Just a fussy phase or something else @ 6 mos?

My twins will be 6 mos next week. Over the past week or so DD has been pretty fussy a lot. It is starting to get pretty wearing. She'll be fine after waking in the morning or from a nap but usually within an hour or even less of getting up she starts to get fussy with whatever she is doing. I'll move her to something else (playmat, sing to her, another room, etc) and after about 5 min, fuss. I'll change things up.. fuss again, repeat. Then she'll only be quiet if I hold her and walk around the house doing chores, cleaning etc, which is hard to do because I have to watch DS as well. Then once I sit her down on the floor, she immediately starting fussing.

I don't know if it is just some phase, or something else.

Growth spurt? I think one of the twins was going through a growth spurt recently as I was super hungry all the time - I breastfeed.

Boredom? Is she getting bored and needs more entertainment? I am trying to get out of the house more with the kids for walks and park visits daily. Is it this much harder to entertain 6 mo olds?

Teething? She could be teething, as I've seen her hands in her mouth more but she really doesn't have her hands there that much.

Overtiredness? My twins have always been cat nappers (30-40 min) with a few sporadic long naps. DD is actually sleeping better at night, with less random wakings, she'll usually get 10-12 hours (she does have 1-2 night feedings where she is awake). I can't believe she'd be ready for a nap 1 hour after waking. They usually go 1 hr 45 min to 2 hours between naps.

Something else or just a phase? I thought they were supposed to be less fussy at 6 months!

Jessica

 

what is she doing developmentally?
my first thought is she might be on the verge of learning something new (rolling, sitting up, scooting). My DD gets fussy when she is frustrated. The only hope for that is give her time learn it. Give her as much floor time as possible (hard when she is fussing on the floor). Maybe put her down as soon as she gets up before she starts fussing. Also, work on helping her to sit.

Could also be transition is sleep. About 6 months.. she might be ready to consolidate her sleep. (Staying awake longer and take longer naps.) If this is the case, keeping her up longer before her first nap (shooting for 9:00) might work. then second nap around 12 or 1:00. maybe third nap around 3.

My DS did that (as you described) about 6 months.. Drove me crazy... the way he was acting i kept trying to put him right back to sleep. It wasn't until my SIL said 'keep him up' that things got better.
Perhaps, even though she is acting tired she is not tired ENOUGH to go right back to sleep AND then asleep for the longer period she needs.

My two could do 2 or 3 naps daily for a while then had to go back to many short naps, then we'd try the 2 / 3 naps again. (acid reflux babies have a harder time with sleep changes) It took about a month to be on a consistent 2 or 3 nap schedule. Frustrating, because all you can do is guess at what they need from moment to moment (as it changes).

If that is what she is doing, once their sleep gets more consolidated it will be easier. Longer naps means more down time for mom!
And once they are sitting they are much better at entertaining themselves... more down time for mom! (rest up cause then they crawl.. lol)

 

This is exactly what I was going to ask but I didn't have to patience to type it on my phone with the kids screaming in the background. Livia has been getting really cranky really easily lately and I think it's because she's trying so hard to crawl and just isn't able to do it yet. I wish I had a solution that you could try but mostly I end up just moving her around to give her different things to look at.

 

Sorry to hear about that. Couple things could be going on.

First is new development. If so, it's a phase and will get better soon

Second is teething. U can give her cold teething toys or teething tablets. Well, if so, it will last for a long time

Third could be silent reflux, digestive system. My son got it. He never puked. But his stomach upset. And he fussed

