Thanks for replying.
Here's her schedule:
7:30am - wake up and feed
9:30 - nap
11:30 - wake up and feed
1:30 - nap
3:30 - wake up and feed
5 or 5:30 - catnap (crib or stroller, depending on how other naps went) for about 30min
6:30 - bath
7pm - feed
7:40 - bedtime (we read books to separate bottle from bed)
Before each nap I change her diaper, hold her for a couple of minutes, put her in the crib, read a book, turn on her mobile and close the curtains while the mobile is playing. I then give her the pacifier and walk away. I tried a few different rituals but found this to e bext because she never cries when I put her down this way. After I walk away she'll move around for a little bit and I usually go back when she seems ready to sleep to replace the pacifier. Keep in mind that I have a clear path from her bedroom door to the headboard of her crib so I go behind her so she doesn't see me. Sometimes all it takes is replacing the pacifier a few times and she'll fall right asleep. Sometimes I have to sh/pat and hold her hands a little (I don't swaddle because I just never did and she is now used to sleeping with her hands up above her hand - when she's flailing too much I'll hold her arms down and oat her shoulder, that gets her calm right away). The same thing at bedtime. I know Tracy says to do the bath after the bottle but I've done it bath first since she was born so I think I shouldn't change it now.
This is her schedule that I started 2 1/2 weeks ago. She was on a 3hr routine before that and I didn't know I was supposed to adjust at 4 months and only started looking for help when she started refusing to take the afternoon nap and the morning nap got shorter, bedtime difficult, etc. Then I found Tracy's book and transitioned her to the 4hr routine, staring July 2nd. Because she had already gotten in the habit of taking 45min naps it's been hard to extend her naps. I started giving the paci back to her to extend her naps. I only had to do PU/PD the first couple of days and after that just sh/pat. Each day it'd take less time to get her back to sleep and on some random naps she'd go the 2hr straight. The best progress was these past 3 days: on Monday she slept 2 hrs straight in the am, Tuesday she woke up but went right back to sleep once I put the paci and today she slept 2hrs straight. The afternoon is a little harder, she sometimes wakes up and start playing with her feet, doesn't necessarily cries but eventually starts to moan a lot. But anyway, it's been easier to put her down and her daytime sleep has definitely improved. She does need the pacifier to first go to sleep at night and at bedtime. When I changed her schedule I considered eliminating the paci but since she always slept all night after it falls out I didn't think it was a prop and decided to let her keep it.
The night waking started on July 2nd, the first day I started 4hr easy. She cried at 11:30pm and I was sure she was hungry since she had had one less feeding that day. But I gave her a pacifier and then went to get a bottle ready but she just fell back to sleep. The next night she didn't wake up and I thought i was in the clear, but then a couple of nights later she cried again. I always wait a little before going in and a few time she went back to sleep on her own. There was also one time I saw her awake on the video monitor, eyes opened and with hiccups but she wasn't crying so I didn't go in and about half an hour later saw that she put herself to sleep. So I know she can do it and wasn't hungry or she would have cried. But most nights when she cried she doesn't stop so I have to go in. Usually first thing I do is give her the pacifier and she usually goes right back to sleep. So it's not a major problem for me except I don't want to reinforce it and make it worse. One night she actually took a long time to fall back asleep and cried again and the next day she looked really tired. I haven't tried getting her to sleep without giving the pacifier. Should I do sh/pat? But won't that create a habit to? Btw, the wakings are at random times.
One more thing. I also started her on formula the day after I started her on easy. I knew I should do two changes at once but I didn't have a choice. She used to have only breastmilk, sometimes on breast and other in a bottle. I then started giving her one bottle of formula a day and now she's having 2, which is half of all her feedings. She seems to have adapted well except last week she didn't poop from Wed til Monday, and after that big poop on Monday she hasn't pooped again. It looked normal when it came out though, but she had to strain a lot when she was doing it. I'm not sure she could be having some kind of belly ache at night...
Anyway, I wrote too much... I hope this helps you get an idea of the situation. What do you think I should do if she wakes up again tonight?
