BabyWhispererForums.com
SLEEP => Night Wakings => Topic started by: Twosweetgirls on March 12, 2017, 18:34:32 pm
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Hello! Please help me get some better nighttime sleep! I have three kids and two of them are stealing my sleep. I am barely sleeping between the two of them. My 3rd daughter, 5 months old, was a great sleeper when she was born and a textbook/touchy baby. She was up to 6-8 hours a night without feeding. When my DS3 was three months old, my DS2 got terribly sick and so it was just about all of us getting by and helping DS2. I didn't notice her schedule needs changing and then about 3 weeks ago about (4.5 months old), she was doing 30 min naps. I went on the nap sleep board and got help! Now she is sleeping longer naps and falls asleep during the day well. She falls asleep to night time well, and her nighttime sleep has improved but not enough! This is an approximate of our day.
730 awake and eat
930-11 nap
11 eat
1-230/3 nap
3 eat
5 30 ish- 600 nap (very unsure about this nap. there seems to no regular time. Whenever I can)
6 eat
800 eat
830 asleep in bed
1230 wakes up to feed, back to sleep
4 wakes up to feed back to sleep
6 wakes up, needs mommy to sleep. I have fed her but she doesn't eat much
730 wakes up for the day.
Can you help me? Thanks SOOOOO much
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Hi!
I took a look at your naps thread to see what was going on. Definitely an improvement in your routine.
It's been about a week and a half since you helped DD with naps, and call me crazy, but she may need a teeeeeny push with her A times a she starts to approach 6 months. I know it sounds crazy but at the pace they grow and develop, it's not unheard of to increase A times a little every week or two.
Since you mentioned she could handle up to 2.20, try pushing out the first A to 2hr 15 mins and adjust the day accordingly. After a few days, if it doesn't make a difference, we can try tackling the last feed, and possibly a dream feed around 11:00.
How is she eating at the 4am wake? Suckling or really eating?
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ok sounds good. Push the first nap! And I will keep track of the actual schedule and her reaction for a few days. So I can have a more accurate idea of things. If the first nap goes short, should I keep the next activity to 2 hours? Also, I was noticing that she falls asleep alright but still likes me to be present and needs some help calming her arm movements. She is without a swaddle now so I find after I put her down I still have to hold her arms down till they calm down. Sometimes thats short sometimes that's longer.
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Sorry for the late response. How was yesterday?
Yes, keep the second A time at 2 for now and until we see what happens at night.
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If she seems really hungry at night you could consider squeezing in another feed in the daytime. Often as A times get longer EBF babies need top ups to make it through and get the required calories.
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So I wrote down the times of the last few days. I am sort of a zombie at night so i just pick her up and feed without even thinking. She is in a crib beside me so I don't have time to wake up when I hear her, my body just reacts! Ok, here are the schedules of the last few days.
March 13
730 (wake up)
830 (didn't eat much, not interested)
925 another feed because of previous small feed
940-1030 sleep
1230 feed
110-2 sleep- she woke and I tried to put her to sleep till 230
230 fed
240-4 sleep again
600 fed
610-7 sleep ( i woke her)
840 fed
900 asleep
12 fed both sides, pooped and then up till 1230
5 fed
March 14
730 wake
830 fed
945-1050 asleep till I woke her (to leave)
1100 fed
1-130 sleep in car
215 feed
220-445 sleep
445 fed
730 tried to feed but didn't want it
745 sleep
1000 fed (I got her up for a feed)
200 fed
400 fed
March 15
730 awake and fed
930-1015 sleep
1030 fed
1230-145 sleep
200 fed (Out of the house now till 7)
500 fed
7-730 car nap
730 fed
745 asleep
1000 (I got her up for a feed)
100 fed
400 fed
720 awake and feed
Let me know what you think I should do next. Sometimes she is falling asleep in the crib with no intervention at all, sometimes she needs me to hold her arms a bit.
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It seems like she has habitual wakings around 12/1, and 4/5. I think she needs these feeds, but we want to transfer them to the day. If you're automatically feeding her, she probably got accustomed to it. If she stirs but doesn't cry, she could potentially go back to sleep. Especially at the first wake around 12/1.
Is your goal to go from 3 to 2 NF?
Since you're already waking her to feed, I would wait until 10:30/10:45 so that she can go longer and get passed the 12/1 time. When I did this, my son started waking around 3am, instead of 1 and 4. He also woke again out of habit at 5, but we nursed less and less until we dropped that one, too. For now, work on dropping the 12/1 feed, then we can tackle the other one.
I would also continue to feed her right when she wakes at 7-7:30, and right after every nap. And like Ali said, offer a top-up feed in the middle of one of her A times.
Here's an overview of how to drop night feeds.
When can I stop feeding at night?
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hello again. 6 month old now. I am still working our sleep issues. She is waking up many times at night, so often that I can't remember. For a few nights it was teething but it doesn't seem to be that anymore. I'm wondering if I am keeping her up too long between naps? She turned 6 months old last week and Ive been keeping her up almost 3 hours between naps. Yesterday it was
800 awake
1100-1200 nap
230-330 nap (was super grumpy and seemingly tired)
4-5 nap
800 bedtime
1100 fed
(i have no idea how many wake ups, I was a sleep zombie!)
So what Im wondering is if her long active times are making her wake up at night? I just can't figure this out. I'm going on 3 months of many wake ups and I can't figure out how to fix this! I just need even a normal amount of wake ups, I can handle. Please!
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If she were doing 2 long naps of 1.5-2hrs I expect 3hr A times would work well. The routines you posted look for like her first A time is always under 2.5hrs and then she's short napping. It would then make sense that a 3hr second A time is too much. If her first A time is now 3hrs but she is still short napping then 3hrs next time is probably too much.
It looks like a lot of her naps are 1hr. Have you considered doing wake to sleep?
Have you started offering any solid foods yet?
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Ok thanks! And sometimes I have to wake her up to do school runs but even when I don't the naps seem short! I will try shortening the second activity time and see what happens. Get back to you guys here! When our schedule is good I will try to work on any nighttime props. Thanks!