6 month old - worsening nap & sleep issues!

[amri]

Hi all,

My 6 month old has never been a good napper, but now we're at our wits end with her sleep which just seems to get worse as the weeks go by

She is a chronic 45 minute napper unless I'm out walking her in the buggy or driving. She usually wakes for the day at 7 (though she is starting to wake at 6 am this week!) - then goes for her first nap at 9 for 45 mins (I usually have to feed her to sleep). If she has her afternoon nap in her cot she will wake at 45 mins and not go down again, and will be so cranky, I'll have to take her out in the buggy less than an hour later for the second part of her nap! I try to take her out around 5pm for a 30 min cat nap so we can get to her bedtime at 7pm without too much fuss. How do I help her extend her afternoon nap?

Her wake times are only around 2 hours, or 2.15 before she shows serious signs of tiredness, except in the afternoon when she has had the short nap!

Also her night sleeping is worsening too, she used to do 12 hours straight up until week 19, when she started waking for feeds - now we're doing up to 4 breastfeeds at night! She has a great bedtime routine with a bath and bottle, and will go into her cot awake, but she will often wake at 11pm, 2am, 4am and 6am for feeds! It's impossible to get her back down after a 5.30 or 6am feed as it's so close to her wake time.

There are so many issues here I just don't know where to start, so I end up doing nothing and having less and less sleep and a crankier baby

Some advice would be most welcome. Thanks so much!

Just wanted to say my 6 month old is exactly the same!! Apart from terrible at night and the most he's ever done is 6 hours - once - on Xmas eve!!

He is also a 45 min napper! The no cry sleep solution says to go into room 5 mins before they usually wake (so 40 mins) and settle them as soon as they stir, she seems to think if you do this for a week then naps will be extended? I'm yet to try this properly as have another very noisy DC who will follow me upstairs! But I am going to have a go this week whilst she's at nursery! We try getting DS back off a lunchtime nap but once he's woken there's no chance! X

My DD is 6 months and the same. She has silent reflux. For the first 3 months it was just feeding that was affected but since Jan she hasn't slept well at all. I can get more than 45 minutes if she is moving or we are co-sleeping but that's it.

I had the same issue at night until I relented and hold her to sleep during the day. We follow 2,3,4 - so 2 hours after wake up in morning a bottle sends her to sleep. If I hold her she will sleep for 1.5/2 hours - if I put her in cot 30 mins. As I only have 1 and nothing urgent to do I have just accepted holding her while she sleeps, cuddles are good and she is so much happier for a longer sleep. 3 hours after that sleep we do the same though make take 5 mins quiet time singing to knock her out - again I hold her and she sleeps for 1.5 hours. Then in her cot 4 hours later and she sleeps through until 7. I honestly think the day time sleep contributes to night time, and while people say don't feed them to sleep, don't rock them to sleep and certainly don't hold them while they sleep it works for us.

Hope it gets better soon, sleep makes the world go round

My 9 month old DS was the same at 6 months (actually from birth to 6 months!) then started napping longer by himself at around 7.5 months. Nothing I did made any difference. Still have no idea why he started napping for longer but I'm not going to complain! So maybe she'll start doing by herself soon enough.

I'm the same with my 7 mo dd except she will only nap 30 mins regardless if she in the car or pram. At exactly 30 mins her eyes ping wide awake. :-(

Amri, I could have written your post about my 6 month old DD2. Except we've never had the 12 hr sleeping through
I'm hoping she'll grow out of it soon...

Ds is the same just coming up to 7 mo's but has never slept more than 7 hrs straight at night. Infact this time last week we had 2 nights of hourly night time waking. His daytime sleep doesn't really affect night time although I used to believe it did. But weve had good nights where he as had one hour in the day and bad nights where e has managed at least two long naps.The clever monkey also knows the start of his bedtime/nap routine and will start crying as soon as he realises what's in store! He often naps on me, occasionally in the buggy but really is very variable I can walk for miles some days with no result. The cot rarely works in the daytime. Yesterday he a managed one 2hr nap on his daddy's coat in the living room being resettled whenever he stirred. He is currently napping on me after being fed to sleep after over an hour of trying. Some days I feel like I just spend all day trying to get him to nap:-(

Amri - I went in at 40 mins yesterday just before he woke & managed to get him back off to sleep quick and he did another hour - longest nap yet! Will try it again today! X

Great news Babybees!

