Long wake ups in middle of night 6 month old

[Bbencore]

My six month old has started to wake up only once in the night for a feed. A mixture of breast feeding and ff. bed time around 6:30 every night. recently he’s started waking up at two or three am and not settling for about ninety minutes. No crying or upset just really ready to play / try and crawl/ rock on hands and knees/ blow raspberries . Not much interest in breast feeding. About ninety mins later she is ready for sleep again and can be shushed to sleep in the cot.

If it matters we feed to sleep at start of the night but she always wakes up just when put into the cot and then settles down again.

Any advice on dealing with the long wake up? We never really did a dream feed before. Is now too late to try?

Is she feeding and then playing for 90 minutes?

Or is she waking earlier for a feed, going back to sleep and then up later for a 90 minute play? If so, what time is her night feed?

Thanks for replying. Feeding (breast feed then about five oz of formula), then playing. If she cried I’d know what to do, but she just seems wide awake and intent on bouncing around the cot!

What are her naps like during the day?

We never really did a dream feed before. Is now too late to try?

No, not too late to try.

I'd try a feed and nappy change at 11pm and see what happens after a week if that.

Naps aren’t good - manages about 2 hours total a day on average. Has to be held or carried. I am sure over tiredness is a problem but we are trying to deal with nights first. She’s never had a problem being put into her cot at night for some reason.

Thanks for this we will try. I just remembered that sometimes she will wake at about ten when we walk past her room to get to bed ourselves. Is easily shushed and patted back to sleep. Very occasionally I give her a bottle too. But on those occasions she still does the long wake up later on. Does this mean a dream feed might not work?

It's ok to wake her up when giving the 11pm feed, if that's what you mean? In fact it suggest you do wake her, so that she take a a nice big feed. Also include a nappy change and good wind afterwards.

If she’s just learning to crawl it could be that her brain is just really busy! I’ve read the brain builds the new neural pathways needed for gross motor skills between 1-3am. Those kind of developmental leaps often mean a whole sleep cycle awake - that’s the 90 minutes you’re seeing. It will pass! Maybe in a couple of weeks...? (Sorry!) Give her loads of time to practice crawling in the day, get yourself to bed as early as possible, do what you can to stay calm, and nap if/when you can!

@FATEdestiny

It's ok to wake her up when giving the 11pm feed, if that's what you mean? In fact it suggest you do wake her, so that she take a a nice big feed. Also include a nappy change and good wind afterwards.

I meant if she already sometimes wakes up at ten and it makes no difference to the long wake up at two (ie it doesn’t seem to ‘reset’ her sleep), would waking her on purpose make any difference? Sorry if this is a stupid question, but if we woke her at ten instead of eleven (we sleep early ) make a difference to anything - I guess she’d then wake up for the day a bit earlier?

@BerthaYoung

If she’s just learning to crawl it could be that her brain is just really busy! I’ve read the brain builds the new neural pathways needed for gross motor skills between 1-3am. Those kind of developmental leaps often mean a whole sleep cycle awake - that’s the 90 minutes you’re seeing. It will pass! Maybe in a couple of weeks...? (Sorry!) Give her loads of time to practice crawling in the day, get yourself to bed as early as possible, do what you can to stay calm, and nap if/when you can!

Thank you. If it’s just a matter of waiting for her development then it is what it is I guess. Although just now she rolled over and went to sleep as soon as I left the room straight after the bottle feed (I needed the loo!). Maybe all my devoted shushing and patting had been keeping her up and she just needed to be left in peace.

@FATEdestiny

We never really did a dream feed before. Is now too late to try?

No, not too late to try.

I'd try a feed and nappy change at 11pm and see what happens after a week if that.

Sorry @FATEdestiny, have a follow up question if you are there - she woke at half ten last night of her own accord so I thought I’d try a full feed and change. She then woke up again at half four (and still isn’t down again after another bottle and breast feed). Thats about an hour after her normal wake up time but obviously not ideal. Do we need to keep trying the dream feed for a bit longer or does this suggest it’s not the right route? I really appreciate your advice, thanks!

It takes a bit of time for a routine to establish, so I'd give it a week or two before writing it off.