dropping a feeding at night

[ahen38]

Hi, We are having problems getting our LO to sleep "through the night."  She is 8 1/2 months old and she is still waking a few times.  We have been trying to shhh her through her middle of the night wakings, which sometimes takes hours.  Here is the schedule we were on, and the one we seem to be on now:
Old schedule:
Put down to bed at about 7:30
 wake at 11 or so to BF
Up again at 3 to BF (trying to drop this one)
then slept til around 7:30

New schedule:
Bed 7:30
BF at 12 or so (thinking a later feeding might get her to go longer...we shhh her if she wants to eat before 11:30 or 12)
wakes around 2:30-3:30, but we shhh her
5:30 BF, but she almost never goes back to sleep (this is too early for both of us!)

Any thoughts on our schedule and how we should go about getting her on an a better routine (ie waking up less and getting up later...what a dream!)

She is crawling, pulling herself up on everything and teething, so I realize those all play into how well she sleeps.  We all need more sleep though!  Thanks

[momofclaire]

Hi- Can you post your daytime sch as well?  I think feeding her later (12) is probably doing more harm then good because you are trying to put her to sleep with the patting and then feeding her.  Does she go to sleep independently?  Have you started solids?

[FionaS]

Hi There.  

There are a few things that jump out that could be causing some probs but I need some more info first:
1.  What is your daytime routine (feeds, naps, solids etc)
2.  Do you wake her for the 11pm / 12pm feed or does she wake herself?  If you wake her this will be disrupting her sleep cycles and causing problems in the night.  If she wakes herself, is it at the time you used to do a dream feed?  If yes, when did you stop the dreamfeed?
3.  Has she ever resettled without a feed in the night?

I suspect she is used to being fed in the night when she wakes and hence expects it (and protests if it doesn't happen).  Once we have answers to the above question we'll be more able to help point you in the right direction.

[ahen38]

Uh oh, sounds like we may be making things more messy with trying to adjust her routine!  Her day varies a bit, depending on how long she sleeps.  In the last few days we have started longer activity times too, just to make things more complicated!  3 hours is the max, except the last time period before bed.

Like I said, she was waking at about 7:30 am and then we were on the four hour EASY, with awake times of 2.25-3 hours, depending on the day and time of day.  She doesn't usually take the third nap anymore, although with really early am wakings it may have to happen more often.  SHe naps between 1-2 hours typically, but sometimes they are 30-45 minutes.  She plays happily all day and eats well (3 meals of solids and BF).  We put her down for the night at 7:30. 

Maybe she is just not needing as much sleep now, and is therefore waking up earlier?  Hmmm

I let her wake me up when she wants to eat, between 11:30-1.  I tried the DF several times (yeah, I know I probably should have kept trying...) and she had a really tough time staying awake.  I felt like she didn't get much and so would feed her later anyway!  If I woke her up more thoroughly, she was hard to get back to sleep.  Do you think it is bad to shhh her if she wakes before 11:30/12 to eat?  I was just trying to get her used to going for a little longer at a time between feedings.  I feel like we are all screwed up!

Yes, she does resettle during the night on her own.  She isn't completely independently going to sleep...but we do try to put her down before she is totally asleep.  We do a winddown, hum a song (While holding her, I have to admit...) and then put her down.  SHe is a major finger sucker, and that seems to soothe her whenever she is trying to get to sleep.  Thoughts??  Thanks for your help!

[momofclaire]

At 8.5 months she probably won't take a third nap.  Most babies that age take 2 1.5 hour naps.  It is important for her to get about 3 (maybe a bit more) hours of daytime sleep or she will become overtired which will cause nw and early waking.  At her age she probably doesn't need those night feeds.  I certainly wouldn't try a df as Tracy believed that after about 7 months it interfered with sleep more than it helped.  I would first make sure she is getting enough day sleep and try to bump up her calories just a bit during the day and then stop feeding at night as she is probably needing it to get back to sleep.