Could good naps have caused a bad night?

[J & J's Mom]

I know, I know... good sleep begets good sleep.  But yesterday was so perfect in the nap department and so NOT perfect once bedtime hit.

My DD is 11.5 weeks old and has been falling asleep independently for both naps and bedtime since about 8 weeks.  She does not use a pacifier at all and she's breastfed exclusively.  I have finally had some success getting her to take a bottle but she's only getting an ounce or two of BM for now just to get her used to taking one. 

This was our day yesterday:

Up and E @ 7:30
A
S: 9:05 - 10:40

E: 10:40
A
S: 12:05 - 1:35

E: 1:40
A
S: 3:15 - 4:15 (woke her a bit early to eat - trying to cluster feed)

E: 4:20
A
S: 5:45 - 6:30 (catnap)

E: 6:30
A: Bath and jammies around 7:00
E: 7:30 and
S: by 8:15ish

So great day, right?  Last night I did a DF around 10:20.  She was right back down but woke and ate every TWO HOURS after the DF.  I usually get at least one stretch between 4 - 5 hours.  She was up at 1, 3, 5 and then up for the day at 7am.

She did seem to be interested in eating, although she does pass right back out while she's feeding.  Her daytime feeds are usually about 15 minutes and nighttime feeds can be anywhere from 10 - 20.

Why was she up so much???  She didn't seem any hungrier than usual during the day (I'd love to blame a growth spurt).  She's having her first nap now and I'm about to go get her up - she was up at 7am and went down for her nap at 8:35 and it's 10:05 now.

[t220]

oh my! I had the exact same thing happen last night for my lo!! She is 12 weeks on Monday. Her naps were okay during the day (better than normal and very similar to your lo) and then she was up every 2 hours at night. I was feeling very discouraged today b/c I was under the impression good naps=a good night sleep...not so!

[corimorgan]

The same thing happened to me after my 1 good day of naps. I say 1 because that is all I have ever had. Mine is a chronic 40 min napper. But this one day was perfect I was jumping up and down I couldn't be happier with her naps and how easy our EASY was, but that night the same thing... she was waking to eat after only a couple of hours and she had been going 6 hours.

Who knows I am so over all of this at the moment! I will be interested in the replies to your post.

[Peek-a-boo]

My DD is 11 weeks old and pulled something similar the past two nights after slightly improved days of napping.  I'm thinking (hoping, praying) growth spurt--blip that will resolve itself.  Perhaps it's an 11 week old consipracy. 

[marensmama]

I'm in agreement with Bethany.  Babies normally have a GS around 12 weeks.  If it is a GS, it normally lasts for ~3 days and then life returns to normal. 

[J & J's Mom]

Okay, would LOVE to blame another growth spurt but this CAN'T be coincidence!!

We had two days in a row of terrible naps - she just wasn't taking decent naps no matter what I did.  She ended up short about an hour of sleep both days but then had GREAT nights with only 2 night wakings and 5 - 6 hour stretches which I don't usually get.  Then yesterday she had perfect naps... she was back to her usual 1.5 hours or so for at least two of them and we had a TERRIBLE night!!  Up 4 times again.... pretty much every 2 hours.

What the heck?

[J & J's Mom]

Now that I'm thinking about it... maybe the last one wasn't a growth spurt and this one is?  Not sure... she is 3 months old today EXACTLY and yesterday she had marathon nursing sessions.  She ate the same amount of times (which for us is usually 2.5 - 3 hours apart) but she was taking forever to eat.  And the last couple of days I've actually felt some engorgement.  Nothing really uncomfortable but around the time she was due to nurse I was so full I thought I might burst.  It doesn't usually feel like there is anything in there.  And she drank it all!

[Peek-a-boo]

Our blip last time turned out to be because I'd eaten some dairy accidentally and she's dairy intolerant. 

On these perfect nap days, how much day sleep is she getting?

[J & J's Mom]

She averages about 4.5 hours of day sleep total and 11 - 12 at night.

I can usually get two long naps (1.5 - 1.75 hours) and one shorter one (maybe 45 min - 1 hour) and then a catnap in the afternoon.

[Peek-a-boo]

Hmmm .  . . that doesn't sound like so much day sleep that it would cause problems . . .

[J & J's Mom]

I know it, right?  It just seems to strange that we had the bad nights after the really good days as opposed to the really bad days. 

On the bad days (more short naps around 30, 40, 50 minutes) her total sleep was maybe 3.5 hours, which with the 12 hour night still equals enough total sleep in 24 hours (but barely).

[Peek-a-boo]

On bad nap days, does she end up with extra feeds?  I know this is the case at my house.  I sometimes wonder if it's about calories more at this age, kwim?

It's also possible that OT from one day = long night sleep, but OT from multiple days might start to accumulate and cause trouble . . .

[J & J's Mom]

Hmmm... number of feeds stays the same but that does make sense.  What typically happens on bad naps days is she does EASAEAS... etc.  I'll usually try to get the feed closer to the last nap as opposed to the next one so she's not too sleepy to eat.  Sometimes the feeds are more evenly spaced apart on bad nap days because the end of the day feeds aren't so close together.  On a good day her last two feeds can be two hours apart or less depending on what time she woke that morning.

[Peek-a-boo]

How are things going?  This just happened to us again!  Good nap day--two naps longer than an hour--extra night wakings.  Very frustrating!!

[J & J's Mom]

Hi!

I think you *may* have been on to something with the feeds.  I haven't had her on a good 3-hour EASY since she was just weeks old because her naps started getting shorter.  I was thinking that maybe with one less feed (knocking out a cluster I was doing) and making sure she only ate every 3 hours no matter what she does for naps might be the key.

I am on day three with one less feed and I have seen improvement with the NWs.  She is in bed earlier - I start nursing her around 6:30 and she's in bed by 7:15 or so.  Last night she got up at 11:45, 3:45 and then she woke at around 4 and I let her squirm and she went back to sleep but woke again at 4:20 or so and I fed her.  She ate for maybe 1/2 the time she usually does and then went back to sleep til 7am.

Not sure what the 4am waking was about but I'm not sure it was about food.  But the two first stretches are better than I had been getting.  I was lucky to get 3 hours between wakings.  On those bad nights it was 2 hours!

We'll see how tonight goes.  Her naps have still been kind of all over the place.  I have discovered, though, that it actually makes things worse if I go in and try to help her through the 45 minute wakeup at this point.  I have helped her get back to sleep so many times I think she's at the point where she's like "Get out of here, mom - I can do it myself if you just let me!".  The last two days I have just let her be when she wakes after 45 minutes and as long as she's not screaming I leave her alone.  She has been putting herself back to sleep within 10 or 15 minutes and has been taking decent naps if I just give her the chance.  It's hard to leave her alone but I can usually find something to distract me long enough to give her at least 10 minutes .

I also have been waking her at 7am regardless.  I used to let her sleep til 7:30 or later if she was still out but I think as long as she's having decent naps I should try to keep her on somewhat of a routine for awhile.  I did that with my son and that seemed to help things fall into place.  Wake up is the same and bedtime is the same (unless she has a bad last nap, then it's early).

Two naps longer than an hour certainly doesn't seem like too much sleep to me!  I swear, they just like to mess with us!  Just when you want to pat yourself on the back... they throw a wrench in the works.