19 week old EW

[lily_layne]

My LO used to consistently sleep until 8 (I often had to wake her) but lately she's been waking at 5:30 or 6 every few days (with a NW at 1 or 2 to eat).  In the past she would sometimes wake up at that time, talk to herself and then go back to sleep but now she'll talk for quite a while, then fuss, and then cry.  I know she's not hungry and she's all smiles when I go in there to try to resettle her back to sleep (which can take over an hour).  I thought maybe it was caused by all of the disruptions to her routine over the holidays (lots of company, not at home, etc) but we've been home and on routine for the last few days and it's still happening.  Before Christmas she gave me a few 12 hour nights (with no DF) so this reversion to NW and EW is extra frustrating!

Our day usually goes like this:
WU & E: 8 (breastfeed and 4 or 5 tablespoons of cereal)
S: 10-12
E:12
S: 2-3:45
E: 3:45
S: 5:45-6:00  (We've experimented with longer catnaps and have found that 15-20 minutes works best for her)
E: 6:30 (breastfeed and 4-5 tablespoons of cereal).
S: 8:00

What's the best way to handle EW? If she's ready for the day, should I let her get up or should I do PU/PD or some other way to get her back to sleep?  If we do start our day that early, what adjustments do I need to make to her routine?  I did read the 3-2 transition sticky and some of the things sound like what's happening with her.  Is it possible that she's in the early stages of the 3-2 transition?

[lily_layne]

I forgot to mention that when she NWs to eat she easily puts herself back to sleep.  For BT and naps she uses a pacifier to get to sleep and then spits it out.  We rarely have to replug.  When she's having trouble sleeping, sh/pat usually works.

[lily_layne]

Another EW this morning!  I'm still not sure if I should spend the time trying to get her back to sleep or just let her get up for the day since she's wide awake and ready to play.  Any advice?

[Erin M]

Is it possible that she's in the early stages of the 3-2 transition?

This is what it sounds like to me.  If she's waking and is happy and chatty and won't go back to sleep, she's most likely not getting enough A time during the day and she's more awake in the middle of the night/early morning.  I would start by stretching her first A time about 15 minutes -- it's going to shift your day later -- if you get a good first nap, then your second A time should also be longer.  If you run out of time for the cat nap, you pretty much just lose it and go for an early bed time. 

It's really hard to get a wide awake baby back to sleep -- pu/pd is only going to make her annoyed, I'd probably leave her as long as you can or if there's any way that she's guaranteed to go back to sleep (swing, etc), I might try that too just so your day isn't thrown off by an early waking.

[lily_layne]

Thanks for the advice.  I figured that there wasn't much I could do to get her to sleep if she's wide awake and ready to play.

DD had a great night last night (12 hours!) and woke up at her usual time (.  I'm going to keep her on our usual routine today and if we end up with an EW again tomorrow, then I'm definitely going to go for longer A times.  If I extend her A time, does that mean her nap will be slightly shorter so that she's still eating every 4 hours?

I'd probably leave her as long as you can

If I leave her to play on her own, do I count her A time as starting from the time she's up or the time I go get her?

[Erin M]

If I extend her A time, does that mean her nap will be slightly shorter so that she's still eating every 4 hours?

I'd let her sleep for her regular nap time and then you'll have a feed that is a bit longer than 4 hours from the last.  Your last two feeds will get pushed together then, which is ok -- things get a bit wonky anyway when you start solids and squeezing milk and solid feeds in.  You want your naps to stay long so you can work on dropping the cat nap. 

If I leave her to play on her own, do I count her A time as starting from the time she's up or the time I go get her?

Count it from the time she's up, but a bit shorter -- usually the time they spend playing in their cribs is a bit more restful than usual A time, so I'd count it minus 15 minutes or so. 

[lily_layne]

Thanks for the tips.  I hope that one day, I'll know as much as you do about babies

Another great night last night so I'm just going to stick with our regular 4 hour easy for now.  Maybe it was just all of the chaos of the holidays that disrupted her sleep.  I just hope Murphy's law doesn't come after me for saying that things are going well

[Erin M]

LOL, just stuff you pick up from having 3 of them and hanging out around this site for years!

FX for another good night. 
The holidays certainly do throw things off for all of us, babies included!

[lily_layne]

We had 2 more 12 hour nights and then last night she was up at 3:30 (talked to herself for quite a while and then decided she wanted a snack) and then at 4:30 but DH was able to get her back to sleep.  Her naps weren't good yesterday and not great today so we'll so how the night goes.

Since she's STTN a few times, should I feed her when she wakes or try harder to resettle her without feeding?  I think if I had tried harder I may have gotten her to resettle without eating but it was faster to feed her   The 12 hour nights were a nice treat but I'm pretty OK with night feeds,  however I don't want to set it up so that she needs them.

[Erin M]

Night feeds are entirely expected at this point, you're just considered one of the lucky few if you don't. 
If you resettle her and she wakes up not too long after and keeps waking, then I'd consider it a hunger waking and feed her.  If she needs them, then she's not going to get into a bad habit -- she'll keep them as long as she needs them and then drop them. 

Around 19 weeks, you get a lot of shifting in sleeping and feeding patterns.