Forth is sleeping issue which I think it's your case. At six month, their awake window is from 60-90 mind period. (Noway they can be happy after staying awake for over 90 mins. )Then they have to take nap. And usually their naps last around 1-2 or 3 hours. Cat nap babies tent to fuss more. Are they sleep trained? At this age, try should be trained, if you have not trained them yet. It will give them healthy sleeping habit and maybe eliminate some cat naps and get se solid naps down. If you ask me what is the most importance of first yr, I will say sleep train. My kids both got reflux. Michelle used to puke everything she just ate every single time we fed her. So we had to hold her up at least 30 mins before we put her down. Nolan got silent reflux. He didn't pukr but fussed. But we sleep trained them when they are like 5.5 months. We constantly repeated the training many times in first yr. but it was the best thing we did for our family. Even before they turned 2, I still kept their sleeping schedule strictly everyday, no exception. We never have any sleeping issue with them for a long time. At 2.5 yrs old, they still have their nap (1.5-2.5 hrs). They are always happy. All I am telling you that establishing heathly sleeping habits is very very important for the whole family.

Hang in there, it will get better and good luck

 

This .. Absolutely couldn't agree more... my little ones didn't stay awake longer than 1-1.5 hours until they moved to 2 naps around 7-8 months (adjusted), even now they struggle being awake for longer than 2.5 hours.

If you can, try to get them to settle back to sleep when they wake after their short nap, I did this with both of mine at around 5-6months (if you would like some tips, please let me know). With Sierra it worked almost immediately, she has consistently been a fantastic napper since then. Liara on the other hand is my serial cat napper and is a constant whinge pop. She had four naps until 8 months to make up for the lost naps. I have tried EVERYTHING to lengthen her naps. We had some success around 10 months where she consistently had 1.5hours each nap but last month, she regressed and now is back to 45min sleep cycle wake up. During the time when she was napping longer, her mood was beautiful, now she is back to whingeing - I just look forward to the once per fortnight when she plays catch up and has a good 2-2.5hour afternoon nap.

If you can get them to lengthen their naps, you will find their night sleep will improve too - sleep begets sleep.

 

Edit: Sorry, Liara had 4 naps at 6 months, 2-3 naps at 8months, Sierra went to two 1.5hr naps at 7 months.

 

Ok so I'm more confused now regarding sleep. I've been reading the sleep message board on another website and everyone on there says to stretch wake times to get longer naps ... at 6 mos they should be up at least 2 hours between naps and I'll get longer naps and 1.5 hour wake is way to short. I read 1 hour to 1.5 hour wake time is more appropriate for a 3-4 mo old. We used to do 1.5 hour wake times but I ended up with 5 naps/day since they would only sleep 30 min.. we finally moved to little longer wake times around 5 mos and went to 4 naps. They have recently been falling asleep on their own and naps are still short.

As far as developmental changes, not really. DD has rolled over from back to front a couple times a few weeks ago but never since. She has recently been able to sit unassisted. Maybe something else is coming up but I have no idea of what.

 

This exactly! Up until about 4 months i followed the rule.. put them back to sleep within 1.5 hours, then we could stretch it to 2 hours. Then around 6.5 months my DS regressed and started indicating he was tired after only ONE hour. At the same time his previously good nap times of 1 hr shortened to 1/2 hour.

It was not until I stretched his morning awake time that things got better.
Confusing because until this point the sleep begets sleep rule worked without exception. It is still true but there is a fine balance.. keep him up long enough to get the good (1 hour, now often 1.5 hour) nap and not so long that he becomes completely over tired.

I did a LOT of juggling with their schedule. On the days they took 3 naps they were happy, then their naps would shorten again and they would get fussy. I would go back to just putting them back to sleep after 1 or 2 hours (as many naps as i could get in them). Then when they were less fussy we'd go back to 3 naps again and have a few really good days. We had more and more of these good days. Now at 8 months they are doing well consistently to stay at 3 naps a day. (It has been about 2 weeks.) At 9, 1, and sometimes 3 they nap for 1 or 1.5 hours (except the last nap which is usually short).

Try it.. when i first started stretching the morning awake time i would just push it back 30 or 45 min. gradually working for 9:00 (this is with a wake up time of 6 or 6:30.
Anyway, it may not work for everyone but it was the only thing that worked for my DS.. and i had tried everything!
GL

 

Is she thinking about scooting? When she is on her stomach, try putting your hand behind her feet to see if she will push forward.

