4 months & frustrated

[The Bex Factor]

I'm new to this forum! My LO is four months old and the worst nipper in history I feel. He is bottle fed (exclusive pumping) and rarely will go for a nap without nursing to sleep. We follow the EASY routine, but he will always take a couple ounces before falling asleep. Even then, it's hard to put him down as he wakes right up and cries until he sucks on the bottle some more. He won't take a pacifier.

His night time sleeping is awesome and he generally goes down with no problem. His nap time routine is a bath, into the Sleeper and sleep sack, eat a little, read a story and put him in his crib. This takes about half an hour to 45 mins. He sleeps 12 hours with usually only one wake. He sleeps through the night often.

I'm trying to implement a nap routine. He usually gets fussy and rubs his eyes so I will take him into his room, feed him a bit, read him a story and put him down. He will not put himself to sleep. He screams and screams. I pick him up to soothe him but as soon as you put him down he screams again.

He sleeps better in his car seat or wrap if I'm out and about and sometimes I will just put him in his swing and that will eventually quiet him and put him to sleep as well. But getting him asleep is a nightmare and it stresses me out every day.

What can I do to get him to take a nap easier?

[*Becky*]

4 months is a rough time for naps, most of it is developmental and things start to improve around 6/7 months.

He sounds a lot like my DS, great night sleeper but not good day sleeper.

Could you post your routine for the last 2 days so we can see what is going on....also do you know what type your lo is i.e. textbook,touchy?
Do you have a dark room? use white noise?

[The Bex Factor]

Hi there. I'm not sure what type, I don't know anything about that.

Our routine is a 2 hour cycle generally following EASY. He always wakes at 7. He gets brought into the living room to have a bottle, then gets his diaper changed and plays until he starts showing signs of sleepiness or fussiness. I try to plan any outings around when he will nap. I'm also exclusively pumping every 2 hours so I either pump while he's eating or while he's sleeping generally. For naps depending on my level of frustration I will give him a bit of bottle and put him down on the couch. If that isn't working I will put him in his swing. I try to take him into his room, close the curtains, give him a bit of bottle but not let him fall asleep, read him a story and put him down. I will let him cry a few minutes, go in and comfort him and try again. When that doesn't work I will bring him back out and he usually has a few sucks of the bottle and passes right out so he goes on the couch. We just have regular blinds in his room and no white noise.

At 6pm I will give him a full bottle. 630 he goes for a bath, then into his jammies and sleep sack, have a but more to eat, read a story and put him down. If he doesn't go right to sleep I will go in and shush pat him and he usually puts himself to sleep.

He generally wakes once to eat in the night. I don't turn on any lights, just feed him his bottle and put him back in his crib and he puts himself back to sleep with no issues.

I would like to get him eating every three hours instead of two and napping better. I'm losing my mind trying to get him to sleep and this short cycle combined with pumping makes it hard to get anything done at all. It's making me very frustrated and not enjoying time with my son like I should

[*Becky*]

I think it would be a good idea to make the room as dark as possible, we have blackout blinds and they really help for naps. Some people also use white noise which can really help if Lo is waking due to outside noises.

I will post the link to working out what type your lo is as this can really help you understand what their personality is like and what suits them in terms of sleep etc.

Have you tried putting him down before he shows signs of fussiness? It may be that he is already a bit OT by the time you take him to his room.

What would be useful is if you could give me his routine over the next 2 days and set it out like this.
E - time he eats when he wakes up in the am
A - time he is awake (from eyes open to eyes shut)
S - when he sleeps for the first nap

And then log it for the whole day...that way we can see what might be going on.

[The Bex Factor]

I don't think noises wake him. I vacuum during his nap and he doesn't flinch.

I would definitely like the link to find out his personality!

I will try and write down his schedule. Thanks for your help.

[*Becky*]

I can't copy and paste atm but if you go to the EASY forum and into FAQ (frequently asked questions) Go to the bottom of the page and there is the 'know your baby quiz'
It can be really helpful in understanding your lo.

[The Bex Factor]

According to that he is tied between an angel baby and text book baby, aside from his sleep issue.

I will start tracking his activity in a couple days. He just had immunizations so I don't think it will be accurate right now

[The Bex Factor]

S 7pm-1030pm
E 1030-1040
S 1140-3am
E 3-320
S 320- 555
E 555-610
S 635-930
E 930-940
A 940-1130
S 1130-1154 on my lap while pumping
E 12-1210pm
A 1210- 120
S 120-140 on my lap while pumping again, woke when I tried to put him down
E 145-155
A 155-330
S 330-350 in car seat as we were out
E 350-410
A 410- 630
Bed time routine starts 630pm
E 640-645
S 655- 230am

E230-240am
S 240-745am
E 750-805am
A 806-935 started getting fussy at 830, screamed his head off for an hour
E 935-945
S 10:05-

[*Becky*]

ok first off I think it is important to choose a time to start the day so what is your ideal wake up time? If it is 7am for example I would make sure that each day you wake at 7am and feed and then start EAS from there. The first day you posted he woke at 5.55am and then went back to sleep at 6.30am until 9.30am. Now if BT is 9.30pm that is ok but if you are putting him down around 6.30/7pm it is a bit of a short day and may cause you some nap issues. Ideally you work to a 12 hour day at this age so up at 7am, bed at 7pm give or take 15 mins or so. Does that make sense?

Does he know how to sleep independently i.e. have you sleep trained him?

[The Bex Factor]

He usually wakes around 7 and goes down at 7 with only one wake in the night. Like I mentioned above, he had his immunizations so the day wasn't typical for him because he wasn't feeling good.

He sleeps independently at night but not for napping. No matter what I do I can't make it work

[*Becky*]

ok in that case can you post yesterday or a more typical day.
thanks

[The Bex Factor]

The day time sfter waking was still normal for that day, just his middle of the night waking and morning wake up time was off. I can track another day though.

[*Becky*]

I think at this point it is probably a good idea to track the days - having a rough idea of naptimes etc can help you and us to see what is going on. Will wait to hear.