8 week old NW's

[jcsmom]

I have a thread open in the EASY forum so feel free to lock it. I need some new eyes. I am having an impossible time getting my 8 week old on EASY. She has EW's from 4-5 after which she will only sleep for 40 minute increments. Today she has been up since 4:40. There is no EASY to post since everyday is so different. Yesterday looked like this:
Wake 6am-dozed til 7 nursing so was unsure of A.
S: 7:40-9:40
S: 10:45-11:35
S: 12:45-2:45
S: 4-6 ( we woke her)
S:7 pm but settled at 7:15
Wake 9:30 (usually) sleeps 5 -6 hours then 3-4 hours then 40 minutes
Wake 1:30
Wake 3:45
Wake 4:40
Could not get her back to sleep. Prior to this we were doing a 45 min A and fighting bedtime so we upped it to 60 and now it's 1:15. Is her too high A causing the EW, too much day sleep as the EASY mod suggested?
She sleeps all naps in the swing as she will not sleep elsewhere. I mean nowhere else, not car, sling, stroller. She goes down for the night in her crib and after all NW's. I am baffled and exhausted. She only eats at the first 2 NW's. She eats every 3 hours in the day. She's a big baby. 12 lbs. I really need some support here.

[becj86]

Ok, so I have it clear, she feeds at 6/6:30 before bed, then again at 9:30 and 1:30 but not after that til WU at 6am? Three NF's is very normal at this age - pretty much 3hrly around the clock, so perhaps you issue with her waking every 40-60min in the early AM is hunger - have you tried adding in another feed to rule this out?
Another possibility if you're breastfeeding is that she's taking in some air at that 1:30 feed if you're fuller than for other feeds (to cope with the additional milk flow) and then waking with gas pain.

Looks like she needs about 1hr15 A time - the short nap was after 1hr5 and the rest of the naps were longer. I'd have probably done BT a little later off the back of a 2hr nap, just to separate night sleep from day sleep.

I don't know that you're having too much day sleep overall, but I do think that if you have that long nap in the PM regularly, you may be seeing her shifting her day, like a 4-4 day rather than 7-7 which is more like what you want, I presume. Are you cluster feeding her in the afternoon? What other signals are you giving her that its time for a long stretch of sleep rather than a nap?

[jcsmom]

I feed her pretty much everytime she wakes. Her EW's have been going on for ages so in the EASy forum we've been toying with the idea of too much daysleep. The last 2 days she has had late 2-2.5 hour naps and her days seem to have gone from 4-4 and last night 3-3. She slept from 3:05-5:35 last night and we woke her, gave her a bath and I nursed her but she was so tired and wanted to go staight back. Then she was up at 11 and at 3 I heard her chatting and she cried for me at 3:53.That would have been a great night if it were 7-7 lol! It took over an hour to get her back then she slept an hour then snoozed while nursing. How should I handle late naps like that. It seems she does 3 long(2-2.5) 1 short nap. Her day sleep is still over 6 hour unless you include what she does after her EW and then it's over 7 you know? My husband seems to think her days run from 4-4. He's always thought that.

[becj86]

My husband seems to think her days run from 4-4. He's always thought that.

I agree with him.

To shift the day, I think you need to keep her sleeping or at least dozing til 6 or 7 if you can, then push her A time to 1hr15 for each A (particularly the second one which seems to be the one that's a little shorter and resulting in a short nap) and work on getting your three long naps at the front end of the day and shifting the catnap to the end of the day - its purpose is really to tide her over to BT and get your day to be a reasonable length. If she sleep a long nap for the last one of the day, cap it at 45min if she's had three long naps (1.5hr+) or 1.5hr if she's thrown a catnap in somewhere during the day. Keep her up for 1hr15 before bed. Add something to your BT routine that signals that THAT is her cue to sleep for the night.

Are you BFing? If so, are you engorged before that 1:30am feed? If so, she could be waking with gas and you're then perpetuating that cycle by feeding again so soon. I don't mean you shouldn't feed her if she's hungry, but she is unlikely to be hungry an hour after she last ate.

[jcsmom]

She was going 7-12 the 12:45-4ish before this week. Now the erratic wakings since she started this long nap at the end of the day thing. We've upped her A and today she still had a 40 minute AM nap, 2.5 hours which I woke her from, then 55 mins then her catnap was 1.5 hour which I had to cap. Before this she was doing 3 long and one short. I am exhausted!

