BabyWhispererForums.com
SLEEP => General Sleep Issues => Topic started by: Sungrl on November 22, 2006, 04:35:15 am
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Hi there,
My DD is almost 9 weeks old. I have recently gotten her bedtime between 8 and 8:30pm (she needs to take medication at 8pm at the EARLIEST) and she goes down with no crying at all...just a bit of singing and patting and she's off to sleep. During the day the past few days, she seems like she is ALWAYS overtired. I've read and reread the signs of overtiredness in Tracy's book and my DD seems to wake up with these ques. When she is nursing she is rubbing her eyes and pulling her ears and she's just woken up!
Is it possible for a LO to get overtired and have it carry over into the next day? Some days it seems like Zoey will be tired before she's really even had any A time...overtired even. What can I do about this? Can a baby catch up on sleep?!?!
Our routine varies so much from day to day because she often seems very overtired all day and I just feed her and spend her A time quietly winding her back down for sleep!!! Some days she only gets 40 minute naps, but lately I do whatever I can to get her to sleep longer.
Today went like this...
E: 5:00am - she was awake during this feed (not usual) and it took about 30 minutes for her to finally fall asleep
E: 8:00am
A: 8:15 - 8:40 - she was displaying signs of being overtired already at this point - crying, pulling ears, rubbing eyes
S: 8:45 - 9:25 - most days this nap is the long one (1.5 hours) but today I could only get her to go 40 minutes
A: 9:30 - 10:00 - I put some soft music on and sat her in her chair and after 15-20 minutes she displayed signs of being overtired again
S: 10:00 - 11:00
E: 11:15
A: 11:30-12:30 - again she was very fussy and crying after only 30 minutes of A time (laying on her back with Mommy) - moving her head back and forth, rubbing eyes, crying... so I swaddled her at 12:00. It took until 12:30 to get her to fall asleep
S: 12:30 - 1:45 (I had to hold her to get her to sleep this long, she woke after 40 minutes)
E: 1:45
A: 2:00 - 3:00 went to run errands, she cried basically the whole time!!
S: 3:15 - 4:00 was again crying a very overtired cry by 3:00pm
E: 4:15
A: 4:30-5:00 - she was very unhappy and still pulling ears and rubbing eyes by 5:00 so I just swaddled her rocked her and tried to get her back to sleep but she cried until 5:45
S: 5:45-6:30
She kept drifting in and out of sleep until around 6:45
E: 7:00
A: 7:15 - 7:45 - just got her in her PJs (usually will do massage but since today she was so fussy I didn't even try) and played some very soothing music while I held her and slowly danced with her. She was finally happy and content during this time.
8:00pm DH and I gave her her medication and I swaddled her and did out night time wind down. By 8:15 she was asleep.
I am wondering if she might have an ear infection because she was so fussy and kept pulling on her ears?? Also, she seems to get very upset if we go out to run errands and is fussy the whole evening afterwards, or she will come home and sleepfor 1.5 hours! I guess she's touchy...
Shannon
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Here is a link I found on symptoms of an ear infection.
EAR INFECTIONS
It might be wise to go to the doctor just to be sure. If there is no sign of infection and she's perfectly healthy, You could try increasing her A times by tiny increments. MAybe even just 5 min at a time and work on increasing her nap time. I read somewhere in the book that the amount of time you lo sleeps is the estimated amount of A time afterwards and with 40 min naps, she is tired even less than an hour after waking. How often is she taking her medication? I was wondering because maybe you could move the times back by an hour that way she'd have her last dose at 7pm and bedtime soon after.
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sungrl-
i don't think it is an ear infection really. the pulling at the ear thing happens for many reasons...mostly overtiredness and teething.
i think you need to make your routine more solid. she does seem to be overtired and yes, overtiredness can be cumulative for some babies. little Zoey should be able to do 3hr EASY no problems...are you breastfeeding?? maybe your milk supply is low...have you tested??
just some things to think about.
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hi sungirl. My DS was always overtired at that age! I felt like his A times were very short and on BW I was told that this was totally normal. It may be agrowth spurt so shes extra tired and yes, they can catch up on sleep. I would get her to nap as much as poss these days to see if that helps and use shh pat to get her back to sleep at 5am (which is a bit too early for a wake up
HTH and let us know how uget on!
