6 MO night waking after sleeping 8-11 hours from 2 MO!

[babyshamble]

Thanks for your daily answers to my questions!  We stretched out her evening awake time with a little grumpiness from her 3pm-7.30pm.  I also extended her day awake time by 10minutes.  I read in BW that a good routine for a 6-9mth old is

E7am
S9-11
E11
S2-4
E7pm
S7.30

is it ok to have a 5 hour gap between feeds to ensure that she sleeps a little later in the afternoon?  Also, i have been giving the DF at 10pm because i have been too tired to stay awake, but I am wondering if giving it later will mean that she drinks more and also will stay asleep longer? 

Eden went to sleep while I fed her at 7.30pm because she was so wrecked.  She stirred and yelled a little bit but settled back down quite quickly at about 8pm.  I've got a good feeling about tonight, even if she stays in her own bed i will be happy (and not so sore!)

[Colin Macs Mom]

Yes, that is a good routine for that age range but it's also ok to make any adjustments if you find something that works even better.

It's ok to have a 5 hour gap between feeds if she can handle that. As for the DF, it's one of those "try it and see what happens" sort of things. Every LO reacts differently to a DF so it's hard to say what result you would get from doing it later.

[babyshamble]

She slept through - from 7.30pm until 5.30am on Thursday and then on friday from 8.30pm until 6am with a wake at 10.30pm because of a disruption and then at 3am to replug her dummy.  but, considering that we went out on Friday night i was very happy.  It's amazing what a difference even one good lot of sleep makes - i literally felt like a new woman on Friday!  I now know that for the next two weeks we need to be home at her bedtime and be devoted to keeping her calm at night.  We played cards with my in laws last night (we live in the same house) and i think it was a bit loud making her a bit unsettled after her df. 

After 1.5 months of trying everything i think that it really was a combination of huge developmental changes, and also trying to figure out what works best for her.  of course, it's still early days but i'm feeling good. 

In the last two days Eden learnt to - 

crawl!
push herself up to sit!
and pull herself up to stand!

all in two days - no wonder she's been so unsettled, she must've been secretly planning all of this instead of sleeping. 

Thanks so much for your support, I am still exhausted but so glad that I don't feel any guilt because I really feel like I kept trying even when other people said to give up (cosleep, demand feed, cc etc).  I can't explain how good it felt to just give in and spend time with Eden trying to ensure she is happy during the day and make sure that at night she wasn't in pain, hungry, scared etc.

Will keep you updated.

[Colin Macs Mom]

That's amazing, what huge improvement!!!   I'm so pleased for you!

I now know that for the next two weeks we need to be home at her bedtime and be devoted to keeping her calm at night. 

Yes, this will definitely help. Before long it won't be as important, which is nice
 

In the last two days Eden learnt to - 

crawl!
push herself up to sit!
and pull herself up to stand!

all in two days - no wonder she's been so unsettled, she must've been secretly planning all of this instead of sleeping. 

 

HOLY CRAP!! That's really something. Usually those things happen one after another but hey, you got it out of the way all at once. That's a good thing in terms of sleeping. Rather than a long stretch of disturbances, essentially you boiled it down to a short, really bad phase.    It certainly explains a lot, that's for sure. Wow!!

You're really doing great, it's clear that you're devoted to your DD and want to do what's best for her. There's no better foundation to work from.    I'm always here anytime 

[Colin Macs Mom]

How're things??

[babyshamble]

Hi, well things are almost 100% better than they were.  Eden is now only crawling when she has to - she is obsessed with pulling herself up to stand at the moment.  but, i wouldn't mind standing next to her all day as long as she is sleeping at night.  we have been disrupting her schedule lately (driving a lot, going out around her bedtime) but on our days here she sleeps from 7.30pm til 7am with probably a wake up for her dummy or her teeth.  she's not in our bed most nights which is great!  I am concerned that I will start accidental parenting now that we are getting sleep again.  I think this is mainly with driving around and her falling asleep betwen 5 and 6 because then she will not sleep until 10pm.  is this a normal occurrence?  apart from that things are really good. oh yeah, she popped out two teeth at once last week as well!  The other thing is that she is usually so tired by 7.30pm after her bath that she falls asleep while i am feeding her.

should i give her a catnap in the afternoon so that this doesn't happen?

Thanks!

[Colin Macs Mom]

My goodness, she certainly has had a lot going on!! Glad to hear that things are so much better though. I would avoid the catnap if you can because obviously the routine is working so you don't wnat to mess with it!

[aisling]

Hooray for Eden!  Those darn teeth! 

Aisling x

Ps. What happened to your ticker/avatar?  If you go in your profile you can add them there (follow instructions) and they will stay there permanently until you change them FYI.   

[babyshamble]

Hi again!

After a long time of being lazy and relishing any sleep i could get i think i am prepared to help Eden to sleep in her cot all the time now.  We have been taking her into bed with us when she wakes, which is sometimes 3am and sometimes not until 6am.  i figured that with teething she must be a bit out of sorts, but since we now have no problem giving her pain relief if she's beside herself I would like her to sleep on her own.  I've also been getting pressure from both extres (control crying versus cosleeping) to come over to their practices and keep insisting that bw works that i thought maybe i should be practicing what i'm preaching...

