frustrated mommy

[mgillard]

Hi. I just went back to work and my 11 wk old dd is home w/her daddy. We have been having difficulty getting her to nap for more than 45 minutes for many weeks. However, the past 2 days she has slept for 1 1/2 to 2 hrs each time. While I'm thankful that she is sleeping, in looking at her routine (yes, I make him write it down) I noticed that it's more like AEASY than EASY. Granted, the first A is not real long, but neither is the second A. I explained to him my concern about feeding to sleep, but he insists she's awake when she goes into her crib, so I can't really argue about that. My question is, if it's working should we just not try to 'fix' it? Does this create patterns that may be difficult to break further down the road? I haven't ruled out the possiblity of some other factor (ie growth spurt, etc) that may be making her extra sleepy, but I also have a hard time telling him, with a straight face, that he should do something different. Especially since she is sleeping better. Her night sleep has always been great, so that's not a concern. thanks!

[HeatherC]

An AEAS pattern is very common and nothing to be concerned with in my opinion.  As for it creating problems down the road, there are none that I can think of.  In fact, the older she gets, her days will begin to really look different from EASY.  She will begin to develop longer periods of A time, begin taking snacks during that A time, drop naps down to 1 a day, have 3 meals a day plus 2-3 snacks, bottles/bf will be replaced with sippy cups at meal times and during play, and there won't be a bedtime bottle/bf anymore.  Of course, all that is down the road.  Long story short, if what she is doing now is working, go with, sure enough it will change again anyway.
Best wishes!

[*Mona*]

I wouldn't really worry as like PP said it's so common to have some A before E and followed by another A. and in this case those A times are a bit shorter but if you add them alltogether you get a very reasonable amount of A time with a feed in the middle. we've got it ALL the time. especially if dd's naps are only 45 minutes...
now, sometimes we get AEASAS lol  

good luck! I'll be going back to work in a month or so and I'm already worried!

xxxx
Monika

[mgillard]

well, i think it was probably a growth spurt (her sleeping normal), cause she's doing her 45 minute thing again today. her daddy is the frustrated one, now. guess that's the good thing about working...so now the question is, what to do when she's just got about an hour to go before the next anticipated feed time and she's not sleeping. i tell him just to keep trying as she is obviously tired, but i know he's tired too. i suppose i can't be the one to worry about it, but it's hard to give up control, even to daddy. i suppose i should get used to that. i just wish she would fall into some sort of routine so we can all be more rested. i know she'll get better about napping, but the question is when? and what to do when she won't nap longer than 45 min. she gets into a cycle of falling asleep while eating as she's so tired, but then she's up early and it starts all over. i know it will not be like this forever. thanks for the words of encouragement.