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stalking me? a little bit lol!! Great idea abut giving meds in sleep, that would work to an earlier bedtime. Altho if u really cant, many babies go to bed later and while this is not ideal, it can work for u, need to respect DDs needs.
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Thanks for the replies ladies!
Zoey won't go to bed any earlier than this... I've tried. She was staying up until 11pm from birth to about one month, then I got her going down at 10pm...and finally the last week or so it's 8 or 8:30pm. If I can get her to sleep at 7 or 7:30, she ALWAYS wakes up 30 minutes later wide awake and then she ends up being awake until 10pm so 8:00 - 8:30 is working.
She only takes the medication once and I can't give it to her any earlier because she was supposed to be taking it at 11pm and we've slowly moved it to 8pm. I'm not sure if this is why she's now wide awake at 5am but I think it could be (it could have an affect on her sleeping).
I have tried giving it to her in a dreamfeed, but she recently started rejecting the bottle (awake or asleep) and so it ends up that she doesn't get the medication at all. She HATES the taste of it and so I mix it with expressed BM and often give it to her in a syringe, but I couldn't do that in her sleep as it's quite a bit once combined with the EBM and she often chokes on it when she's awake.
I find it very confusing when on one hand I'm told to extend her A time and on the other I'm told that she's overtired and should go to nap at the first sign of sleepiness! If I keep her up longer she will be crying and really overtired...is that the goal?? ??? ???
Shannon
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BTW - all days are not like yesterday with the short A times. Today she's been better - able to go at least one hour before seeming tired. Just when she seems overtired I though I should be putting her down for naps as soon as she starts looking tired?!? ???
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I would def NOT increase A times, shes seems to be tired as it is, ur doing great hun, its really tough when ur LO has certain needs or is unwell, in the end u need to find what works for u. My suggestion is get her to take many and is u can, long, restorative naps to catch up on her sleep. KEep working on yr routine till u find what works best. Plenty of babes go to bed at 8ish so if those are her needs, thats fine. I woul work on extending naps to start with!
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samijoe - I am breastfeeding but I don't think my milk supply is low as I had oversupply for the first month or so of Zoey`s life. She doesn`t eat a whole lot...maybe 3 oz at a time whether bottle or breast, but I can`t get her to take any more than that. She normally goes 3 hours between feeds...but some days it`s a bit less and I don`t let her cry if she`s hungry.
Shannon
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I would think I would do whatever was neccessary to make sure little Zoey was well rested until she matures a bit and biological nap rhythms set in or can be "trained". Shannon, I know you have the Baby Bjorn, but do you have a sling that you could wear her in. They are much easier to take off when she is sleeping and then you could put her down in her bed, with the sling as a swaddle/cover. I think if she gets better rested her sleep might naturally get better, and if it doesn't, she will be better rested and possibly easier to get on more of a routine then.
Any more piccies of that precious little girl to share?
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I remember you had such a great start with nursing too, it's highly unlikely that you would start having supply issue now. I am sure her feeding is fine too!
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Shannon:
Just thought i would check your supply...as i had not been privy to all those other boards. It's good to see that the feeding part is going well.
I definitely wouldn't extend A times at this point in time. Please know she is overtired and it can be corrected. You will laugh as you see it happening!! We'll get little Zoey sleep trained in no time!! You are doing great!!
I started EASY with my lo at 9weeks. For the first week, whenever she looked tired I put her down for a nap. For this one week only i made her sleep in her crib for naps (since she was so little i had numerous places for her to sleep throughout the house). Then, i sat in the corner of the room where she couldn't see me...and i wrote everything down!!!
Boy did it help! I knew everything about her wants and needs after that week. I would suggest doing something similar and keeping a diary....
As Stacy suggested Shannon, all of us really can help you better if you stick to one thread. Ive already repeated a few questions because i did not know they had been answered. Us BW's will work our magic and try to help you if we can....but we need you to do your part in keeping us informed properly!
Thanks,
Sami
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Sorry I`m all over the place I just thought that since my post the other day was really about Zoey hating the car and not about sleep issues (although we did discuss them) that I should post here. My main reason for posting here was to ask if being overtired can carry over a number of days and if I should just try to have her sleeping as much as possible when she seems overtired. Anyway, we can stick to this thread. Sorry!