Thanks for all your replies. Reassuring to know we're not alone, though sorry you are going through it too :(

We have made a bit of a breakthrough it seems. My daughter must have known I was talking about her, LOL! The last two nights, we have been following the rule that we will only feed her if she wakes up at least 3 hours after her last feed (since she does that during the day), and we will only do so if she is giving out/whinging for at least 15 mins (not leaving her to get distressed of course). Turns out that 4 times out of 5, she actually settled herself back to sleep, whereas previously I would have picked her up and fed her straight away. We only had two feeds 2 nights ago, and then 1 feed at 4.30 last night!!! Result!

Even better, although she was awake in the cot from about 6am, we didn't feed her til 7, or put her down for a nap until 9am (following the 2 hour rule) - and this morning for the first time EVER, she napped for 1.5 hours in her cot!! OMG! I was so shocked! I don't know what has changed. It may have been a once off, but at least I know she can do it :)

Curious to know what tonight will bring. Oh I found the below PDF somewhere online (here perhaps?), it has some good guidelines, hope it helps some of you.

docs.google.com/file/d/0ByKyMc6ey7PQNUxxdUQ3a3EteHM/edit?usp=sharing

I have similar- 30 minute naps during the day, no longer. Forgive me if I'm being stupid, but as my dd always wakes up happy and wide awake and ready to play, I've always assumed that she's had enough sleep and 30 minutes is a full nap. Is it really so awful?

I've just posted a similar thread to yours. Just to say I know how you feel and so glad things seem to be improving for you.

Just about to take a look at your PDF...

Londonmrss, my dd is the same, awake at 30 minutes and smiling and ready for fun. She does get tired again quickly. Last few days I have let her sleep on me and if I do some serious rocking at the crucial 39 minute time, she sleeps for an hour, and is even happier and smiling on waking up. It makes our day better if she had fewer longer naps. If your dc is ok with 30 minute naps though, leave things as they are

OP I am going to try leaving me dd a bit longer at night as I bf as soon as she wakes. Do you pick your dc up or just stroke within the cot before you decide if they are hungry?

Hi all - I posted earlier on this thread as my 6mo is very similar to OPs baby but mostly won't go down for naps easily and wakes early and also fights bedtime. I was so glad to hear you think things are improving OP and I just wanted to update- as i think we've (possibly) had a bit of a breakthrough - in case it's helpful to others who are on or find this post. Hope this doesn't seem like a hijack but I know how desperate this can make you feel so thought it might be worth adding.

LO has reflux and has been a terrible sleeper from day 1 and has never self-settled. Last night in the middle of another 3 hour bedtime battle I started googling as I was contemplating doing CIO (which has never sat well with me but desperate times)..

Alongside CIO i found the "settle and leave" technique. So I steeled myself ready for a long haul and decided to give it a go. It took about 40 minutes but IT WORKED!! Furthermore she slept her first ever 12 hour stint. So today nap 1 was in the pram about 45 mins but nap 2 she went down easily after her 5 min pre nap quiet cuddle but then woke after 30 mins (my heart sank!) She still hadn't resettled herself after 10 mins so I tried settle and leave again and it worked after 2 attempts... I never believed something like this would work so quickly for a sleeper as bad as mine but it did. I just wanted to share in case this info helps anyone who finds this thread or somebody already on here. Also to add, rather than pick her up to settle unless she is v upset (which she never really was) I have been replacing dummy then rubbing her tummy saying "sleepy time now" I think perhaps this causes less disruption than picking up. Sorry I can't post link as on a phone but it was possibly on mumsnet main site but was certainly first or second hit in google for CIO/SAL.

If for any reason anyone wants to ask any further info on what I did etc please always feel free to PM me. Obv still early days but fingers crossed!!

That's great helsybells! Will look up that technique, thanks a mil for the update