Not enough sleep

LimaD · May 2013

My 6mo old is lucky to get 11 (MAYBE 12) hours of sleep a day. I know she's supposed to get at least 14 but nothing seems to work. She gets about 3 hours a day from naps but only about 8 hours/night (when you take out the motn feeding). I've tried earlier bedtimes....she just wakes up after 45min-1hr and it takes another hour (or more) to get her to go back to bed.

She used to go to bed at 9, moved it earlier. At one point she was going to bed at 7:30 but that must've been too early for her. Right now we're aiming for 8-8:30 and having this problem with waking up after an hour or so. Any advice?? I just really want her to get the sleep she needs...

kateraid · May 2013

How does she initially go to bed? It sounds like she needs sleep training. I am going through this myself as my LO is rocked to sleep and is up constantly throughout the night. I think it's time I just teach him to fall asleep on his own because he's so dependant on me. If you're going through the same thing, I would suggest buying some books on different sleep training methods and pick the one that works best for you.

LimaD · May 2013

kateraid:
How does she initially go to bed? It sounds like she needs sleep training. I am going through this myself as my LO is rocked to sleep and is up constantly throughout the night. I think it's time I just teach him to fall asleep on his own because he's so dependant on me. If you're going through the same thing, I would suggest buying some books on different sleep training methods and pick the one that works best for you.

That's the thing, she's able to fall asleep on her own. I do rock her, but I lay her down when she's drowsy and she usually moves a round a little, gets comfy, and falls asleep. She goes down so easily, just doesn't stay down!

pb_bride · May 2013

What happens when she wakes up 1 hour after going to sleep at night? Does she cry? Do you go in right away?

Every couple of nights or so, DS will give a little cry or fuss about 1.5hr or 2 hrs after he went to bed. He usually isn't fully awake. We just let him be, and he'll go back to sleep after 5 minutes or so.

Another question, how many times does she wake up MOTN to eat? At 6 months you may want to wean the # of MOTN feeds. That way, she can have longer, uninterrupted night time sleep.

LimaD · May 2013

pb_bride:
What happens when she wakes up 1 hour after going to sleep at night? Does she cry? Do you go in right away?
Every couple of nights or so, DS will give a little cry or fuss about 1.5hr or 2 hrs after he went to bed. He usually isn't fully awake. We just let him be, and he'll go back to sleep after 5 minutes or so.
Another question, how many times does she wake up MOTN to eat? At 6 months you may want to wean the # of MOTN feeds. That way, she can have longer, uninterrupted night time sleep.

When she wakes after just an hour she usually cries and is rolling all over the crib. (clearly awake). I might wait a minute or two but I'm afraid if I wait longer she'll just be more awake when I go in. There have been a couple times where she wakes up "talking" and it's like she thinks it was just a nap. But that's not usually the case...

She only has 1 MOTN feeding. Around 3-4a.m. I haven't started her on solids at all yet, she's EBF. I think we will start introducing solids in a couple weeks or so--not sure if that will help her stay full at night or not?

pb_bride · May 2013

LimaD:
pb_bride:
What happens when she wakes up 1 hour after going to sleep at night? Does she cry? Do you go in right away?
Every couple of nights or so, DS will give a little cry or fuss about 1.5hr or 2 hrs after he went to bed. He usually isn't fully awake. We just let him be, and he'll go back to sleep after 5 minutes or so.
Another question, how many times does she wake up MOTN to eat? At 6 months you may want to wean the # of MOTN feeds. That way, she can have longer, uninterrupted night time sleep.

When she wakes after just an hour she usually cries and is rolling all over the crib. (clearly awake). I might wait a minute or two but I'm afraid if I wait longer she'll just be more awake when I go in. There have been a couple times where she wakes up "talking" and it's like she thinks it was just a nap. But that's not usually the case...
She only has 1 MOTN feeding. Around 3-4a.m. I haven't started her on solids at all yet, she's EBF. I think we will start introducing solids in a couple weeks or so--not sure if that will help her stay full at night or not?

Since you said that it takes an hour or more to get her back asleep, why not just leave her alone in the crib and see what happens? She may put herself back to sleep faster.

