u/Desperate_Sort_1274

My daughter has been waking nightly almost EXACTLY 3 hours after bedtime, then every 3 hours after that. This has been going on for 3 weeks. She usually wakes screaming/crying and won’t go back to sleep, even with me offering pats, a reassuring hand on her back, and her pacifier. If she doesn’t go back to sleep after 30min or so of comforting, I nurse to sleep. She is definitely teething, but everything I’ve seen online states that teething pain that is disruptive to sleep shouldn’t last this long.

Current schedule is 3.5/4/4; if she take a power nap on the drive home from the gym (5-10min) I extend her first WW by about 30min, so her day becomes 4/3.5/4. She wakes naturally around 7:00-7:15 at the earliest but I’ll wake her if she isn’t up by 8. (Important detail: the gym childcare is only available 8-12).

A diff sub recommended 3.5/4/4 to me under the presumption that maybe her wakes are due to needing more awake time. I’ve also been told I should cap her first nap.
However, I’m seeing conflicting info online saying that instead of following the above advice, I should actually shorten her first WW and follow a 3/3.5/4 routine, allowing her first nap to go as long as she wants to sleep, but capping nap 2 to not go beyond 5pm to protect bedtime at 9. What I’ve read is that she’s waking after 3 hours at night because she’s overtired, and although she might be mildly uncomfortable due to teething, the Motrin I give her could be masking her sleep issues.

Sorry if this is rambling or overkill on details. I really want to help her get the rest she needs and get back to her having solid stretches of sleep.

Background: My daughter is 8mo on Monday. She naturally transitioned to 2 naps at 4mo. She has ALWAYS had lower sleep needs, ever since she was a newborn.

She puts herself to sleep at nap times and bedtime (she nurses before bed but is put down drowsy/awake). Current WW are 3/3.5/4 She naps at around 10 or 11 and 3:30. She does not have consistent nap length. Bedtime is around 8:30, nurses once overnight, then wake around 7-7:30. Nanit says she usually sleeps 10-10.5hrs overnight.

She is advanced in her motor skill development—according to her doctor, she moves like a 10-11mo (crawling, sitting, rolling, pulling to stand), so her crib is fully lowered.

**Current situation:**The last 2-3 weeks, she has been waking up EVERY NIGHT at 11:30, absolutely screaming. I go in when I hear her—she does not respond to being left alone to cry so that’s out. Sometimes, I give her a quick pat and her pacifier and she’s back to sleep. Other times, it’s an hour+ battle. She used to only wake twice a night—once to be soothed, then again to eat—but her wakes are increasing.

Question: Should I be capping her naps as they’re getting longer naturally or try to save her first nap to make that one long nap? Do her WW need to be longer? Is this a schedule adjustment issue or what? Please help—I can’t keep doing these early night wakes!