Hi ladies!
I am new to this site and, honestly, to the whole baby whisperer idea. I have been following a lot of Weissbluth's ideas and have a "sleep consultant" on the Baby Sleep Site, but I am need some reassurance that what I am doing is the right thing. Weissbluth is all about "sleep begets sleep" and following baby's cues on when to put them to sleep. I did just that for about the first 4 months, at which time I was at my wit's end with my baby girl's (Emilia) 35 minute naps all day! I realized I needed to teach her how to sleep without being held. That didn't take long
and soon her naps were up to 2-3 hours. However, then she started having a 3-hour night waking. The 'sleep consultant' said she was getting too much sleep during the day and wasn't tired enough to sleep all night. So, I limited her naps. Now, her naps are 1 hour and 10-15 min. (I thought this was pretty good considering the 35 min naps we came from, but reading posts on this site, it sounds like that means she is UT???). We are in the middle of our 3-2 transition; on day 8. The consultant said it was time because Emilia is still having a long 1-hour night waking. We started with 2-2.5 hour A times, so I decided to do it a bit more gradually than the consultant prescribed. So the first 5 days were simply extending her wake times to get to 3 hours. Her wakings have yet to cease, although last night she did get to sleep rather quickly after I fed her.
I guess my questions are:
1. Is the 3-2 transition the right thing to do for these night wakings?
2. Is it normal for her to seem completely OT by time we reach the 3 hour mark? Will that get better?
3. Should her naps be longer? If so, what are the best ways to help lengthen them?
4. On a different note -- she is a very quiet and content baby, even when she wakes up in the middle of the night. I have a video monitor so I can see when she wakes - not sure if I am just super sensitive to her sounds or if our sleep cycles are now in sync, but I am not woken by crying. If I just go in and feed her (& Tylenol now because she is teething - wakings have always happened - don't think they are related) she may or may not go right back to sleep. Most often, no. She'll take anywhere from 30-90 minutes to get back to sleep. If I wait for her to cry, she will take at least 25 minutes to do so, then we are in the same situation as above (varied time of going back to sleep). Should I always wait for a cry, even if it means she is up longer?
I guess it would help to know that she is 8 months 1 week old.
Thanks in advance!
Mary