Split nights with my 6 month old

[Mazzatron]

Hi all. My baby DS2 turns 6 months tmw. He’s never slept through the night yet, he’s formula fed and was waking for a feed and going back to sleep. However for the past 3 or 4 weeks (maybe more I can’t remember!) he’s been waking between 1am - 3am having done a poo, then taking a good 1-2 hours to resettle. Even after a feed. I also think he must be awake a bit before I realise - to do the poo?

He goes to bed around 7, generally up at 6:30. has a nap at 9 for about an hour, nap around 12:30 for 1.5 or 2 hours. Then a short nap somewhere between 4-5pm.

Is this too much day sleep? I can’t work out why he’s having the split nights but it’s been going on for ages now. He’s learnt to roll in this time and started some solids which I know can impact.

Just wondered if people think his schedule needs tweaking?

Not sure if it's relevant but he's a big baby, he weighs 22lbs and is in 12 month baby grows already because he is very long.

Any ideas greatly received thanks

Are you feeding him to sleep at bedtime/ naptime? If not, now does he go to sleep?

No feeding to sleep has never really been a thing because he had awful reflux so feeds have more often then not been frantic he would always thrash around a bit after. I used to cuddle him to sleep but the last 2 months or so we started omeprazole and he settles himself to sleep or if he's more upset I shhh pat him in his cot. He's quite good at settling himself - I don't think that's the issue it just seems he's wide awake / wakes up needing a poo!

@Mazzatron hi was wondering if you have any feedback on your experiences of this with your baby? Mines 6 months and is going through something similar although hasn’t learned to roll yet! It’s hell! Please help and if you can offer any advice or reassurance that would be great!

Hi
I was about to reply to the OP and realised @Loumat you were actually asking for an update. In case it helps you or anyone else I had a similar issue at that age and found it occurred if DD had more than three hours daytime sleep in total. I also had to watch the wake window last thing to make sure the last sleep didn’t end too close to bedtime.

@GreyGoose1980 thank you! Mine tends to have 3.5 hours so I can wake from a nap early to shorten to 3 or less. Do you remember how many hours yours did at night or what wake windows they were having? Thank you for replying!

@Loumat
Hi, DD had approx ten hours sleep at night at that age (usually sleeping approx 8-6) usually with one brief wake up (except when teething etc) Sorry I can’t remember her wake windows (DD has just turned one)and don’t want to guess and give you the wrong info. I do recall the first one was the shortest and the last the longest, which you probably already follow anyway. The first wake window stayed surprisingly short for a while for us. The last nap was the shortest and the lunchtime one was the longest too. Hope that helps a bit, although appreciate they are all different.

@GreyGoose1980 thank you! I’m going to make a few changes and hope to see a difference! Did your DD’s sleep at night increase from 10 to 11/12 as they grew? Sorry no more Qs after this haha. Thanks again!

Hi @Loumat
No worries. DD’s sleep now is approx 10.5 hours at night and between 2 and 2.5 hrs in the day. She will drop her second nap soon so I hope to increase nighttime sleep more then. She’s currently in the 12 month sleep regression so waking a bit more at night!

@Loumat We are going through the same thing it sounds!! My LO is 6m next week, split nights about 6/8 wakes and absolutely WIDE awake from 3/4am i have no idea what to do with his daytime naps to help this

@AmberM2022 oh sorry to hear you’re having some problems too! Mine wakes and just stares about for 1-2 hours before nodding off. Doesn’t cry though which is good I suppose but still doesn’t go off if I feed him. I’m trialling having a more set wake up time, like today he was awake 4:30-6 but woke him at 6:30am anyway and I’m aiming for a 7:30pm bedtime with 3 naps. If that doesn’t do the trick in a few days I’ll have to shorten one of his naps I think. It’s all trial and error isn’t it!