Dropping third nap at 5.5months- night problems

It appears over the last week DD is attempting to drop her third nap- seems a bit 'early' but naps have always been hit and miss for us and she is a "sleep is for losers" type of kid anyway- I was the same apparently.

So most days she has reconfigured her naps to do the usual length ( just over 2 hours) in two longer goes instead of three, or has needed/ had time for a third nap and after much fighting, won't do it. She is now happy to stay up for 3 hours at a stretch at times. Its created a couple of night issues, which after a few days of shock I have realised are connected, also just to make it more interesting I've realised she is almost 25weeks, so in wonder week territory too.

The night problems are;
1) Constant waking on the hour after going to bed usually until her last feed of the day (10pm-ish), when she will sleep for 3 or 4 hours. And by waking I mean screaming the house down requiring rocking or feeding to sleep ( but whether i feed or not it makes no difference). I am lead to believe this is caused by overtiredness, so I started bringing her bedtime forward from 7 pm to 5.45, which she obviously needs due to the nap timings finishing earlier. She goes to sleep at this time so now i feel bad making her stay up til 7! It worked one night, she only woke once at 30mins into the sleep then slept through tothe next feed, but last night was a disaster, she woke hourly til midnight, I was beside myself, and its made worse by the next problem;

2) Once asleep she needs to be held until she is in a deep sleep ( 25-30 mins) before being put in the cot, if she isn't in deep sleep and get wind of being lowered intothe cot she goes nuts, wakes herself up and you have to start again. I have tried rocking her on her side in the cot which sometimes works but she wakes when i roll her onto her back, or if I leave her on her side she rolls herself and wakes. Overnight she has always been able to be practically thrown back in the cot after a feed, but now all the night feeds require an extra 30mins before she can go in the cot. Is this a wonder week thing?- I am hoping so cos I am pretty much going demented, due to the hourly wakings I am basically in the nursery all evening! I only see DH in the evening so we can't even sit on the couch and talk for an hour.

Has anyone been through anything like this?
Should i be putting DD to sleep even earlier than 5.45? She still sleeps til 7ish so is getting slightly more sleep than she used to although maybe all the wakings are counteracting that.
I cosleep half the night ( from 3 or 4 onwards) but really don't want to do it all night, I like to spread out for the one long -if 3 hours sleep is considered long-sleep i get. It wouldn't really solve most of the problems anyway unless I went to bed at 6pm!!
Is this all just wonder week related and going to go away in a few weeks? ( I know, I know, let a girl dream)

Can someone please invent something that transfers babies from parents' arms into the cot without waking them- PLEASE :D

No help here as My DD was like you describe and now our DS is the same. I decided I wasn't going to fight it this time and am just going with it. We co sleep all night as I can't be getting up ten times a night. We tried everything with our DD. We are just going to ride it out. Good luck! I'm sure you've tried everything like warming the bed before you put her down, consistent bedtime routine etc.

Yeah, we are having similar hourly wakings on some nights too Saffy. I think it is hard to pinpoint the cause- DS just got two teeth, he is rolling (and trying to practice at night I guess), we are in the wonder week, his naps are changing and he is really fighting that third nap.
On the nights he wakes hourly, I feed him around the 10.30 wakeup and he goes back down and will sleep till his next feed around 1.30am. If he isn't waking hourly, he drops that 10.30 feed himself and wakes around 2am for a feed. I feed him to sleep during the night (he doesn't self settle at all) so I can just pop him back in the cot. We also sleep him on his side (always have because he was a chucky baby and just didn't like being on his back). I put a rolled towel behind him which has worked to stabilise him, but now he is rolling I guess that won't work for much longer. DS has always let us him put him down on his side and stayed asleep- not sure if that is because it is more secure (their body is kind of folded on itself really, and not splayed out like when they are on their back), or if that is just what he is used to.
Sorry, no solutions for you. It's a killer when they are restless at night isn't it? Our DD (lets just call her a "challenging" sleeper) had really bad sleep around this age, so I don't have any sleep expectations for DS which is working for me but doesn't mean I am not grumpy if I have a bad night. I hope your DD settles into a better pattern for you soon!

DS is almost 10 months old and exactly the same.

Sorry that's not any help! :(

thanks girls nice to know i am not alone- I figured it was common at this age as everyone in my mothers group is having some form of sleep issue.
I'll just have to set up basecamp in the nursery for the evening, then bring her into bed with me later, its too cold to be getting up constantly. Wish I had an ipad or kindle to play on while trapped in the room.
Don't think tonight is going to be any better as she just screamed for 20 mins before going to sleep!!

Saffy have you tried Safe Sleep Space techniques or BabyBliss? I'm finding a lot of success with patting and gradual withdrawal. I'm doing it very very slowly and I've found DS isn't wanting feeds between 10pm-5am ish now and likes the patting cues for sleep, however he is still very unsettled in early morning hours.

I read the safe sleep space book a few months ago but didn't want to use it then ( or didn't really need to) so I might get it out of the library and revisit it.

Things slightly better the last few nights, i think the wonder week effects are waning. I do think there is some teething elements too, as she will suddenyl wake screaming at night for ?reason.

Dusty 10-5 would be heaven for me! I can handle a reasonable amount of sleep deprivation as I am a life long shift worker, but I don't think DH will want this to carry on for months, not that he gets up to her lol. I just have to make an effort, it so easy to just feed them to sleeep!

I hear you but i started doing it when feeding to sleep stopped working. I was out of ideas then! He still wakes heaps from 2-6am he just doesn't need or want a feed, DD never was like that lol! Patting is more tiring but hopefully it'll just be a hand on him or soosh soon :)
Good luck!

And that wonder week is a doozy...

DD2 isn't really wanting that third nap as much lately either, but as she wakes from her second nap somewhere from 2-3ish, it's a long time til 6:30 when she goes to bed. I now pop her in the carrier when she gets tired and cranky in the late afternoon. Sometimes she will nod off in it, other times it just keeps her happy enough til bedtime.