More Wake Time

[marleysmom]

My lo is 18 weeks and on a 3 hour easy schedule.
Her schedule changes every day but the routine is always the same.
Sleep, eat, play.
She eats a bottle every 3 hours (6-7 ounces), when she finishes her bottle she plays for about 45 minutes and is then ready for a nap. It is getting very tiring because she is still taking 4 naps a day, plus a cat nap!! It seems like all we do is lay her down for sleep, but if we don't she is very grumpy and fussy! I can't stretch out her bottles because that would require her staying awake for longer stretches. I'm not sure what to do, I want more play time with my baby!! And I want to stop feeling like a prisoner in my house because it seems like it is always time for the baby to sleep!
She sleeps from 8pm until 6am (bottle) then goes back to bed until 9:30am.

[Taylor's Mommy]

Hi There and congratulations on your cute bunny!  Can you please lay out her routine for the entire day so I can get a sense of what her day is like and let me know her average length of naps.  Your lo is just 4 months old so pretty soon you will see she will be able to stay awake longer bits of time, but I do know how frustrating it is when all they want to do is sleep!  We don't want to rush her and stretch out Activity time if she is not ready, and end up with an overtired baby.  But once I see her routine we can see if and where we can try to stretch her out.

Andrea

[marleysmom]

Ok, her schedule is basically like this
5:00 - 6:00am - she wakes for a bottle, gets a diaper change and goes right back to sleep.
8:30 - 9:00am Wake for the day, bottle, diaper change, play time
Exactly one hour after she wakes up she begins rubbing her eyes, yawning, and starts fussing so we lay her back down.
9:30 - 10:00- Lays back down for an 1 1/2 to 2 hour nap. Always 45 minutes after she is laid down she wakes up, fusses for about 2 minutes and goes back to sleep.
11:00 - 11:30 Wakes from nap for a bottle, diaper change and playtime. Again one hour later she is ready to go back down.
12:00 - 12:30  Lays down for another 1 1/2 - 2 hour nap.
2:00 - 2:30 - wakes from nap, bottle, diaper change, outdoor playtime. One hour later, she's tired again.
3:00 - 3:30 Lays down for a nap again about 1 1/2
5:00 - wakes for bottle, diaper change, and playtime
6:00 - 45 min cat nap
7:30 - bath
7:45 - bottle
8:00 - bedtime, we don't hear a sound until sometime between 5 and 6.

She eats between 6 - 7 ounces at each bottle, so between 32 - 35 ounces a day, she is almost 16 lbs, and 26 inches long (BIG baby.) She is also very fond of her crib, she prefers to sleep there to anywhere which makes it difficult to go ANYWHERE with this schedule. If she doesn't have her crib she normally doesn't sleep.

[Taylor's Mommy]

I have to say I agree wholeheartedly with stacy.  If it ain't broke don't fix it.  Try gradually increasing like Stacy said, 5-10 minutes every few days if you really want to try.  Other than that, great job!

[*Natasha*]

I agree as well my DD was always a good sleeper doing the same thing until about 3 months when diagnosed with reflux. When we had that under control she went back to being a great sleeper. At 3-4 months i slowly extended her awake time by 5 mins over a few weeks so she was eventually doing 2up 2 down with a catnap in the afternoon to get her through. You are luck as DD decided at 5 months she no longer wanted her cat nap so she is awake alot more now. However still a great sleeper having 2x1.5-2hr sleeps and sleeping 11.5-12hrs at night.
So in other words enjoy it while you can