daytime naps/nighttime sleeping at 6 months old

[motherpeculiar]

have posted previously about DD2's "routine' going out the window about two weeks ago. Up until then she had been napping well during the day and sleeping well at night (with a few feeds at night but I was coping) Then it all went ballistic and she was awake a lot at night, also in evening from being put down until we went to bed with the result that her naps went a bit crazy too. She used to self settle really well in her cot but hasn't done that for about two weeks either. Yesterday took the biscuit - she had one nap of about 50 mins and that was it, ALL DAY! It was in her buggy too, we'd tried to get her to sleep in her cot but to no avail. She is also awake lots now, during the night and evening. I've read so many threads about things going a bit haywire around this time and I think she may be teething but I thought it might have sorted itself out by now...

is it normal for an almost 6 month old to get by with so little sleep? (she sleeps about 11hrs in stops and starts at night) she is in great form, but looks a bit peaky and tired to me. And her mum and dad are DEFINITELY peaky and tired (and talking of divorce, but we are hoping that is just the sleep deprivation doing its evil thing)

MP - bear in mind that I started weaning at 4 months. She's been on protein since 5 months. I know a lot of mum's are very adamant about only introducing solids at 6 months, but I felt that DD was ready for it and were I am (in South Africa), it's quite normal. Wrong or right, I don't know. All I do know is that I have a baby who loves her food, is flourishing AND sleeps well at night. Whether that's just down to luck of the draw, I don't know.

OMG Jambot, that's more than I eat What a superstar eater she is, lucky old you

wow Jambot - what a great little eater (And sleeper) you have there. Thanks so much for posting in that level of detail, at least it gives me something to aim for

funnily enough, I bought a little rabbit blankie thing in the chemist today (actually supposed to be for cleaning their teeth but it looked good for sucking to me) and noticed that DD was VERY interested in the label so I was just thinking about those label blankies. I saw them last time around with DD1 but she was never interested in either blankies nor labels/tags (strange girl - still is ). Perhaps I'll get one of those, I remember they looked really nice.

ANyway, after her bath tonight DD2 got a bit fractious (amazingly it is her only real fractious spell generally). I bf her as usual and she popped into bed and off to sleep like a dream. I put an extra layer on her as it is getting chilly here in London. Will wait now and see if/when the trouble starts...

thanks again guys - it is so good to share the benefit of your experiences/perspectives

Hey,that's a thought - sure she's not been cold at night? Know it doesn't account for her poor napping, but you know often bad nights affect napping negatively.
I know it sounds like a lot of food, but DD's the average height and weight of a 10 month old, so she's eating accordingly! She's very tall and amazingly with all this food, she's not even a podger - just nicely filled out. Not worried about the amount of food as I've seen that she only eats what she wants. Some days she'll not even eat half and won't open her mouth again for love or money. Other days she's like a little baby bird with a ever opening mouth. Says MMmm or Aaaa after a mouth full of food she likes - very cute. Sorry to hijack this thread - it's not supposed to be about MY dd!

it's nice to hear about your DD tho' jambot

and it also has a very reassuring effect on me

So, how did you get on last night MP?

We seem to be back to normal on the daytime naps and he is going down quite happily again in his cot twice a day and settles himself. He is also settling himself at bedtime again and seems to have stopped waking and crying out 2-3 times before I go to bed myself (he started doing this about three weeks ago)

Unfortunately for the second time this week, he woke at 2.30am and I just couldn't get him back to sleep - not full scale crying just whinging but loud enough to keep me awake. So after an hour, I gave up and fed him, he took a 4oz bottle in about 5 minutes flat and went straight back to sleep until 6.30am. He then had another 8oz bottle which he wolfed down and porridge half an hour later so I'm now utterly convinced he's started waking again in the night due to hunger.

Yesterday he had meat for the first time and although he wasn't overly impressed (to say the least) I'm going to persevere with this. In a book I was reading (one of many I now own and spend my life devouring) it said 'All babies are born with a natural store of iron but by the time they are six months most of it will have been used up so it is important to include iron-rich foods in their diet' Spent yesterday afternoon cooking all sorts of different chicken dishes and foods with cheese sauces so we'll see how that goes.

If there's no improvement after a week, I'm going to sell him on Ebay

Are you putting a reserve on him Busy, or will you just take the highest bidder, no matter the price?

