Need help adjusting routine for 3.5 month old

[~Angie~]

I am having trouble with the evening/night time for my LO. She is 3.5 months old. She goes to sleep on her own and is still swaddled (although we are starting to wean from this.) I am in the process now of moving her to a 4 hour EASY. Here was our day today. Every day is pretty much like this, except at night time.
6:45 wake and eat 5 oz.
8:15-10:15 Sleep
10:30 E 5 oz.
12:00-1:30 Sleep
1:45 E 8 oz.
3:15-4:15 Sleep (Woke up happily playing in crib-so, didn't try to extend the nap longer.)
5:15 E 5 oz.
6:30 Bath/Bedtime routine
7:00 E 3 oz. (fell asleep eating)
7:15 Bed
8:15 woke E 4 oz. (She usually wakes 45 minutes after putting down for bed. I always feed to get a few extra calories)
8:40 Bed-played and wiggled until 9:10
     (Usually will wake up anywhere from 2:00-4:00 for bottle, although sometimes will sleep through. If I feed her after 2:00 AM, then she doesn't want her morning bottle.)
Here are my questions:
1. Should she still have a catnap in the evening? The reason I stopped it is because I have noticed she always seems to sleep through the night on Wednesday nights. We go to church and she is usually up from 6:00-9:30.
2. We have been battling 45 minute naps. Since I have stretched her feeding time, she is taking in more ounces at each feed and her naps are getting longer. However, why are they shorter as the day goes on? Is she getting overtired as the day goes on? Or is she still trying to adjust her day time sleep?
3. Why is she sleeping 8-9 hours some nights and others waking up for a feed? The wake ups don't correspond with growth spurts. For example, one night she will wake up, the next she won't, then she will for a couple of nights. Also, I have tried patt/shh to get her back to sleep. Sometimes this will work, but she will be up again in an hour wanting her bottle. I know it is common for babies this age to still need one feed in the night, but I don't want it to interfere with her morning bottle.

I would appreciate any advice!! 

[Deb_in_oz]

i think your day looks really good. if it were me i woudl just move bedtime up to 6:30 and see if that helps. most lo don't necessarily wake earlier int he morning if you move bedtime up slightly and some even sleep longer - the aim is to avoid her getting overtired before bed (and also the falling asleep afetr not taking a full feed)

at her age it is great that she is sleeping through some nights - it does not necessarily happen every night for a while for some lo. dd1 slept through the night at 3 mo and then woudl wake for a night feed every 2-4 days and then revert to sleeping through again. this went on for a month or so until they stopped completely. just because hey do it one night does notmean they will do it every night - there are so many variables in play like growth, how they ate the whole day and how they ate at last feed etc.

her naps can be shorter later due to overtiredness - perhaps 1hr 30 is her magic number and you might try to cut back that 2nd nap or 3rd one and see if it helps.

[~Angie~]

Thanks so much for your reply. I will try an earlier bedtime and see how it goes. I'll also try to keep her A time right at 1.5 hours. Sometimes hard to do with a two year old running around. 

One more question that arose last night. She woke at 1:45 and ate 5 oz. This put her total for the day at 35 oz. Our ped. told us to keep her between 24 and 32 oz. Is she getting too much with the night feed? Should we cut out a cluster feed at night if this continues? Then, she was up at 5:00. My husband got up with her. He said she couldn't be settled in her bed, so he tried to feed her. She ate 2 oz. and didn't want any more. So, he put her back to bed. She was unsettled until 6:00. He got her up again and finished off the rest of the bottle. (4 oz.) He put her back to bed and she is still asleep at 8:00. I want 7:00 to be our wakeup time. So, when this happens, should I still wake her at 7 or let her sleep until she wakes? I chose to let her sleep this morning, b/c I figure if she basically had a full feed between 5 and 6, she won't be ready to eat until 9. If I just stick to the same bedtime are the mornings going to eventually straighten out?

Our son was very textbook. Slept through at 8 weeks, 12 hours every night. He did this all on his own. So, this is all new and confusing to us.

Thanks again,
Angie

[Deb_in_oz]

i hear you on the 2 kids issue and the 2 diffrerent types (it is hard adapting after having a textbook baby first time)

about the oz - personally i woudl not worry about that especially on an ad-hoc basis (you are not force feeding her and she is not eating every 2-3 hours etc)  A baby that takes 5 oz in the night is genuinely hungry and my philosophy is always to feed if hungry. the first tactic to eliminate night hunger is to increase day calories and you are already doing that however you can, so beyond that you just take any waking as it coms and if not hungry work on resettling etc.


i woudl wake her by 7:30 in the morning if you want to try to be consistent in her routine. as tempting as it is to leave them to sleep i think anything more than a 1/2 hr -1hr variation (unless you have a aby that normally wakes at 6 and they sleep til 7 or so  can cause you more stress than gains.  if she fed in the night and is not too hungry upong waking just give her a while to play and then offer the food. the other option (and the one i chose with my girls) woudl have been to just get her up at 6 and start the day sinceshe had eaten a full bottle by then, then just get her down for a nap early and hope she makes up some of the night sleep  (often when i resorted to an earlier naptime Olivia woudl extend her 1st nap length and we woudl be back on track within a half hour of her usual timings)  just another option.


definitely try to stick to similar bedtimes (again usually within 1/2 hour unless you have a terribel nap day and need to put down even earlier) and yes they do usually settle into a normal wake time (although they can range - not all babies wae at the same time - for my Olivia now wakes anywhere froom 6:40-7:15 with 6:45-7 being most common; at 3.5 mo-5 mo 6-6:45 would have been her normal range)

[~Angie~]

Thank you so much for the answers to all my questions, sorry there are so many.  I knew this morning as she was sleeping late that I shoudl have woken her up. We had irregular naps all day and am pretty sure it was due to the late wakeup time. I guess now I know for next time. 
Thanks again! All of you are so helpful.