Today Zoey had been much less fussy and quite happy for the most part. We did give her a bath, which she HATES so that upset her but she recovered pretty well. ;) I do try and keep a diary...and would love to spend a week observing her, but we always have places we have to go with her...and this seems to throw everything off! Tomorrow she has a doctor appointment (takes 25 minutes to get there) and then Friday we have to go to DH`s grandmother`s funeral. Next week she gets her shots...etc.
I`m starting to think that Zoey is a touchy baby, which is odd because she really was a total ANGEL for the first 6 weeks of her life! Now, she hates the bath (used to enjoy it), cries inconsolably in the car and is either very fussy or totally exhausted after outings (used to be very portable), and gets overtired VERY quickly. Today she had been up for just over an hour and was happy as could be in her Papasan chair. I was watching very closely for signs that she was tired, but she was smiling and quite calm and happy, not showing any signs ...and then the phone rang and in about 2 minutes she started to fuss so I was trying to swaddle her and stuff while on the phone (it was regarding my mortgage renewal so I had to take it) and she had a total meltdown within a couple of minutes. It then took forever to calm her down and get her to sleep!! Is it possible that she is now a touchy baby or is all of this perhaps just from being overtired? The changes did seem to start when the 40 minute naps started...
So today has been like this so far...
S: Zoey went down last night at about 8:15pm.
E: I was able to get her to dreamfeed at 10:30pm from one breast (she would not take the other side, was too sleepy). She then woke at 2:30am and I fed her and she was right back to sleep.
E: Then Zoey woke at 5:30am and was wide awake. I fed her and did the shh pat thing but she was not falling asleep!!
A: I changed her diaper and let her lay unswaddled on her change table (smiling and cooing away) for about 10 minutes until I tried again.
S: By the time she was sleeping it was 7:00am!!! This is not normal for her. Usually she would wake around 5am and feed and go right back to sleep, but the past 2 nights she has been quite alert (today worse than yesterday).
S: She slept from 7:00am until 8:40am.
E: 8:45am
A: 9-10am
S: 10:10 - 10:50 - I tried to get her back to sleep but she would not go.
A: 11:15 (by the time I gave up trying to get her back to bed) - 11:45
E: 11:45
A: 12-12:20
S: 12:30-1:15 She was crying when she woke up so I picked her up and did the shhh pat until she fell asleep again but when I tried to lay her down she woke and would not go back to sleep. She started fussing so I finally decided to feed her a bit early.
E: 1:45
A: 2:00-2:30 (this is when the phone rang and the meltdown happened)
S: 3:00 (by the time I got her calmed down and alseep without waking back up) - 3:45 she has just woken and I am going to try to get her back down...
Thanks again everyone, I sure appreciate the advice.
Here`s a really cute one of her!!
Shannon
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I'm really sorry. I wasn't clear on my reply. I meant to say extend her nap times first before trying to increase A times!! It would be awful to try to increase now with short naps!! :o
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Hey Shannon - LOVE that picture of my sweet, darling niece!! ;D ;D ;D I think she looks just like ME!! ;)
Just wanted to mention that when Molly was little (first month or 6 weeks) she did sleep alot too, that's what babies do right?? Then we hit about 8 weeks and she started the short naps, not being able to sleep anywhere, being fussy, etc...etc... and I found BW. I read all the different types of babies and was sure, 100% completely sure that I had a Touchy baby. After a few weeks of blood, sweat and tears (OK, no blood but you catch my drift) we finally got the sleep training mastered and lo and behold, I had an Angel baby!!! ;D ;D
You have heard us talk about her now, how easily she goes to sleep and sleeps a minimum of 12 hours a night. Definitely not a Touchy baby!! Not that it would be a bad thing to have a Touchy baby, you just have to do things differently that's all! Guess what I'm saying is just that I agree with Binxyboo who said that once she matures a bit and her sleep rhythms settle down, you will better be able to gauge into which category she falls.
Hang in there, you are doing a super job and we all know that Zoey is just a darling baby and has an awesome Mommy!! ;D
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aww thanks Michelle! I sure am enjoying her and just feel like I finally have what I have always dreamed of!! Even with the crying and the confusion and the worry...and all that fun mommy stuff. ;D Every day is a total treasure with her. I just want her to be happy and do well, as we all do as mothers. I took her to visit some coworkers last week and she cried the whole time and I`ve not heard a word from them since (no emails saying how cute or sweet she is), so it is disappointing that it went that way and they didn`t get a chance to enjoy her and see how special she is. :( Anyway, I am also going to ask her doctor if we still have to wait another month to take her off her medication. You never know how that affects her with sleeping, etc.
