Help from 4-7 pm

[soelimama]

 Hello all!
We are struggling with our EASY from 4-7 pm.  Lo is doing pretty well otherwise.  We usually wake at 7 am and do a 3 hour EASY from then on.  We feed at 4 pm and then lo goes down between 4:45 and 5:00pm.  Tracy says to let them catnap, which we have been trying- he usually wakes up around 5:45 or so.  Would you feed him and then do bedtime ritual-he isn't hungry usually but he generally can't wait too long and almost always falls asleep at this feed.  It seems to throw us off. He is 14 weeks but was 4 weeks early.  Any suggestions are GREATLY appreciated.

[rebecaq]

Hello there!

It's ok and not considered accidental parenting if they fall asleep during the last feed at bedtime.  My ds fell asleep while nursing the whole 9 months that he BF. How exactly are you being thrown off? Is he not eating enough bec acuse he falls asleep too early into the feed and wakes at night?

- Beca

[soelimama]

Oh boy is he waking at night!  He often doesn't get a full feed at bedtime and then his dream feed is at 10  pm.  We are also still waking at 2 or 3 am and then again at 5:30 or 5:45 am.  It feels as if he is stuck in a 3 hour pattern, even at night. His other feedings are full and he is a very healthy, nearly 14 lb.  baby.  We try the pacifier and shush pat-we may get an extra 1/2 hour out of the pacifier. Should I hold back the dream feed until later.  I put him down by 7 pm and would like him to wake between 6:30 and 7 am (or even later-but I am not going to push it).

[jomige]

I found that my LO (now 13 weeks) was waking at similar times to your LO.  I moved the DF to 11pm and that helped for awhile.  We recently switched her to a 3.5-4 hour EASY because of short naps/night awakenings and we are down to one feed aroudn 4-5 am.  I've been able to move the DF to 10:30 (and am trying to move it to 10p).  Is your LO ready for a 3.5 hour EASY?  That has seemed to help us a bunch with naps and the night awakenings...  There is a post under the FAQs section that detailes cues that your baby is ready for change.  That may be worth looking into. 

Jodi

[soelimama]

We are trying the 3.5 hour EASY.  I'm trying to keep him up longer that an hour but he doesn't seem to be able to do it. Does that mean he is not ready or should I keep at it and work in increments?

[jomige]

At first I tried moving my LO in increments and then all of a sudden about 2 weeks ago (around 11 weeks), after a little growth spurt, she really woke up.  She went from having 1 hr to 1 hr 10 minute awake times (and barely making that some days) to having 1.75 hour awake times.  It was very strange to have her so awake so suddenly but she is much easier to get to nap now and eats much better and put herself on a 4 hour EASY.  So your LO may be heading towards that (corrected age wise)...Just keep watching.  Keeping a log helped me see this so if you aren't doing that I highly recommend it. 
With that said, BWSAYP suggests increasing A times by 15 minutes but if your baby is touchy or having a hard time I would suggest 5 minute increments and moving slowly.

HTH.  Good luck! 

Jodi

[soelimama]

Thanks Jodi-
I am going to try the increments for mow and see what happens.  He did well again in the a.m. so we are making some progress!!
Stacy

[soelimama]

Just me again.
Lo just seems to want to sleep all the time-except for night.  We have been trying the gradual increase in activity time-but he is a mess.  Here is how today went...
A: 6:15
E:7
A:7:25-8:45
S:9-10:30

E:10:30
A:10:50-11:10
S:11:15-1:45 (!!!)

E:1:45
A:2:05-2:40
S:2:50-?

This seems to be the pattern for the past few days.  He woke last night at 2:45am and ate for 6 minutes.  I tried the pacifier at 6:15 am when he awoke-but he seemed to be ready to get up, I just let him stay in his crib until 7-as to keep him somewhat on schedule.  Maybe that is why he is so tired for that second nap???  Should I feed him at 6:15 instead of 7.  He is more social than anything in the a.m.-it is very hard to feed him. 

Stacy

[jomige]

If he isn't interested in feeding I would try holding him off, but I would shorten his A time accordingly.  On days where we get off, I count her awake time from end of sleep/nap to start of next nap, even if E is in between so it may be more AEAS or even AES (as long as he is not being fed to sleep).  For example if you have 1.5 hours A time if he wakes at 6:15 he should be asleep at 7:45.  It messes up the "routine" but he will be better rested that way.
Looks like your nap times have been good! 

HTH,

Jodi

[rebecaq]

Stacy,

Jodie has given you great advice! 

- Beca