Hi guys

BusyW - would you consider a swap ?

sorry to hear your DS is acting up at night. I hope you get him sorted with the extra grub.

last night was another disaster for us [wry grin but really close to tears emoticon], DD2 went down ok but was up again screaming by 9, nothing would soothe her, not even feeding . we were just going to bed, taking her with us, at about 12 when DD1 awoke with a raucous cough (has been threathening for days) and feeling really unwell. SO she hopped in with me and DH and DD2 went off to wander the house. DH managed to get DD2 off to sleep on his shoulder but she woke again at 2am, he kindly decided not to wake me and managed to get 1oz formula down her, she promptly fell asleep until 5am when he got her to drink another 1oz formula but she refused to go to sleep aftr that so they ended up in the living room watching early morning news. Which is where I found them, DH comatose on teh sofa, DD2 looking like she was ready to fill me in on world events!

This moning I fed her and then we managed to lull her to sleep and get her in her cot for an hour from 9.30 to 10.30. Fed her again about 12 and gave her some baby rice. SHe was exhausted but screamed blue murder every time I put her in teh cot. SHe finally feel asleep in her rocker about 2 and slept until 3.30ish. Was quite cranky when she woke up. BEtween 3.30 and bedtime I fed her 4 times, trying to crank uo the volume for tonight. Included 2oz of ebm. Didn't give any more solids as a bit close to bedtime I thought. Gave her bath a bit earlier than normal, in case she is overtired (hah!) going down and gave her a nice massage before bed too. SHe had a good feed and pretty much fell asleep on my shoulder as I was burping her. Went down without a fuss at about 6.50pm. Am waiting with bated breath to see what happens next.

Funny, I was saying to DH that it feels like having a newborn again, which funnily enough we never REALLY felt this time around with DD2 as she was so much a textbook baby, easy to get off to sleep. Please don't tell me we were given a good 'un and have ruined her somehow...

Now off to settle sick DD1, poor mite.

I am getting REALLY clumsy now with the tiredness.

DH is like a zombie.

It's a phase, please let it be a phase....

Try Ashton & Parsons teeting powders - really - she could be teething - but even if she isn't they seems to calm my ds down almost immediately. they are homeopathic so you are not drugging her and if they work then you know its teeth!

suss, thanks again - I got some in the chemist yesterday and tried last night - they didn't seem to make much difference but i wondered whether that was cos I was giving them to her when she was already upset. So tonight I gave her one while she was nice and calm after her bath and massage, she seemed to like licking it. MAybe this will make a difference. WIll give her another in the morning (just as it says on the box, funny I didn't notice that last night in my panic)

should have mentioned the powders in my rambling and mind numbingly boring account of all that I did tonight, for completeness at least

Thanks

Morning MP . I am sending you happy vibes today in an attempt to cheer you up a bit. I know it will probably take more like a lottery win to do that at the moment but I like to do my bit. It's a phase, it's a phase, it's a phase

Went to Boots yesterday to get some Ashton and Parsons like you and also got some Anbesol which another MN'er recommended. It's a liquid which you put on their gums and it is antiseptic so numbs them. Apparently, it's great so I'll give it a go for a few days and will report back. Didn't work last night as DS went down no problem at 7.00pm but woke up at 10.30pm just as I was going to bed. Unfortunately he decided he wanted to get up and screamed blue murder everytime I put him in his cot. Would have thought he was ill except everytime I picked him up, he stopped crying and started laughing Eventually got him off to sleep after an hour and he slept through until 5.45, had a feed, back in his cot but decided after half an hour everyone in the house had to get up !!

I'm still persevering with the food and yesterday he had shepherds pie, carrot and swede for lunch which he seemed to quite like and cauliflower cheese for tea, which he loved. Can't imagine why as it looked spookily similar to wallpaper paste to me

I mentioned this once before but please come and join us on the March 2005 post natal thread. You know Jambot and I now and Pidge says she's met you are you're lovely. We're all in the same boat with non-sleeping babies (except Jambot ) so if nothing else, you'll get a sympathetic ear and lots and lots of support. You sound like you're a great mummy who's just having a bit of a hard time at the moment so let us help you through this difficult patch until your angel returns

Have a good day and hope DD1 feels better soon

Hi Busy - thanks for all the + vibes

we had a MUCH better night last night, for whatever reason. DD2 went down as reported about 7, slept through til 2am, had a bf, slept again until 5. DH stepped in then and gave her a bottle, she just took 1oz and didn't want to go back to sleep but he managed to settle her (in front of tv again, here comes another battle methinks!) and she went back to sleep until 8. Then he gave her another 1oz formula and I got up and breastfed her about 9am (had had DD1 in bed with me with her poor sore throat from about 5 - I swear, it is musical beds in our place these nights!)

have given her a fair bit of baby rice with ebm today, with which she is thrilled. Also a taste of peas which she found a bit too shocking I think.

