I could post this pretty much anywhere in the sleep section as my 4.5 month old is having short naps, lots of NW and EW as well. We had been stuck in the 30-40 minute nap rut, but now (past 3-4 weeks) we have also been dealing with 2-4 NW with EW around 5. I am so exhausted I can't think straight much less have the patience to do just about anything useful for her. I try to sleep when she sleeps but when she only sleeps for 30 min, of which I usually only manage 10, I wake up so distraught I often end up crying. I am miserable and I don't feel like I am giving her what she needs which makes me more miserable. Ironically, she is getting about the same amount of sleep as me but is happy as a clam during her awake time- making me so confused on what to do. Even when she wakes at night, she is happy- as long as I come into her- if I let her fuss to see if she will get herself back to sleep, she will eventually work into a full out cry. During the NW, she does not always seem hungry, but it is often the only way to get her back to sleep (and she takes full feeds- even more confusing). The other night I was up for an hour and a half before I finally fed her- did not fall asleep on the boob but went down easily after that with shh/pat. She does use a dummy but plugging her back in only seems to make her angry so I don't think that is why she is waking. Lately, with her naps, I am lucky to get past the 30 min mark, which seems to me OT, but she wakes up OT because of her nights and is literally showing tired signs (yawning, rubbing eyes) within 30 minutes of waking, but will play happily for over 2 hours before getting fussy. I really feel that the key is to get her sleeping during the day, but I have no idea how to do this because I am so, so tired. When she wakes from naps, she is wide awake and happy, but like I said shows tired signs almost immediately. I have been doing a lot of APOP, especially in the early mornings because I am just too tired to do anything else. DH is absolutely useless at night and even when he gets up with her, I have to take over within 10 minutes. I don't know how to do PU/PD with a dummy, but I am reluctant to wean the dummy because it helps her get to sleep, another vicious cycle we are in. I am vigorously keeping track of her EASY but no 2 days seem to be the same. I will post the last couple of days (complete with my AP) to get any feed back, but keep in mind that the 2 days before these were different again. I have also played around with her A time (both lengthening and shortening it) without success.
2 days ago:
EW at 0530- after 30 mins of shh/pat brought her into bed with me
Awake 0700
E 0700
A 0700-0850
S 0850-0925 attempted to resettle, but DD was happy and wide awake so got her up
A 0925-1020
E 1020
A 1020-1110
S 1110-1245 Surprisingly long nap!!
A 1245-1400
E 1400
A 1400-1515
S 1515- 1630- Slept in Pram
A 1630-1700
E 1700 Solids followed by BF
A 1730-1830
S 1900 Took a very long time time to get to sleep, but I thought with the longer naps, maybe night would go better, but...
NW #1 2130- BF to get back to sleep (usually would have DF at 10 or 1030)
NW #2 2430- again, BF to get back to sleep
NW #3 0300- tried for an hour not to feed, but broke down at 0400 & BF
Yesterday
Awake 0700
E 0700
A 0700-0830- grumpy baby all morning
S 0830-0910- Very hard to get down- started at 0800 I think
A 0910-1000
E 1000
A 1000-1110
S 1110-1150
A 1150-1330
E 1330
A 1330-1410
S 1410-1445
A 1445-1640- Happy this whole time
CN 1640- 1700 in car
E 1700 Solids and BF
A 1740-1830
S 1830
NW #1 2130 BF back to sleep (2nd night in a row that she woke before DF)
NW #2 2330-0100 Possibly had tummy pain as this ended with a big poopy nappy
NW #3 0200 Does not seem to be in pain this time, BF
NW #4 0400 Eventually BF because I was so, so tired
Today so far:
EW 0530ish, BF at 0600, AP and brought into bed with me
Awake 0745
A 0745-1000
E 1000
S 1020-1055
A 1055-1200 At 1110 or so, started showing tired signs again, tried several times to get her to go back to sleep.
S 1200- now
So, I know I have made some huge mistakes here, and her routine is all over the shop, but I don't know how to get her on track when we are both so tired all the time. Today, I purposefully tried altering the routine per advise from early childhood center- ie the S after E. We will see. She also recommended dropping the DF since it is not working anyway and is waking her up when she is actually staying asleep, but it seems DD is waking for it now... PLEASE PLEASE HELP!!