Hi, my DD is 7 months old and from about 6 weeks was sleeping 7pm- 7.30am with a dream feed at 11pm. She HAS to have the 11pm feed as she has medication which has to be given with a feed and at certain intervals, so dropping this feed isn't an option.
Daily routine is: formula at 7.30am. She won't entertain any solids at this time of day, just spits it out and screams.
Mid morning, snack of fruit or something. Midday toast and something like a bolognese. formula at 1pm, then sleep till 2pm. snack at 3.30pm. then formula at 5pm. at 7pm she'll have a full meal, with pudding. She then has routine and bedtime at 8pm.
At each bottle feed she takes about 4 - 5 oz.
She sleeps in my arms between then and dreamfeed as I can't put her in her cot because she just wakes up, refuses to go back to sleep (I've tried leaving her, to no avail) and wakes my other children up. She will only sleep in her cot if I'm in the bed next to her :/ (I know this needs tackling but I'm so exhausted at the moment that 8pm - 11pm is the only peace I get).
Because of her medication she also had to sleep on her side when she was tiny, so we used a sleep positioner. Recently shes learnt to sit up in her cot, so we had to take away the positioner, meaning she's now 'loose' in her cot (she wears a grobag at night), and as such on her back. She hates being on her back :( but I can't seem to safely prop her on her side.
Suddenly she's waking at 3am. And nothing will make her go back sleep. She's not hungry, or cold or hot. She's just wide awake. Wants to get up and play.
Someone talk sense into me here please - but be kind. I'm flat out exhausted, my other kids are exhausted, and DH is walking round like a zombie.
My other kids slept through, not just through a feed, but full on bedtime - 8am sleeping through. So I'm a virgin when it comes to tricky nights!