Also, did you abruptly move her bedtime from 9pm to 8pm? If you did, yes, your LO will think the 8pm is just a nap but not bedtime. We're supposedly to move bedtime up no more than 15 minutes at a time. If you have only recently moved up her bedtime to 8pm, I'd just give her a couple more days or a week to get used to the earlier bedtime. hopefully she'll learn that it's the new bedtime. And I assume you have a bedtime routine?

After she nurses MOTN, does she go back to sleep right away or does she stay up afterwards?

What time does she wake up in the morning? Does she wake up naturally or do you wake her up? How long does she stay awake before she goes down for her first nap?

Introducing solids is to teach babies how to handle food/swallow, but not to "fill them up" and won't help STTN. If you think your supply is low and she's not getting enough breast milk, try cluster feeding in the evenings, or give her formula. If you think your supply is fine and she's not hungry, you can consider sleep training to wean her off her MOTN feed. But 1 MOTN feed at 6 months is actually not bad at all.

LimaD · May 2013

pb_bride:
LimaD:
pb_bride:
What happens when she wakes up 1 hour after going to sleep at night? Does she cry? Do you go in right away?
Every couple of nights or so, DS will give a little cry or fuss about 1.5hr or 2 hrs after he went to bed. He usually isn't fully awake. We just let him be, and he'll go back to sleep after 5 minutes or so.
Another question, how many times does she wake up MOTN to eat? At 6 months you may want to wean the # of MOTN feeds. That way, she can have longer, uninterrupted night time sleep.

When she wakes after just an hour she usually cries and is rolling all over the crib. (clearly awake). I might wait a minute or two but I'm afraid if I wait longer she'll just be more awake when I go in. There have been a couple times where she wakes up "talking" and it's like she thinks it was just a nap. But that's not usually the case...
She only has 1 MOTN feeding. Around 3-4a.m. I haven't started her on solids at all yet, she's EBF. I think we will start introducing solids in a couple weeks or so--not sure if that will help her stay full at night or not?
Since you said that it takes an hour or more to get her back asleep, why not just leave her alone in the crib and see what happens? She may put herself back to sleep faster.
Also, did you abruptly move her bedtime from 9pm to 8pm? If you did, yes, your LO will think the 8pm is just a nap but not bedtime. We're supposedly to move bedtime up no more than 15 minutes at a time. If you have only recently moved up her bedtime to 8pm, I'd just give her a couple more days or a week to get used to the earlier bedtime. hopefully she'll learn that it's the new bedtime. And I assume you have a bedtime routine?
After she nurses MOTN, does she go back to sleep right away or does she stay up afterwards?
What time does she wake up in the morning? Does she wake up naturally or do you wake her up? How long does she stay awake before she goes down for her first nap?
Introducing solids is to teach babies how to handle food/swallow, but not to "fill them up" and won't help STTN. If you think your supply is low and she's not getting enough breast milk, try cluster feeding in the evenings, or give her formula. If you think your supply is fine and she's not hungry, you can consider sleep training to wean her off her MOTN feed. But 1 MOTN feed at 6 months is actually not bad at all.

I moved the bedtime 30 min at a time (just because she was so fussy and tired i couldnt make her hold out an extra 15 min). She definitely seemed ready for an early bedtime and it's been this way for over 1 week but maybe she just needs more time to adjust. She started off just going to bed at the earlier bedtime--it was a few days after this that she started waking up soon after. And yep we have a bedtime routine including bedtime lotion, rocking, reading books.

After the MOTN feeding she goes right back to bed and then sleeps until about 6:30-7. And she wakes herself. Stays up for about 2 hours before needing her first nap.

And I agree, 1 MOTN feeding isn't bad at all and I don't mind it. I just wish she could get more sleep overall. I always hear that babies this age sleep almost 12 hours at night...I was starting to wonder if maybe we waited too long to move her bedtime earlier and that it might just take a while for her to adjust to being able to sleep that long at night. but idk!

pb_bride · May 2013

I just want to say that it sounds like doing your best. If your DD seems happy and alert during the day, then don't worry too much about it.

I'm the same way with my son; he gets about 13hr of sleep a day on average. Although he STTN (down at 8p), he's up at 5am most mornings and I can't get him to sleep later/longer, so his nighttime sleep is only 9 hours. He takes 3 decent naps (1.5 hr each) but we're still short of the 14-15hr average for 6 month-olds.

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