Author Topic: Our EASY routine & our worries!  (Read 1015 times)

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Offline Lee-Stuart-Joshy

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Our EASY routine & our worries!
« on: November 03, 2005, 12:51:47 pm »
Josh is 12 weeks old and has just got over colic.  He is now suffering with reflux and terrible wind that wakes him and gives him tummy aches so sleep and getting to sleep is sometimes awkward.
He also has flu so is on Calpol every 6hours...

Our routine:

7am- Wake
7.30am- Eat.  Josh is slow on his bottle at the moment because of reflux so feeding takes a time.  Sometimes he refuses it and then 15mins later wants it back, so we persist for an hour.
8.30am- Activity - washed, changed and dressed - cooing etc on change table.
9.00am- Sleep.  Tends to drop off after 30/45mins persistence but only for half hour - the rest is spent trying to get him back off.
10.30am- Eat
11.30am- Activity in swing, on playmat, in bouncer, watching TV etc.
12.00pm- Sleep.  Refuses to drop off unless his dummy is coated in gripe water and will wake as soon as you put him down.
1.30pm- Eat
2.30pm- Activity as above
3.00pm- Sleep.  Sometimes drops off after 30mins but only for 30mins.
4.30pm- Eat
5.30pm- Activity - Bath, massage, ready for bed.
6.00pm Sleep.  Looks really tired; eyes rolling, rubbing eys, yawning.  But will not go to sleep.
7.30pm- Eat
8.30pm- No activity except cuddles and soft talking.
9.00pm- Sleep.  Takes ages of persevering and usually only drops off for 20mins.
10.30pm- Eat.  Usually takes half of 6fluid ounce bottle and falls asleep.  Put in cot and has his back patted and rubbed until he goes off.
11.00pm- Usually asleep.  Sleeps sometimes til next feed at 7am, or wakes between 3-5am for a quick 2fluid ounces and then straight back to sleep no probs.

Is this kind of routine normal? Can anyone suggest anything i can/should tweak?  Any advice is really needed because at the moment i feel like i am cracking up with it all!?
My concerns are not during the night as i think he does really well.  But i need those naps in the day to just keep on track of things and he just wont go for long enough.  How can i get him to sleep more? The only way he goes to sleep is in the car or if he is in his buggy being walked around the shops.
My other worry is that 7am is really early for me.  By getting him up at this time will i put him in a habit.  8am would be lovely for me, maybe even 9am, but he does wake up for 7am for a feed.  Should i treat this as a night feed and put him back to bed, or accept that the day has started?
I would also like him to go to bed earlier but there is no way he will go from earlier than 11pm - any advice?
He seems to want to be awake a lot of the time, but he does get bored quickly and wants attention a lot of the time - will he grow out of this and eventually play himself?

Offline GG

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Our EASY routine & our worries!
« Reply #1 on: November 06, 2005, 01:40:31 am »
He could be affected by a 3-month growth spurt.  It's around that time that the naps become 30 min or so long.  If you keep trying to get him back to sleep, it should help out.  Unfortunately it's a vicious cycle... he's tired from little sleep of the naps, which is why he can't get to bed at a normal time, which then affects his naps.

He sounds like he could be a touchy baby.  The reflux definitely doesn't help (have you looked under the Refluxforum?).  I can't really help with the question of reflux, and I think it may also be affecting his sleep.  Have you gotten the wedge that's recommended for the cribs of babies with reflux?  I wonder if that will help.

I think once you are able to get his naps on track, he should be able to go to sleep better at bedtime.  Babies normally sleep 11-12 hours every night so if you'd like him to wake at 8 AM, I'd suggest an 8 or 9 PM bedtime.  (FYI... I've read that normal bedtimes for babies should be between 7:30 and 8:30 PM).  However, 7 AM is a perfectly normal waking time (you're lucky... many babies decide they want to wake up 5-6 AM!!) and if that's when he wants to wake up, there may be little you can do about it (except maybe go to sleep earlier yourself).  :?
Georgia, mom to 3 sweet babes: touchy Foti, spirited Lena & not-so-tiny Joanna