Don't know what to do during the day

[emfields]

This is my first post so excuse me if i mess up somewhere! 

My daughter is four months old and i am having a few problems during the day.

1) She just wont nap properly
2) She wont play etc much either, if she does it is for about 10 mins then she will cry alot (leading to screaming) and i end up holding/cuddling her. I think this could be because of being tired.

She is a bit of a cat napper tends to do 10-15 mins in between feeds (sometimes done with a bit of help of sucking my little finger which is a pain to have to do)
From 5pm onwards she becomes hard work and cries alot (definately over tired) I dont want to let her go to sleep then with it coming up to her bed time.

I have tried putting her down in her cot when she starts falling asleep on me but she just wakes up and kicks up a fuss. I have done quite a few things to try to help.

The most frustrating thing is that i have got the night time sleep sorted, as i can put her down awake and she goes off to sleep on her own for 12 hrs. Occasionally she may get up once but will go back to sleep on her own. I find it odd how she will sleep at night but not in the day.

Can anyone offer any advice or suggest a nap time routine around what we do now? I would like to try and get her to sleep around certain times in the day
And will her play times and activity improve once i have her sorted with the naps?

Her approximate daily routine at the moment is as follows:

8:00am wakes up and has bottle (4/5oz)
11:30am bottle (5/6oz)
3.30pm bottle (5/6oz)
7:00pm bath time
7:30pm bottle (5/6oz)
8:00pm bed time
11:30pm dream feed (3/4oz)
4:00am may wake up for a feed but not often (only 3oz given)

Thank you

[Meg's Mom]

Hi there!  and welcome  :wink:

Just so that i know where we are starting from, can you tell me if you have read Tracy's new book? 

I'll check back.

[emfields]

I have only read "the secrets of the baby whisperer" so far.

 

[Meg's Mom]

ok, hang in there and I will get back to you tomorrow morning :-)

[emfields]

will do  :wink:

[Meg's Mom]

Hi and welcome also sorry for the delay…LO is cutting more teeth!

**I have tried putting her down in her cot when she starts falling asleep on me but she just wakes up and kicks up a fuss. I have done quite a few things to try to help. **
I would start w. a strict and consistent nap wind down (can give you suggestions if you don’t have one) and put her down drowsy but awake (falling asleep you on is probably too late).  Once in her crib, use shh/pat or pat or shh until she is asleep.  You will need to stick with it,
keep in mind that your baby will fight you.  She will also regress - both are normal - it will take time for her to learn the new way to sleep.

You will also need to extend the nap when she wakes early w/ shh/pat or pu/pd, which is hard work - i know from experience.  Also you will need to be prepared to give it 2 weeks to really see if it will help.


**I find it odd how she will sleep at night but not in the day. **
I have read day and night sleep is handled by different parts of the brain, so this would account for that.

**Can anyone offer any advice or suggest a nap time routine around what we do now? I would like to try and get her to sleep around certain times in the day **
Try something like this
8:00am wakes up and has bottle (4/5oz)
9.45 start Nap winddown routine
10.00 NAP till 11.30

11:30am bottle (5/6oz)
1.15 start Nap winddown routine
1.30pm NAP till 3.30

3.30pm bottle (5/6oz)
5.15pm start Nap winddown routine
5.30pm CATNAP till 6.00 or 6.30

7:00pm bath time
7:30pm bottle (5/6oz)
8:00pm bed time
11:30pm dream feed (3/4oz)
4:00am may wake up for a feed but not often (only 3oz given)

**And will her play times and activity improve once i have her sorted with the naps? **
I hope so, can you tell me more about her behavior … you say won’t play much…what do you do, what does she do?  Have you ruled out gas, reflux or colic?  Tracy talks about this in detail in the new book.

Last tips:
-read Tracy's new book and start w/ the chapter on teaching sleep
-download Tracy's sleep interview
-read the announcements about teaching sleep for 3-5mos (the last 2 are on the top of the forum).

Also:
Swaddle, use white noise, room dark!

Hope that helps!

[emfields]

Thank you, you have been very helpful!

I will give the nap times a good go over the next few weeks. I did manage to sucessfully put her down for a nap for 45mins last weekend so i think she has the potential to have them.

In reference to her not playing well, what i was meaning was she would play for 5 minutes or so and then cry all of a sudden. It seems to have changed this week. I have been trying to keep an eye on her and as soon as she starts fussing i change what she is doing. Seems to be slightly working so fingers crossed.

Thank you again