I can set my clock by it... waking up 30 mins after going to sleep. Any ideas why?

[Stephano]

My DD is almost 6 months old. We have a routine in the evening of bath bottle bed. She usually falls asleep on the bottle and we put her in the cot. Ping .. 30 minutes later, she's awake and we go in and settle her either with the rest of her bottle or with just a cuddle if she drank the whole bottle or a bit of bf. Then she's down for the night with a dream feed and sleeps through till 6.30 - 7am. Why the half hour waking? I know that sleeps cycles can half an hour long but why just the once? Any suggestions to help stopping this. BTW I know I am very lucky that she sleeps at all but it's just a wee bit strange that wakes after half an hour regardless of what we do. Thanks

We had the EXACT same thing with DS (who is now 22 months). We used to dash up and lay a hand on him, sometimes pat rhythmically, and he would drop back off and sleep through. Drove us a little bananas! Anyway it just suddenly stopped. I can't quite remember when but I think it was probably between 8-10 months. He was only a 30 min napper until 10 months as well so I figured it was just he really came out of his sleep cycle abruptly. Unfortunately the patting etc never worked on daytime sleep.

I think it's when their sleep changes from a light sleep to a deep sleep and they often wake at the change. My dd used to do it as a baby but only during her naps and she would self settle.

My DS does exactly the same!!! I only wish he slept as well as your DD does afterwards!

I think it's something to do with the sleep cycle, as someone suggested, and the fact that you are putting her in her cot asleep. Sounds like she's waking slightly and realising abruptly that she's somewhere different. If she's laid in her cot still awake, this shouldn't happen as when she wakes slightly (which we all do apparently, dozens of time a night) she'll be exactly where she was when she fell asleep and should just nod back off again, rather than be alarmed.

thanks all. tellyaddict, i think you may be right. it's only in the past 6 weeks that we've been able to put her in the cot asleep at all as we used to co-sleep and she wouldn't fall asleep unless she was on the boob. i am thinking about how i get her to fall asleep on her own as nap times can be a problem as she will only go to sleep in the pram or carrier or in the car. any ideas?

Hmmm I'm having problems too with daytime naps!! My baby is 4 months and will go to sleep on his own in his crib when the room is pitch black (so we are having problems now with the lighter nights) and won't go in for a daytime nap at all. We co-slept for the first 5 weeks and after a couple of nights of controlled crying he stayed in his crib and settled himself to sleep.

I'm wondering about taking my baby to bed with me for a nap at a regular time each day (he'll only fall asleep on the boob too in the day!), and then putting him in his crib at the same time once that routine is established, with the help of controlled crying for a couple of days if he doesn't settle again. He seemed to know from a very young age when we were still co-sleeping, that as soon as we went into the dark bedroom it was sleep time. Maybe he can learn that there is a sleep time during the day too.......? But I'm very much open to suggestions as I need him to have a proper nap in the day on his own now!

can you put blackout blinds up at the window so it's still pitch black - we have done that just recently with DS2 also 4 months as he sleeps so much better in a totally dark room?

Yes I think I might have to! Wanted to avoid that especially as he's still in our room but think it's probably the only way !

Bit of a breakthrough on the half hour waking. For the past 2 nights she hasn't woken up after half an hour. I think it's because she's napped up until 4 pm and then fed so she's not been overtired when it came to bed time. Fingers crossed it stays like this. Just need her to not wake up at 05.30 now

well done, that's great!!!

mayeb it was wind? if she fell asleep whilst having bottle?

My DD did this for months, and still occasionally has the odd night of waking 40 mins after going to sleep. I figured it was just waking after a deep sleep phase, and she would wake sobbing and need to be picked up and taken downstairs for a change of scene for 10 mins, then back to bed for 11 hours sleep.

No real idea why she did it, or why she stopped (we changed nothing, she just grew out of it) but wanted to let you know that it won't last!