Well one thing I must say... I cannot BELIEVE how easy it is to get Zoey down for the night now!!! I struggled with this for pretty much her whole life, and now it takes literally about 5 minutes to get her winded down and in bed (and put to bed with eyes open). I made up a song for her for bedtime and I swear her eyes start to close as soon as I sing it to her!!! Naps are still another story though. She seems much harder to get to sleep for naps. Often she cries and fights sleep and it takes quite a while to get her down. Which brings me to a question...if I am aiming to put Zoey down for naps when she does not appear really tired, would I expect her to fuss and cry and how long should it take to get her to fall asleep??
Today was a pretty great day with Zoey. She was so happy and we just had a great time. Unfortunately, the one long nap she managed to take today was from 5:30-7:20pm (I kept trying to wake her and she wouldn`t stay awake!). BUT, I did manage to get her in bed asleep by 8:20pm AND was able to give her a nice massage and stuff too, so we`ll see what happens tonight. She has been up and wide awake at 5-5:30am the last few mornings so it really can`t be any worse! :)
So, here was her day today...
E: 5:30am
A: 5:45 - 6:45 (changed her diaper and let her lay unswaddled on her change table (smiling and cooing away) for about 15 minutes until I tried getting her to sleep again)
S: 7:00am - 8:40am.
E: 8:45am
A: 9-10am
S: 10:10 - 10:50
A: 11:15 - 11:45
E: 11:45
A: 12-12:20
S: 12:30-1:15
E: 1:45
A: 2:00-2:30
S: 3:00 - 3:45
A: 4:00-4:30
E: 4:30
A: 4:45-5:30
S: 5:30-7:20!!!
E: 7:30
A: 7:30-8:00 (PJs and massage)
E: 8:10 medication and a bit more breast feeding
S: 8:20
I am hoping to do a dreamfeed around 10-10:30. It did extend her sleep one hour last night; instead of 1:30 she woke to eat at 2:30am.
Tomorrow she has a doctor appointment at 11:45. I also have to go to the bank to renew my mortgage. I`m a bit anxious about the whole thing because the doctor is about 25 minutes from home and she really doesn`t like the car these days. DH is going to come with us since it`s suppose to be brutally cold out tomorrow and we wouldn`t want to be putting her in a freezing car, etc...but we will be out for at least 2 hours, if not more so it is going to be tricky. We may just stop over at my best friend`s house to visit and then Zoey can nap,but otherwise I sure hope she sleeps in the car! Wish me luck!!
Shannon
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binxyboo (Michelle) - I don`t have a sling...perhaps I should get one. How long can they go in those for??
Sami - I started putting Zoey in her crib for all her naps and that seems to be when the 40 minute naps started. Did you go back to putting your LO in various places for naps after the week of observation?? I really want Zoey to be able to sleep in other beds aside from her crib since she does have to sleep in a bassinet or playpen once a week when my 3 year old step daughter is sleeping over and in her room. I also feel like she spends SO much time in her crib... I miss her!!! I miss the days when she would nap anywhere.
owelley - thank you...that definitely makes more sense!
Stacy - Zoey seems to be quite `mad` when I try to get her to nap and she is not tired. She will go from totally happy to screaming that overtired scream as soon as I swaddle her! I am not sure if she is just not tired yet or if she is somehow already overtired. This seems to happen whether she has shown signs of tiredness or not... although not EVERY time I put her for a nap.
Shannon
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LOL, I carried Riley in a sling when he was 7 -8 months old and weighed 25 lbs, in the nursing position, and I am 5ft2, 115 lbs ish.
I love slings, I can still use one now, he sits on my hip. But they are especially useful at that age. I feel they are fine and won't create "bad habits" at this age, I don't know what the BW viewpoint would be on this though. Great piccie by the way
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Hey Shannon,
I am still feeling for you for all your car issues. I would love to say it gets better but my LO is 5 months and no light at the end of the tunnel yet. Hopefully you have better luck! Especially now that we have hit those cold Alberta winter temperatures.