Did spend pretty much all of this morning trying to get her to nap in her cot, to no avail. She slept for the sum total of 10 mins since 8am. Then at about 3pm, just when I had given it up as a bad deal and had her in her rocker chair while I tidied the kitchen I noticed she was staring blankly into space, grabbed her up, sprinted upstairs, sang the world's fastest verion of TWinkle twinkle (taking Jambots advoce am trying to get her used to a song at winddown time), bundled her into her grobag and ran from the room. She yelped once or twice and now, silence. I am waiting with trepidation but fingers crossed.

I managed to express quite a bit of milk this am so will give her a bottle of ebm again this evening about 5ish, just in case it was that that helped last night.

Your food for DS sounds lovely. I am now looking forward to getting to that stage with DD2 (hoping she'll be a better eater than DD1 but that's another story). Sorry to hear he was up and at it last night, just when you think you've got them sussed eh?

Thanks for the invite - I may well come join you on the march thread - DD2 was actually born in early april, although her due date was 31 march. I do hang out on the april thread sometimes, although I don't seem to have had much time of late (all this yo-yoing up and down from DDs room)

thanks again for your messages of support, you are a real star.

aaargh - she is crying already.

Oh Dear, but at least it was an improvement. Fingers crossed.
Try her on sweet potato. That was dd's first veggie and they normally love it as it is quite sweet and you don't have to puree it, just mash like potato. I normally add some water or formula to it as otherwise it's a bit stodgy. DD is getting her first taste of fish tonight. As DH is an avid fish hater, we'll see what she thinks.

I would probably have done the same as your daughter when given peas I loathe them with a passion. My mum used to make me sit at the dinner table until I'd eaten all the peas on my plate. Used to hide them in the yoghurt that was waiting for pudding and then pretend I was so full from eating the peas and wasn't wanting pudd! She eventually gave up and to this day won't touch the horrid little squishy things Same with Brussel Sprouts. YUK YUK YUK!

your baby sleeps more than mine! My daughte hardly naps in the day, ans sleeps from 11.30-6 am with waking up once for her dummy/cuddle etc.

Hey MP, what a superb night - 7 till 2, a feed and then onto 5. That's more sleep than I've had in ages !!! Don't worry about the early morning starts (that's where we are at the moment), you can cross that bridge when you've got less to worry about

I laughed out loud at the picture of you wizzing through twinkle, twinkle. My DS (Harrison) has a music box on the side of his cot and that plays twinkle, twinkle and has a soft light. I put it on when I feed him at night in his room and leave it on softly as he settles himself (it goes off after about 10 minutes). I also then put it on when he goes down for his morning and lunchtime naps and it's a sort of cue that it's time to go to sleep. The daytime naps will come again, you've just got to concentrate on one thing at a time. But if she carries on with the good nights, you'll have more energy to work on this during the day.

On the food front, Harrison really liked swede and courgette both mixed with baby rice. He didn't like peas either and to this day DD won't eat them, not even at school and they cook much nicer food than me, she reliably informs me

Hope DD1 is feeling better and have a good weekend

Guys,

it's much better now. We seem to have refound her groove somehow and yesterday she went down for two naps in her cot with a minimum of fussing, slept an hour in the am and 45mins pm. Still nothing compared to Jambot's DD but much, much better DH gave her a dreamfeed at 11.45ish last two nights and she has gone through from that until about 5ish each night. Divorce is no longer on the cards as we are no longer so sleep deprived .

I think th eroots ofthe problem were twofold - I think she has been having teething pain which may have subsided now, but I also think she was suffering from plain old no bones about it, starvation! Poor mite. She is on two large bowls of baby rice a day now (yeuch!) and I'm supplementing my breastfeeding with two bottles of formula also. She takes about 6oz formula now twice a day (as we tank her up towards evening when my supply is less). This has in no way dented her enthusiasm for bf'ing so she was obviously just really hungry. We've been keeping a big chart stuck to the kitchen wall which has helped tracing eating/sleeping patterns too, and helped me to have an inkling of when she might need to be put down for naps etc.

Thanks so much to all of you who got me through this trying period, especially Jambot and BusyWizzy - you have no idea how helpful it has been to read your accounts of your babies regular patterns, and just to know someone cared that I was at my wits end.

Today is the first day with the nanny again since things got better so I hope we don't backtrack with someone else in charge.

Fingers crossed!

p.s. I LOVE peas, can't understand her reaction at all, I'll end up like Jambots mum I bet

Hooray, hooray, hooray

Amazing how one day it seems like nothing is ever going to be OK ever again and the next ........ magic, it's all fixed.

So very happy for you MP and glad to see you on the March thread. Hope you keep in touch Love your DD's name