Her typical day is as follows:
Wakes between 7.30am and 8am, she takes a full 7 oz feed, then she is changed, bathed and we have some play time on her mat or in her swing. She normally gets quite tired about an hour from being up and she goes down for a sleep until her next feed which is every 4 hours. She is not swaddled and goes down without a fuss and sleeps through me hoovering etc.
She wakes for her lunch feed say 12.30pm, she takes a 6 oz bottle, we follow the above routine of getting her nappy changed, we sometimes go out at this time for a walk in her pram / car seat or trips to town or the supermarket. She sleeps well even though we are out and about.
Then comes the 4.30/5pm feed. She takes a full 6oz, is happy and smiley and after her feed she is changed and we have play time again. From about an hour from her wakin and taking a feed, she shows signs of being tired. We sometimes leave it until she is really sleepy ( as in arms and legs in rapid movement) then we put her down for her evening nap. This is when we try and have our dinner and without fail within 30 mins of her being put down she is crying. We soothe her with a dummy and try to calm her back to sleep. Normally this does not work, we are not very good at leaving her to cry it out....so within 5mins of her non stop crys we pick her up and cuddle her. When we put her back down she crys again. It has happend on a few occaisions that she is crying so hard that we are at a loss as to what makes her so unsettled. We always check the list, as in she is fed, changed, winded not too hot, not too cold. She gets herself so upset that we give her cooled boiled water to soothe her and we just cuddle her until she stops. By this stage she is overtired, exhausted and screaming the house down. She then falls alseep out of exhaustion about 8pm, she then sleeps til gone 9pm and we have to then wait for her to wake up for her bedtime feed. The 9pm feed goes well, with her taking a full 7oz bottle, she is smiley, and we change her into her bed clothes, and by 10pm i take her too her room for "quiet time" before she is put down for the night. she goes to sleep very easliy on her own until 7.30 am.
Darcey sleeps in a cot in her own room for all naps and her bedtime sleep. She is not swaddled she hates this, she sleeps with a sleeping bag and top sheets and has done for the past 4 weeks.
All her naps and bedtime sleeps go without a tear or cry from her, she is so good but at 6pm she turns into a Diva.
Please help x