Anyway a couple of thoughts came to mind while reading this post. The first is I was told or read it in one of the whisperer books that babies spend their first 3 months sorting out their nighttime sleep habits, then the next 3 months is their daytime habits. This seemed to have come true for us. Perhaps that is why Zoey is so amicable for bedtime but not for naps. It may be a case of hang in there and she will whisper you when she is ready to sort out the daytime stuff. I have been finding my LO tends to get things sorted out in the end and I usually jump the gun with my impatience.
The second thought was the naptime wind down. Again when we were having some nap issues I was given some good advice. I think I told you we did two weeks of sleep training (started at 11 weeks). I actually cleared my calendar to achieve this. I spent the first week observing like crazy and watching the clock. I came to realize his natural naptimes everyday. At that point in time I was waiting to see cues. Unfortunately, he seemed to only show cues about 2 minutes before he was over the edge on his way to nuclear meltdown. One of the moderators suggested that I start my wind down 20 minutes before his cues showed up (of course I only knew the timetable based on my previous observations/notetaking). I actually found with my LO that I had to start 30 minutes before meltdown. It didn't take me that long to actually do the wind down, so I would do a 20 minute wind down and then put him in the crib about 10 minutes before meltdown would normally be expected. After a few days I found he gradually got better at predicting when he needed to sleep and there were no more meltdowns. Hopefully that all makes sense. It worked for me, so I thought I would share.
As per the posts above it may be very helpful to set a more structured (clock watching) routine in the short term then you might be able to be more flexible (cue watching/predicting) in the long term.
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just wanted to add that my DS was same, seemed liek angel baby till 6 weeks then TOTALLY chnged and then changed again around 4 mo. I think they do constantly change and u just need to adapt. A few tricks to help with the car situation: If she 's having a screaming fit, put the music on LOUD it distracts then and often they will go to sleep. Also, having a feed a little while before goign in the car ensures they r not crying from hunger. If u have automatic windows, sometimes taking the window up and down distracts them too! or singing loudly (my DS still lieks row your boat!)
re: bath, DS was the same, have u tried bathing ehr in the morning? I found DS was actually just too tired for a bath in the evenings and it would wake him up rather than realx him so switched to the mornings till he got more confident and now he LOVES his bath.
HTH
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shannon-
i did yes. i made sure she slept in the crib while i was getting the routine down pat. you will notice too...once you get her into a nice routine, it isn't so hard to switch it up once in awhile. it is the establishing the routine that is difficult. my dd went back to sleeping in different places, but once we hit the 4hr EASY i always put her in her room at nap time (you are past the sleep phase).
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Hi gals, thanks so much for all the great advice.
Yesterday went out the window - we were out for 6 hours with Zoey! I did manage to get her to have 2 40 minute naps in that time, and then she slept for just over an hour when we got home. She cried in the car a whole lot, but all in all we did ok for being out for so long! I had her in bed before 8pm and she woke once at 2:30am. She was WIDE awake then though, and it took a while to get her back to sleep after I fed her. The great news though is that she then slept until 8am (instead of 5 or 6)!! ;D
I did a nap wind down at 9am and she was asleep by 9:10 with no fussing! She did wake up after 40 minutes... I left her and she kept falling back to sleep but waking up again. Once she started to cry I went in a resettled her, she woke again after 10 minutes and I've just resettled her again. Hopefully she will stay asleep this time. We have to go to a funeral this afternoon so she needs her sleep. I am hoping I can get her to sleep through the service in my arms like the funeral we went to a few weeks back.
I have been giving Zoey a dreamfeed at 10-10:30 but I don't think she is getting enough as she still wakes after about 4 hours. I can only get her to nurse from one side, then she just refuses to open her mouth! I suppose I can pump and try a bottle but she's been rejecting a bottle lately when awake so I'm not sure it would work. I wouldn't want to pump and then have her not take the bottle and not get a dreamfeed at all....should I maybe breastfeed her the one side and then try to give her a bottle of EBM after that??
Shannon
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Ok girls...Zoey has me confused again!!!
On Friday we had to go to a funeral so we were out with Zoey from 1:30pm until around 6:30pm. She slept in my arms for 40 minutes during the service, and then again for probably less than that time at DH's aunt's house later (very loud, lots of people). She cried all the way home and was quite overtired. I fed her and put her for a sleep as soon as we got home (thinking she may just stay asleep for the night) and she woke up 40 minutes later. We were eating dinner so I put her in her swing and she was very happy and content until we gave her her medication at 8pm. I then put her to bed with no fuss. She woke at 9:30pm and since she hadn't eaten much I fed her again and she went right to sleep again. I then gave her a dreamfeed at 11pm and she slept right until 4:30!!! ;D
So yesterday I thought I did everything right...I had her napping before she even showed any signs of being tired. It was very easy to get her down for the first few naps. We were having company for dinner so I wanted to make sure she was well rested so she'd be happy when they came...