I have noticed a pause where it seems like they are doing NOTHING just before they make a big advancement.. maybe that is what you are seeing.

 

The sleeping habit won't work at first. You need to train them. First yr, we always used 90 min window period. If you wait until they are tired, it's too late. They won't sleep well and long enough for their naps. Well, at 6 months, their eyes see thing better., they recognize more color. They won't give up the excitement for naps. So they will fight for it. But you have to put them down for naps period. When their bodies realize that oh "I'm so tired" then the fuss comes right away. You help them to create a habit and follow it.

During the sleep, they go through deep sleep to light then back to deep. Usually they move to the light sleeping stage around 35-45 mins. They will move around or wake up and cry. Don't take them out right away, let them fuss and cry. Most of the time, they will find a comfy spot and fall right back to sleep and say asleep for another 30-60 mins or even more. Or you wait for 5 mins, if they cant get back to sleep themselves, you come in and pat their bottoms help them get comfy. Don't give up and take them out.

We used to just lay down in their cribs, said 99 walked out and closed the door. They knew its down time. They could stay up a little bit played then fell asleep. Still the same process now. After 6 months, we stopped rocking them to sleep period. Many people just didnt/ still don't believe that our kids just go to bed themselves. It's because they got trained.

I know many twins around my kids age went through this training. You can search on sleep topic from very old posts.
Sleep train is a very tough and frustrating process, but you have to decide what you should do and stick with it. Be strong. The older they are, the harder they got trained.

When they go through a growth spourt, their awake window is even shorter. Good luck!

 

Honestly, I think she's probably lonely or bored. Babies are very social. yes, they like to explore, particularly when they first wake up. But think about it this way: she just spent much of the night (except for her 1-2 feedings) away from you in her crib, alone, sleeping (10 hours or more away from mommy and daddy). Then she gets up, is probably excited to play for a bit but then wants to spend time with mommy or have social interaction.

I think this is very normal at any age for infants/toddlers/pre-schoolers and I think, as parents, it is our job to cuddle, snuggle, interact with our kids for a bit each awake period. If she's fine while being carried/held, then I think your answer is she wants to spend time with you. Can you put her in a baby carrier and talk to her while you do stuff around the house?

My babies are doing exactly the same thing and my first was this way as well. They get fussy about an hour after they get up. They are not ready for a nap but they do want attention before they go back to sleep again, alone, in their cribs. From a psychological and emotional standpoint, I think it makes sense that a baby isn't always gong to want to entertain him or herself.

I do think it is both harder and easier to entertain 6 month olds. Easier when they get mobile and enjoy exploring or that they love to be outside and just take in the world, but harder because they really are craving "conversation" and social interaction as part of their development towards developing language, etc.

 

I too read so much about keeping them up longer to get longer naps, but my babies just couldn't handle being awake longer. They got too tired. When they got too tired, they resisted falling asleep and didn't stay asleep long. You have to see what works for your baby. You know every baby is different. I can see that just from my twins how different their sleep habits are. The hardest thing for me has to try to keep a semblance of routine while meeting both their needs. I think 1.5-2 hours is appropriate for most 6 months old. But you have to see which end of this time range is appropriate for your babies.

If you are seeing a consistent wake up from naps between 30-45mins, then it is extremely likely that they are waking up from when the light sleep cycle is transitioning into the deep. You could go in just before they wake and shushing, lightly patting them just before they wake (slight movement is an indicator they are transitioning to next sleep cycle). But it requires consistency at every nap, for days.

The other thing which helped us at this stage, was to give them extreme morning stimulation just before their first nap. Take them outside, show them the sky, the sun, the flowers, for 10 minutes maximum. I found this really helped ours sleep better too.

 

PS if their awake time is 2 hours, then you wouldn't start the soothing at the 2 hour wake time, start it before so that they are in their cribs at the 2 hour wake time. Same for 1.5 hours.