe cause she was only taking a small amount during the day and making up for it at night.

I know you say she will not have a catnap but do you think maybe you should try to re-introduce it. Even though at 6 months some babies are ok with 2 naps, Isabella had hers until she was 9 months and Jasmine still takes hers. Maybe you should try to take a step back and give her less A time. So if she wakes, put her down for nap 1 at 9am (A time in the morning is usually shorter than other A times during the day). An hour nap is still a good nap, it doesn't have to go for 1.5-2 hrs. In fact, Isabella was always taking a short nap in the morning and was fine with that. Then try to bring her pm nap to 12.30pm & then a catnap around 4ish (no later than 5pm) and a bedtime around 7ish. Is this what her day used to look like before?

Just a thought
Layla

[shimzy]

Yes her day USED to be
7am wake up
9am nap
10:30 wake up
12:45pm nap
2:15ish wake up
4:50ish cat nap until 5:20-5:30 and then bed at 7

Then I changed things because she was having short naps for up to 2 wks. It helped for awhile and then went array

[Layla]

Honestly, I think maybe you should try to get back to that schedule. What's a short nap? Was it an hour short or shorter. Jasmines naps went funny at 7 months, she was taking a long am nap but her afternoon nap all of a sudden went short to 45 mins. She'd wake up cranky so I knew she needed a longer nap. It was suggested to me to drop the catnap, which I attempted BUT s**t hit the fan and she was an even worse sleeper (at night especially). I then attempted w2s for her afternoon nap, kept the catnap and she went back to sleeping better at night. I don't think its always about having a certain amount of A time, I think some can handle it and some can't. Jasmine's A times are surprisingly 3hrs in the morning and only 2.5 in the afternoon and before the catnap its back to 3 again. Even with the catnap ending at 5:45, she'll go down for the night at 6.30pm and will wake anywhere from 6-6.30pm. Her morning and afternoon nap can range anywhere from 1hr-1.5hrs.

Layla

[shimzy]

Regularly her naps last 1.5 hours. Sometimes they will be 1.75 to 2 hours but that is just sometimes.

So it wasn't a huge decrease in nap time from 1.5 hours to just 1 hour but in the course of the day thats 1 hour of lost sleep (.5 times two).

I tried to offer her a cat nap last night but she would have nothing to do with it. She slept from 6:30 - 2am. I went off to make her a bottle and came back and she was sleeping again (I obviously misread that cue) and she woke again at 6am and wouldnt go back to sleep. So I brought her into bed with us becuase she was getting upset and she just laid there and stared at the ceiling until 645am.

Today I am going to try this routine as I know she can handle a longer A time in the morning so something like this; Let me know what you think:

7am - Bottle
8am - solids
9.30am - Sleep (aiming for 1.5 hrs)
1pm - Bottle
2pm - Sleep aiming for 1.5hrs
6pm - Bath
6.30pm - Bottle
7pm – Sleep

She does really well with 3 hours to 3.5 hours awake time before bed. Anything other than that and she wakes continually until 10pm (starting at about 8pm). She is usually in bed by 6:30pm these days and if cat napped starts waking at about 8pm. When I dropped the cat nap there was no wake ups and continues to be no wake ups until around 2 or 3 am which is when things went haywire. Except last night...

 

[Layla]

Maybe her body is adgusting then to the longer A times & her new routine. Sounds like she did really well last night!!!

Your routine sounds great! See how today goes & let me know.

Good luck! 

[shimzy]

Well today was just a gem of a day.

She woke at 6:45 ( a little earlier than usually but oh well!).  I put her down for a nap at 9:15 (so at the 2.5 hr mark) and she napped until 11:05am.

I then laid her down for her second nap at 1:45pm as she was yawning profusely. She napped until 3:30 

That is two naps of 1hr 45 mins! Yay Madison!! lol.

She comes and goes with days like these. I am guessing now that 6 months is coming and going that she will get used to this routine and things wont change up much until closer to 8 months. Am I wishing on a star? lol... my son did this too and things worked out. Here's hoping she got some of those genes!

[Layla]

How did today go?

[shimzy]

Well feb 1st was very much the same great day. I laid her down about 9:20 for her morning nap. She slept until 11am. Again for the afternoon I laid her down at 1:35ish and she napped until 3:10. Was in bed for the night by 6:45 and she slept until 2:30 where i heard her chatting. I didn't respond though and she went back to bed until 7:10am. IT was a good day/night.

But as usual things don't always stay the same  Her brother woke in the middle of the night last night puking everywhere. I'm hoping she doesn't get it but... I'm not getting my hopes up. 

[Colin Macs Mom]

Ew    I'm sorry! It really is always something isn't it?

[shimzy]

Yah poor boy is crashed out in bed right now. Its noon and he doesn't want to eat. Thats ok though, I know he can eat when he wants 

Madison and I caught up from the lost sleep taking care of pukey boy last night. I laid her down at 9:30 and we both slept until 11:30 lol...I forgot to set my alarm. I hope she naps this afternoon 

[Colin Macs Mom]

Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do! 

[shimzy]

That's right...she's such a muffin... She's been sneezing and rubbing her nose all morning so maybe she's getting a cold... *sigh* can't wait for spring to get here lol...

[Colin Macs Mom]

Well the groundhog didn't see his shadow this morning so you might get your wish!