E: 8am
A: 8:15 - 9:00
S: 9:10 - 9:50 - 11:00am when she woke after 40 minutes I went and resettled her. I laid her back down and she woke 10 minutes later. I went and resettled her again but she woke right up and fussed every time I tried to lay her down. In the end I held her for the next 40 minutes while she slept.
E:11am
A:11:15-12:15pm
S: 12:30-1:10pm again I went and resettled her but this time she would not stay asleep. I held her again as she kept waking up and falling back to sleep until 2:00pm!
E:2pm
A:2:15-2:45 - at this point she hadn't even been awake for 45 minutes when she suddenly started crying. DH was cooking and I thought maybe all the smells were upsetting her so I took her to her room. She screamed the overtired cry and so I swaddled her and settled her to sleep (took longer as she was overtired now).
S:3:10-3:50 - again she woke and I tried and tried to resettle her. She would not stay asleep, even if I held her. At 4:30 our company arrived so I gave up.
E:4:40pm
A:4:55-5:25 - she was fussy and tired now
S: 5:25-6:05 - tried to resettle but could not.
A: 6:15-6:35
E: 6:40pm
A:7:00 - PJs, etc. I tried to get her to sleep now but she was awake and would not fall asleep. She was fussy but we swaddled her and put her in her swing and she did ok until about 7:45 when we gave her her medication with about 2 oz of EBM.
S: 8:00pm
E:10:45pm - dreamfeed (she took the whole bottle)
She woke at 2:15 and again at 5:20! ??? ??? ??? I figured she wasn't hungry at 2:15...but she kept crying and I was so tired so I just fed her and she went right to sleep. Same thing at 5:20. She then slept until 8:15am.
She was fussy and overtired all evening but I can't imagine what more I could have done...I know she should have had longer naps and that holding her while she sleeps is not a good solution, but I was just trying to do whatever I could to ensure she could sleep. Anyone see anything?? Any ideas why she woke at 2:15???
She's happy as can be this morning...
Shannon
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I think two night feeds is typical at this age, esp if she eats and just falls straight back to sleep. That's good that she's taking the bottle again, now many ounces were in it? Is she starting to get more distracted during feeds now that she is older, or is she stll a down to business kind of gal?
That's rough on your DH, losing both his grandma's close together like that.
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Thanks ladies, I guess I am just hung up on the fact that a few of the babies in the Aug/Sept birthclub are sleeping from 7pm until 7am with only an 11pm dreamfeed!! Of course they are also 3 or more pounds heavier than Zoey...maybe that has something to do with it?? Also, she could go for 5 or even 6 hours at night for the first 5 or 6 weeks of her life...and now since I got her going down earlier, she is always up around 2:30. If she is always waking between 2:15 and 2:30 would that mean it's a habit and not hunger? If I can't settle her but she goes to sleep after a feed does that mean it's hunger? To me she should be able to go longer than 3 or 3.5 hours from her dreamfeed.
Zoey has been all over the place the last 2 days...it's been crazy!! We've either been out or had a lot of company for about a week straight though so I think it's just a bit too much for her. Last night it took me 30 minutes to get her to sleep (normally takes 5-10 minutes)...and then she woke 40 minutes later and would not go back down!!! She was awake (smiling and happy as can be...no signs of sleepiness) until after 11pm!!! It was nuts...and she STILL woke at 2:30am and then again at 6am... and then again 8. Today she suddenly fell asleep while nursing at 7pm...and it is now 8:30 and she is still sleeping so I think she's down for the night! Little munchkin loves to keep Mommy guessing!
Here she is today...she was having a blast in her Papasan chair!!! ;D
Shannon
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Those pictures are too adorable! No wonder she doen't want to go asleep, too much fun ti be had! Those do sound like hunger wakings to me. Although I know lo's will wake if they are hungry, I don't think wakings are just related to that and size. Rememer in the book it explained how in the early months, babies who are fed via IV, who never feel the sensation of hunger, still go through the same cycles of wake-sleep as those who are fed either on demand or on a schedule?But it changes as they get older and other factors come into play. I do also think though as a nursing mom it is harder to be consistent at how you deal with nightwakings. I know there were days when Riley would not have met his diaper count by bedtime and then I would feed him everytime he woke.