[jcsmom]

I only feed her when she wakes if it's been 2 hours. When she was waking in the 4-5 o'clock hour I would feed her. She was getting 2 night feeds. After the 5 o'clock feed she was awake but would settle and sleep 40 mins. Then I could usually get another 40 mins to bring us to 7. I find the first A of the day hard because sometimes she just snoozes from when she wakes from her 40 mins or sometimes she sleeps the full 40 again. Confusing isn't it? Her nights were generally 7-12 and then to 4ish hour. Now since these late naps it's gone all wonky again with the wakings. Confusing isn't it? But she has been awake in the 5 o'clock hour since about week 3.

[jcsmom]

So I am noticing since we upped her A, she is waking earlier for a feed, her last naps is really long and the middle of the night waking have gotten worse. Now I am inclined to think she is majorly OT.
Prior to this she slept 7-12 or 1 and then til 4ish. Now she is waking at 11 and the last few nights have still  had other wakings.

[becj86]

So I am noticing since we upped her A, she is waking earlier for a feed,

After naps? How long are the naps? Do you think you may have a growth spurt happening?

[jcsmom]

Yesterday she slept 40 mins in the AM then 2.5 hours where we woke her, then an hour the 1.5 hours where we woke her at 5:35. She was up til 6:50pm then up again at 11pm, 12:30, 1:30, 3:30, 4:30. After 4:30 she would not go back down. I finally put her in her swing at 5:45 and she slept til 7. I am not sure she's having a growth spurt because she didn't want to eat only at 11:30 and 3:30. The other times she was just wide awake. She's feeding as normal in the day too. I am so confused. So basically she was up from 11 with 1.5 hours as her longest stretch after. All other stretches were 40 mins.

[becj86]

There's no gas or pain issues? There has to be something causing such frequent waking. My first guess would be gas - that she's taking in some air when she's having that feed (if she is waking at 11 and she's not feeding til 11:30 - what's going on in that 30min?) and then waking in discomfort.

[jcsmom]

I always burp her then and she has a good one. These frequent waking started after we upped her A time to 1:15. And since she started having that late nap. She has been doing that late nap for a few days now. We give her normal A after. Could that kind of frequent waking be from a build up of OT? Her naps have been good almost too good still.
Today:
S:after being awake from 4:30.5:45-7 in swing
S: 8:15-10:00 needed resettling
S: 11:15-12:45 then she nursed and fell asleep right away for 40 mins. Then she nursed again and dozed off perhaps for another 40 mins.
S: 3:45-6.(Here is the problem I think)
Would OT cause her to wake every 40 mins? She seems happy to stay awake for the 1:15 but yawns at 45 mins and then no other real signs. She does fuss as soon as we put her sleep sack on
S: 7:15
Also, she sleeps in her swing for all her naps. Her naps were all 20 mins before that. Could the swing be becoming a prop so she can't settle at night anymore?

[jcsmom]

Last night was marginally better.
Bed just before 7 wake 10:50 wake 2:30 wake 4:30 then she went back for and hour til 6:15. I tried to get her to doze til 7. She sucked the paci and seemed in and out. However her AM nap was 40 mins. I went by her 6:15 wake and put her down at 7:30. I am so confused by her. It consumes my whole day.

[becj86]

If she was dozing til 7, or at least resting - take 6:45/7 as her wakeup time. That 40min nap was probably because she wasn't tired enough to sleep a full nap.

That is a better night. I think the consistency of making sure she sleeps/dozes/rests til 7am and gets that last nap cut off and has clear messages as to when the night starts should help if you stick at it for a week or so. It could be sooner, but best to stick like glue for a week and then re-evaluate if you need to.

[jcsmom]

I have a hard time figuring out her wake up time as she is more often than not awake before 6 and then dozes while nursing. I am not sure to count the dozing as actual sleep or not. Today she woke at 6:15 and nursed and dozed. So I made her first nap from 6:15 and put her down at 7:30. She woke after 40 mins but went right back and slept for 2 hours total. So do I make wake up 6? She's had 3 two hour naps today. Which is better that her night which worries me. She can go 3 hours between feeds and have 2 hour naps and at night goes 1.5 hours sometimes. I waffle between her being OT and UT at night.

[becj86]

If she's dozing, count it as sleep, or at least half the dozing time. Best off counting the whole lot as sleep and resettling the OT nap if you end up with one (unlikely).