6 month old falls asleep on her last feed - roughly doing Gina - help!

[walkingwomb]

Hello,

After starting the whole Gina routine, getting stressed by it, trying other stuff, my DD and I have now come full circle and found that actually it suits her pretty well and have been doing it for the last month (dont' have book and doing it from memory so could be quite approx). All is good and she wakes up only once or twice a night (this is fine, i don't mind and is much better than it has been!).

However, it is REALLY hard to keep her up until her bath at 5.45 and she usually falls asleep 5 mins into her pre bed feed. She is still sucking, but it feels very light and I am not convinced she is getting anything. I have tried poking her to wake her up, but it only works for about 20 seconds. Her last nap of the day is from 12 - 2. I would be happy if she slept for longer, but she doesn't. I use to give her a 4.30 - 5 nap, but dropping this has meant much fewer night wakings, so I don't really want to introduce it again.

On the solids front (if that matters) it isn't really happening at the mo as she is not very interested.

Is there anything I can do besides just starting her bedtime routine even earlier. It seems ridiculous for her to be in bed at 6 and I am worried it will mean her getting up even earlier.

Any advice much appreciated!

WW xx

Would a 15 minute nap 4.45pm - 5pm work?

yeah she's telling you to ditch the books and go with the flow,.
I'm afrtaid Gina Ford doesn't actually know your baby, or what she needs.
your baby however, does. so just go with it

i would proabably put her nap back a bit. 1-3 or something rather than 12-2

fwiw my baby (now 15 months) has always woken up at some point between 4am and 6am, regardless of whether she goes into a deep sleep at 6pm, 7pm or even later.

It might seem ridiculous to put your dd in bed at 6, but if she is exhausted by then, that is perhaps what she needs. By prolonging her til 7pm, she may still wake in the night/wake early.

My DD very rarely makes it to 6pm and definitely nearer 5pm if she skips her late afternoon nap... She wakes once in the night at around 4am and then we get up at around 6.30-7am regardless.

One day she'll manage to stay up until 7pm but I'm not in any hurry!

Thanks guys! So many replies so quickly.

I SWEAR I am not going by the book, I spent AGES going with her flow (3 hour morning nap, short later nap, crazy evening was one variation). I have interfered by getting her up after an hour in the morning because that is the only way to get her to sleep longer later in the day.

15 min nap works quite well, but I can't always get her to do that and it can take ages to get her to sleep - maybe I should try harder.

I put her for a nap when she gets tired, which is generally after 1 hour 45 mins or so, so I can't actually keep her up to 1 or else I will have missed her window.

Think I will have to go with the earlier bedtime. I forgot my other reason for that - her dad will not see her

onepiecelollipop - does your baby now stay awake later?? I assume as she gets a bit older she will be able to stay up later

Becky what a lovely long evening you have.

ww she has just started to share a room with her older sister (aged 4) - that was dd1's choice. So she does go to bed slightly later say around 7.15. However there is a big difference (sleep pattern wise) imo between a 15 month old and a 6 month old though.

We are very lucky as my dh is home late afternoon (but the girls don't see him usually in the morning because he goes very early) Tbh if you keep her up for her dad to see her, and she is just miserable and overtired, then maybe some nights he will only be able to see her asleep .

Could he see her/play with her in the early mornings instead?

Thanks Lollipop

His job is a bit crazy at the moment (works for a bank!) and so he is usually away before we wake up too . In fact we are thinking about moving her out of our room and we are both a bit sad about it, but esp him as he only gets to spend time with her when she is asleep (if that makes sense). But we do want to move her as we are going to try for another one quite soon.

Have just had a chat with him and he thinks that it is more important she is rested, so will just go with the earlier bedtime.

I am going to go back to work parttime in Jan and she won't get picked up til 5.30 anyway three days a week, so god knows what will happen then.

Thanks for your help ladies!