6 month old multiple and extended night wakings

[Felicity17]

Hi,

This is my first post on here so please bear with me. I have a 6 month ( + 1 week) old little boy who was born 4 weeks early (36 weeks). He has always been a pretty terrible sleeper and there is just so much information out there I am at a loss at what to do? I have outlined his routine below, if anyone could have a look at it and let me know what I could tweak, that would be great.

At the moment he wakes at about 11 for a feed and then again at about 3...that I can handle, but often he is awake for long periods of time at night wanting to 'play' and some nights he wakes hourly from 10....I still only feed him twice, and use the pacifier to settle at other times (which may well be the problem)....anyway...

His routine is (we have been doing solids for 3 weeks now...only started 3 meals a day a few days ago)...

E - 7.00 Wake and breastfeed /Solids at 7.45/8
A - 1.5 hours
S - 8.30
Y - 1.5 hours (usually...occasionally wakes after 45 mins / if this is the case everything moves back and he is awake slightly longer before bedtime)

E - 11.00 Breastfeed
A - 1.45 hours
S - 11.45
Y - 45 minute catnap before lunch

E - Solids at 12.30 + short breastfeed
A - 1.45 hours
S - 2.15
Y - usually out and about here so naps in buggy - 45 mins

E - 3.00 Breastfeed
A - 2 hours
S - 5
Y - 20-30 minute catnap

E - Solids at 5.30 + short breastfeed
A - Bedtime routine - bath / massage / story and bottle of formula
S - 7.00pm

His awake times also fluctuate between 1.45 and 2 hours but always include settling time for naps....he goes down fairly easily with the dummy!

Any ideas on what I could do to prevent multiple and extended night wakings a would be great. (Deep down I know it is the 'self- settling' problem, but thought I would ask all the same).

Thanks!

That's quite a few naps for a 6 month old.

I've just gone through this with DS and he was waking pretty much every hr at night having previously slept through from 5.5 months to about 4 nights ago when he decided he was going to stop (7.5 months).

At about 6 months I read something about the 2-3-4 theory which basically means their first nap is 2 hrs after they are up for the day, next one is 3 hrs after they wake from that and then 4hrs after they wake from that is bed, so two naps (though some babies may need a catnap in the 4 hrs)

This seemed to work really well for naps as he was a nightmare to get down and I think it was just that he didn't need as much. It didn't change night much though and I think it's been all down to teething. He's had 6 come through in this rubbish sleeping period and the eye teeth which are meant to be the worst have popped through last week and he's so much better since.

Your feeding/bedtime schedule is similar to mine though the last week he has decided he doesn't want the mid morning bottle so have brought breakfast forward to 8.30/8.45.

I questioned if it was the self settling thing and or waking for the dummy. I do think it was teeth but we are back to feeding to sleep because controlled crying is the only thing that works for DS in terms of sleep training and every time we try it, he starts off well and then we spot teeth, and apparently you shouldn't do cc during teeth. He does settle himself in between naps and overnight and i put him in his cot straight after his feed and he just rolls on his side and goes to sleep. So I'm carrying on with this till we have a teeth free gap!

Sorry I'm rambling but I hope some of that might be useful.

Any signs of teeth? And is he rolling? I found that disturbed his sleep too.

I agree with Lisaloulou above, if your DS is catnapping through the day - he may get the idea that this is okay at night. I'd drop to 2 naps (one around 8.30-9am) next one 12.30pm-3pm roughly. The he should get better at sleeping longer.
My DD was terrible at settling. But I use acupressure to help her drop off easily in the night also, a cup of strong chamomile tea really helped her chill out - you can also use homeopathic teething granules in the night to calm and soothe if teething (or if just awake). Here's my blog post on acupressure point for better sleep if you're interested - mydaughterwontsleep.com/2013/12/27/the-sleep-inducing-power-of-acupressure/ Good luck

I know what you mean on the nap front, but if I push him any longer he has an absolute melt down! He goes down really easily for naps at the moment, but we are working on extending the first 3 awake times by 15 mins to try and drop the last nap?! If he misses the last nap now though, he is cranky at bed time and then basically falls asleep in the middle of our bedtime routine...he almost fell asleep in the bath the other night.

Teeth, possibly, but no consistent signs yet! He is doing a lot of rolling, but like your LO usually just onto his side where he sleeps! Also, as you say, doesn't seem to matter what I do in the daytime, it has very little effect on his night wakings! Ahhhh...swings and round a bouts I guess:)

Will investigate the acupressure - sounds interesting!
Thanks