'routine' for a 6 month old

[gingerninja]

My DD has got herself into something like a routine and I wondered what others are doing with 6 monthers.

Wakes at about 6.30
Nap at 9.30 - 10.00
Again at about 12 - 12.30
Nap at 2 - 3.30
Bed at 6.30

We often have tears at bedtime I think because she's mega tired but honestly I can't get her to sleep for longer. I've tried everything and it don't work for my strong willed little misses. Anyway, just wondering what others are doing at 6 months?

My LO is just four months but your routine, is similar to ours. I would try and shift the last nap a bit. If your DD starts that nap at 3 instead of 2 she might go down more easily at 6.30. My DS doesn't nap for longer than 1/2 hour late in the day, but will have this sleep at 4pmish. Don't know if she would be amenable to that - but just a thought for you.

Gingerninja my dd was doing similar at 6mths (she's now 8 mths and has dropped one nap a day) we also frequently had tears at bedtime but if she is going down quickly and sleeping well at night i decided it was a small price to pay!!! I would agree re: shfting final nap slightly - you don't say how well she sleeps at night but if she's a good sleeper then the routine is obviously right for her.

imo you need to work on making lunchtime nap longer (1 hr + ) and aim for shorter later afternoon nap.

you can encourage extended lunch time sleeping by taking a long walk with buggy

hi ginger! ds is as follows (on a good day)
wake 6:30ish bf
cereal 7.30
nap on sch run 8:30 - 10am
bf 10.30am
lunch 12ish with ff
nap 1pm - 2.30pm ish
4;30/5pm
dinner and ff
6pm bath/bf
7:15pm bed
YOU KNOW THE REST[SAD][GRIN]
on a bad day
naps for 30 mins, schedule out the window!

hi ginger! ds is as follows (on a good day)
wake 6:30ish bf
cereal 7.30
nap on sch run 8:30 - 10am
bf 10.30am
lunch 12ish with ff
nap 1pm - 2.30pm ish
4;30/5pm
dinner and ff
6pm bath/bf
7:15pm bed
YOU KNOW THE REST
on a bad day
first nap is only for 30 mins, schedule out the window!

ooops!

your nights getting any better?

Kif, her unch time nap is about 1.5 hours and buggy walking doesn't do it for her. I'm not really looking for methods to get her to sleep because believe me I've tried everything and have got every book written on the subject. I was just wondering what others were doing and seeing if it sounded relatively normal. Thanks anyway.

Cruise, thanks for that, sounds good and erm. no.

In the morning I'd rather she took a longer nap, sounds like you've got the sort of routine I'm looking for Cruise but trust me, this stubborn little madam ain't playing ball. I can walk for hours, put her in her cot, lay with her and she just squeals and / or don't sleep. Pahhh

So, Cruise, does your LO not nap after 2.30?

as I said ginger - that is a GOOD day . Today, for instance, we had 30 mins at 8:30am, 30 mins at 10:30am and he has now been asleep since 1:25pm. On the good days he has about 3 hrs sleep in total so can just manage till bedtime. I would prefer a later pm nap so that he is not getting frayed by bathtime but as I have dd, teatime, homework etc. and he won't nap in his cot, I can't do much about it. It is the most stressful time of the day as he gets cranky which is miserable. Today, he should stay asleep till around 2:45-3pm which is perfect for him. The power naps days are awful .

This is my first time on this. I'm soooo tired. My 6 1/2 month old has eczema which flairs badly with dairy products and which only bothers him when he's tired. He is a big boy but very difficult to feed as just prefers milk and often cries and doesn't open his mouth like other babies I've seen who eat like baby birds. Daily pattern is
0700 ish wake
0745 ish breast feed
0810 - 0840 school run (sometimes falls asleep in car)
0900 breakfast porridge and fruit puree or similar sometimes very little taken
1000/1030 breast feed and falls asleep for short cat nap or longer if fresh air included
1200-1300 lunch 2 cubes main and 2 cubes fruit offered but often cries throughout for breast milk
1300 -1430 breast feed and falls asleep for cat nap
1445-1530 school run may fall asleep in car
1600/30 maybe breast feed if fractious
1700-1745 dinner same pattern of behaviour as lunch followed by breast feed
1800- 1930 bath time depending on other household activities such as our tea
1900 -2000 maybe later breast feed and falls asleep then to bed
half an hour or so after I've gone to bed he wakes and could keep me up for 2 hours feeding falling asleep and then waking and crying as he is put into cot.
may wake again once or twice more and follow similar pattern.
I try to keep him out of our bed before 5am as I sleep really badly. Funnily enough if I feed him lying down in our bed he falls asleep and stays asleep really well.

When he is crying in cot he scratches at his head and face and pushes covers off. I find this concerning as if his nails are not short enough he draws blood. Can get quite hysterical.I sometimes sit with him to try and stroke him to sleep which was working but hasn't lately as I think he has got wise!

I feed no dairy products directly and have cut out dairy from my diet. This has improved the eczema but not totally stopped it.

I guess my question is what should I/can I do to improve feeding and sleeping? I can't help thinking that the two are linked.

poor you. i'll try to get back l;ater as busy time of day now.

Sarstar, I could have written your post myself it's so similar in many ways. My DD also has eczema, I bf and have also cut out dairy (not sure if it's making a difference) she claws at head and ears (i find it really distressing) her sleep is a nightmare. See sleep is for the weak thread. She also won't take a spoon so we are doing baby lead weaning.

I'm not sure about the link between sleepng and feeding. so many people say that it's a myth that once they start weaning they sleep better. I don't think my DD wakes because she's hungry because sometimes she doesn't feed.

So, basically my advice woud be to post a message on the weaning page about your issues with dairy free weaning and refusal of spoon. You will probably get a lot of suggestions to do BLW which is a lot less stressful but it does feel like weaning at a much slower pace.

With regards to sleeping (or lack of) join us on sleep is for the weak and have a good moan.

The allergies board is good for eczema advise. There are many people on there with lots of experience and suggestions. If you start a thread I'll give my twopenneth on there.

Hope that helps

Sarstar do you think he's overtired by bedtime? sounds like he's just catnapping in the day. Both my children were/are terrible sleepers and I really found that if they didn't sleep properly in the day, by evening they would literally scream for hours. My DS2 (8 weeks) was also doing the clawing thing and I've realised that this seems to be related to being overtired too. I got a sling and it#s made a world of difference since it means he actually gets a proper sleep instead of small naps. Carrying a 6 month old would be ok as long as you got the right slilng, you might find it would really help.

thanks for the advice. i looked at other threads and they were helpful. funnily enough i have been doing baby led weaning without realising it for the last few days. it takes ages and i'm not sure what goes in but its not as full of crying and head scratching, got lots of banana stains though!

sarstar - hope things are looking up for you