Sleep help, absolutely desperate

[Daisy95]

My 6 month old will not sleep in the evenings, I put her down at 7.30 for her bedtime she goes to sleep happily but will wake at 8.30ish treating it asif it was a nap. Wide awake ready to play, she’ll then just scream and scream (even if I’m holding her/let her play/ leave her in her cot) until she finally gives in at 10:30.
I have no idea what to do, ive tried everything.

I’m really struggling, i just need some time to be an adult in the evening. Any advice?!

Maybe 7.30pm is just too early for her at this age? DS didn’t go to bed before 9pm until he was 8 months old when he magically started going down at 7pm. I didn’t change anything, he just decided. My 5-month old currently goes to bed at 8.30pm.

Patience is the key.
Children at this age are still learning how to regulate their sleep,well at any age tbh.If he is not overly tired ,I will move his bedtime to later time.
Don't want to shock you but my 4 year old is like this sometimes.She is absolutely knackered and is asking to go to bed at 6.30 pm just to wake up 2 hours later and stays awake until I'm ready for bed around 10pm.
Yes,it is frustrating as sometimes even the simple things like relaxing bath in the evenig is just impossible (especially when you planning it for a while) but I just resign to the fact that I just need to suck it for a while until it will pass.

Okay thank you, I’ll try a later bedtime tonight. I didn’t even think of that.
I know it’s part of it, I think it’s harder with not being able to do anything with lockdown, feel like I have no time alone 😂🙈

Oh it’s so hard, having no adult time right now. But as @3JsMa says, it will pass. And I can’t wait!

I’m definitely with you! Can’t wait! ☺️Thank you for your help

All you can do is experiment.

I didn't set a particular bedtime at that age, or not an early one anyway. I was bottle feeding mine so they would be bathed maybe between 8 and 9 pm, then have a bottle. Then they would be ready to go down.

7.30 is an ideal to aim for, but at this stage may just still be too early.

How many naps is she having and how long for? What time does the last nap end?

@Vicky1989x
She wakes at between 7.30-8 and then has 3 naps a day.
Around 10ish for an hour
Then around 1.30 for about an hour- 90mins
Then around 4-4.30 but and only manages about 30 mins then. The last nap normally ends around 5ish

Sorry that might sound waffly x

@Daisy95 it makes sense! My baby was doing similar naps and I was struggling to get her down at night too so I transitioned her to 2 naps a day at 7 months. I think that the last nap is what is causing the problems at bedtime. My baby had her last nap ending at 5pm but I think it’s too late to then get her down for 7:30.

@Vicky1989x
Oh really? Maybe that’s worth a go too. Did she manage to go through till 7 okay?
X

Her last nap is ending too late in my opinion. Can you rejig the nap schedule so her last sleep ends no later than 3.3, then aim for 7.00pm bedtime?

Might be ready for the 2-3-4 approach? I’d test dropping the last nap.

I've read that waking an hour after bedtime is a big sign that the baby is ready to drop the afternoon nap. I agree try dropping it but rejigging the lunch nap to end a bit later so the baby isn't having to stay awake for too long.

Also we still use a white noise equivalent all night, and I found it's made a big difference. It's called baby sleep shh by Little Ones, free on YouTube. I play it on a loop all night and it really helps them sleep longer between wakes.

Good luck!

@Daisy95 my baby’s night sleep isn’t great anyway but she has 2 naps of 1.5 hours (2nd nap ends no later than 4pm) and sleeps from 7/7:30pm until about 6:30am.

Thank you all for your advice, will definitely try dropping her last nap & having a rejig of schedule 😊
I’ll have a look at baby sleep shh aswell. We do play white noise but I don’t think it’s working too well.

Definitely get rid of the last nap, it's too close to bedtime.

Move nap 1 to 10.15 or 10.30
Move nap 2 to 2.30
cut nap 3.

I did a sleep course with Blossom antenatal -it was amazing

I found I needed at least 3 hours after the last nap for bedtime to happen without a problem.

Just wanted to thank you all, I managed to cut her last nap and she went to sleep easily and is still asleep ( fingers crossed🤞). It’s been so nice just to have two hours to unwind, so I’m extremely grateful!! X

Great news OP! Hope you had an undisturbed night