But glad to see you are having improvements overall
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Arg! Well now little Zoey has decided to mix things up AGAIN and I cannot get her to bed before 9:30 or 10pm! Today went like this...
E: 7am
A: 7:15-8:00 - showed signs of sleepiness
S: 8:10-9:00
A: 9:15-10:00
E: 10:00
A: 10:15-10:45
S: 11:00-1:00pm - managed to resettle her after the 40 minute wake
E: 1:00
A: 1:00-2:15
S: 2:30-3:15
A: 3:15-3:45
E: 3:45
A: 3:45-4:00 - showed signs of sleepiness
S: 4:10-5:00
A: 5:00-6:00
E: 6:00
A: 6:15-7:00 (PJs, etc)
S: 7:15 - I was actually hoping she would be down for the night here...
but she woke at 8pm
E: 8:00
I tried to get her back to sleep (with shhh/pat in my arms), every time I laid her down (just about asleep or even with eyes closed) she started to cry. She finally drifted off at 9pm.
At 9:15 she woke again ??? ??? ??? I tried leaving her for about 5-7 minutes to see if she would settle but she just cried and cried, getting more upset.
I tried shhh/pat again she just cried and cried...whether I held her or left her in her crib...after about 15 minutes of that I gave up and brought her in my room.
I unswaddled her to see if something was wrong and she started smiling away! She was so happy all of a sudden. So, I let her stay up (I would rather let her stay up than lay in her crib or my arms crying for an hour) until DH and I gave her her medication at 10pm (was going to give it in a dreamfeed) and I tried to feed her. She wouldn't eat so I went to put her to bed and she went down in about 5 minutes. ??? ??? ??? ??? ???
This also happened the other day! Yesterday I had her down at 9pm but last week she was in bed by 8pm with no problem every night!!! What should I have done differently?
Shannon
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At a quick glance it looks like Zoey is sometimes having trouble transitioning through the 45 minute sleep cycle mark. You could try the wake to sleep method. Essentially at the 30 minute mark after she has gone to sleep go in and nudge her a little until she stirs but don't nudge her so much that she wakes up. Tracy's theory is that this essentially resets the sleep cycle and then they can make it through the 45 minute mark. I had great success with this when my LO was 3-4 months when we were having 45 minute nap difficulties. Tracy also suggests doing this at least three days in a row for those sleep times that she is regularly waking at the 45 minute mark. The thought is to develop a new habit of breaking through the first cycle instead of the old habit of waking.
I know what you mean about the crying. I give in just about every time. I am trying to work up the nerve to do a proper Pick Up/Put Down session for our nighttime difficulties but your LO is too young for that yet.
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Well, she had a horrible sleep last night and today she has been a total crab. :( I had a bad case of insomnia and was awake from 2am (she amazingly woke at this time to nurse) until 6am last night and Zoey was up for the day at 8am (she fell asleep nursing but I kept waking her in hopes that she won't be up super late tonight again). I feel like a zombie and today we have both my step daughters over night tonight. The youngest one gets up at 6am. I am so not looking forward to all this. :(
riuliani - Zoey definitely suffers from the 40 minute naps. I have tried the wake to sleep method and never have had any success. She still seems to wake at exactly the same time. ??? ??? The past 2 days I have been really observing her and here is what happens. She stirs the first time at 35 minutes after falling asleep. I have picked her up at this point and held her to get her through the nap. She then stirs (quite aggressively) off and on (about every 3-5 minutes) for TWENTY to TWENTY FIVE minutes until settling (no longer stirring) again!!! ??? She then seems to be able to sleep about another 30-40 minutes before stirring again (at which point I don't try to settle her). In the past, I have watched her settle back to sleep many times after the initial 35 minute jolt, but after about 10 minutes of settling only to stir again she cannot take it anymore. If I pick her up after 35 minutes I can hold her for the next hour and keep soothing her through the stirring. It's not a good solution but the poor little girl is so overtired!!! She often cries in her sleep and makes sad whimpering sounds about 10 minutes into this battle to stay asleep. I don't know what to do...it now seems to be affecting her bedtime, etc. :'(
Shannon