Eden still has her paci, and when she wakes up in the night if she doesn't settle with patting and singing i give her bonjella (if she's teething).  This morning i was up with her from 5am for half an hour.  I picked her up and held her tight until she relaxed and usually nodded off.  then when i put her down she would cry, i would pick her up.  I did this about three times and the third time i held her till she fell asleep and then a bit longer. 

Wondering if maybe I should be doing a strict pu/pd and let her scream it out while i am doing so which is what she has done in the past?  Or, could it be possible that she may learn to sleep independantly with me holding her until she's pretty much asleep and then putting her in?

Also wanted to ask what to do when they can crawl and stand in their cots?  When I put her in even when she was fast asleep often the first thing she will do is roll over, sit up, and then pull up to stand against the rails...

[Colin Macs Mom]

could it be possible that she may learn to sleep independantly with me holding her until she's pretty much asleep and then putting her in?

This is probably not what you want to hear, but no, not possible. She will quickly become dependent on you to hold her until she's nearly asleep. Independent sleep means falling asleep on their own with no help from anything or anyone. You'll be trading one prop for another if you go that route. I would suggest going forward with PU/PD.

Also wanted to ask what to do when they can crawl and stand in their cots?  When I put her in even when she was fast asleep often the first thing she will do is roll over, sit up, and then pull up to stand against the rails...

At that point you want to just PD as opposed to PU/PD. It's not a very fun phase, but we all go through it 

[babyshamble]

ok, so aim for her to be relaxed but still eyes wide open when I put her in.  and then if she stands up just ride it out and sit next to her until she is tired enough to lie down, and then if she cries once lying down then pu/pd? 

I have set up my little fold out mattress next to her cot, and am going to sleep at 8.30pm as last night she ended up in our bed again because i was too tired.  any tips on how to stay up during all of this?  Should I try to sleep when she is in bed or wait a certain amount of time until it's safe to sleep?

[Colin Macs Mom]

ok, so aim for her to be relaxed but still eyes wide open when I put her in.  and then if she stands up just ride it out and sit next to her until she is tired enough to lie down, and then if she cries once lying down then pu/pd? 

Yep. But before PU/PD try soothing her by patting or something like that.

I have set up my little fold out mattress next to her cot, and am going to sleep at 8.30pm as last night she ended up in our bed again because i was too tired.  any tips on how to stay up during all of this?  Should I try to sleep when she is in bed or wait a certain amount of time until it's safe to sleep?

Just sleep every single chance you get!!! 

[babyshamble]

last night i geared myself up for having a 10pm-3am sleep but my girl surprised me and woke instead at 12.30am!  she was settled fairly quickly, i gave her bonjella for her teeth and her dummy and patted her and she fell back asleep.  i then settled on the fold out matress expecting to be woken in the next hour and to my surprise she slept until 5.30am!  she refused to go back to sleep, unfortunately, and seemed very happy to be awake after an hour of trying to get her to sleep.  so i figured 6.30am was ok to wake up.  does this seem like she 'won' in the battle of trying to stay awake at 5.30am?

i am again expecting to wake up at 3am as this gives me the hope that i may have at least 5 hours sleep.  i am really pleased with how things went last night, mainly because i didn't think i could have the stamina to get up even twice and stay up longer than 10 minutes.  i am pretty worried about how things will go if Eden is really unsettled as I don't think i am very good with pu/pd.  is it normal for them to scream and scream?  When I did it this morning that's what happened, until at 6.30am i gave in and let her be awake.  if she doesn't stop crying do i just pd still or wait until she stops to pd?

[Colin Macs Mom]

I'm definitely not a PU/PD expert since it never worked even for a second with my little darling. You might post separately on the PU/PD board and see how it goes for other folks. Sorry I can't be of more help there 

That's great that she slept until 5:30    I don't think anyone won or lost - progress is progress.

[babyshamble]

whoa - ok, that makes me feel a little bit better, believe it or not...  So, why do you think that pu/pd doesn't work for some babies?  And how do i know if it does, or do i have to wait the 2 weeks to find out?  Sorry to bombard you with questions, but then what did work for you?

I've been so torn with wanting to make the 'right' decision with Eden - I just don't want to let her down or not do the best that i can, but i have found myself trying to make a choice based on all the other options being 'wrong' which isn't the right attitude as I have a friend on either extremes who I wouldn't want to offend.  Anyway, i am rambling because of sleep deprivation!

Last night was pretty terrible, i ended up getting quite frustrated and had a bit of a one-sided argument with Eden thinking that if I just say it enough time she might actually 'Go To Sleep!'.  She was up again at about 12.30am and settled quickly.  THen she was up at 2.30am and with some patting went to sleep, but as soon as the patting stopped (even if i waited about 5 minutes after she seemed sound asleep) she was pushing up and crying.  at about 4am i gave up, tried lying next to the cot while she screamed but it was too much, so i took her onto my mattress.  Even then she wouldn't settle, took a full feed and still wouldn't settle. 

I thought maybe it was her tummy as she had quite a bit of food yesterday (including tofu and strawberries).  She's not teething at the moment.  She was then awake and ready to go at 6.50am.

I am looking at the pu/pd forum now, and I am not feeling like giving up, amazingly because I tend to give up quite easily when things don't come easily.  But, i am getting pretty tired.  And in my gut I just don't feel like the level of screaming is 'right', i wish that bw came with consultants that did home visits!