Routine for a short napping 5.5 month old???

[dancingbear]

Hi all,

Feel like i've lost my way a bit and wondered if anyone could give me some advice.

Millie is 5.5 months. She slept brilliantly at night (naps always been tricky, but she was able to have 45mins with her paci) until she was about 16 weeks then it all changed. She became dependent on the paci, waking for it every hour at night and then every 1/2 hr from 4-7am. So i weaned her off it. It was hard but she hasn't had it for over a month now. Nights have got better but still not great, she wakes once (good nights) to 4 times (bad nights!).

Naps are hit and miss whether she can get to sleep herself. Often the morning ones are okay and later in the days gets harder. Big problem is they are no EVEN SHORTER!! She only naps for 30mins exactly. very occassionaly (like once or twice) she's gone longer.

Thing is, she's now happy to go for 3.5-4hrs between feeds but because of the short naps she keeps ending up hungry and tired at the same time and then falling asleep during feeds.

Nothing is helped by her having a cold at the mo, have been giving her night feeds again as she really seems to need them.  But once she's better i really need to try and get things sorted as i feel like we're all over the place.

more info:
She's breastfed
bedtime - 7pm ish, she has a bath, pj's on, bottle with song, then burp then bed.
Since weaning the paci she tends to wake once or twice between bedtime at 7 and 10/11pm, usually she'll go back to sleep if i put my hand on her chest and shush, recently we've had a few screamers tho but that may just be the cold.
wakes again anywhere from 3-5am, sometimes i have to feed her and back down. Up for the day anytime between 6-8am

Does anyone have a suggested routine for a short napper so our E & S times don't coincide??

thanks!

emma x

[*Mona*]

hi Emma

first of all, make sure she's completely cured before you start 'messing' her routine up IYKWIM.
as she's 5,5 months now she should be on 4 hrs easy and from what you say about her feedings, that's what she heading to anyway. which is good.

BUT could you post your average day? knowing a bit more about her A times would help us help you do you offer solids? how is she reacting to them?

and congrats on weaning the paci- good job!

Monika

[dancingbear]

Apologies for the long delay between posts. I got Millie's cold followed by a stomach bug, which i passed onto my bf and his mum and my mum, so we had a very sicky christmas!! We're all better and i am now really needing to sort Millie's routine out somehow. Here's how it roughly goes at the mo:

6.45am wake
7.15 E - Bf
7.30 - 8.15 - A
8.15 - wind down for nap, usually asleep by 8.30 - sleeps for 30-45mins
9.00 - 10.30 - A
10.15 - E - Bf
11.00 - wind down for nap - sleeps for 30-45mins
11.45 - 1.15 - A
1.15 - E - Bf
1.45 - sleeps for 30-45mins
2.30 - E - solids baby rice
4.15 - E Bf
4.45 - sleep 30-45 mins
6.30 - bath & wind-down
7.00 - bottle
7.15 - bed

she often wakes once or twice before 11pm but will go back down with some shushing
she is also in the habit now of waking between 3-4am for a feed then going back down till 6-7am

Am finding its easier to get her down for naps with slightly shorter A times. If i start the wind down at 1hr30 or 1hr40 then she goes off to sleep with little fuss on her about 70% of the time. Over the last few weeks she has done a number of longer naps, 45, 50, 1hr, 1.5 hrs(!!!), they don't happen every day but don't know if its just cos she's been under the weather.

I know i need to move her towards 4 hr easy but how will she make it with the short naps??? She'll be tired for her next nap before she even has a feed!

Solids - she only has one meal of baby rice and ebm at around 1/2pm - she likes this but has so far turned her nose up at anything more adventurous, so i'll stick to the rice for now.

Any advice welcome, don't know what to do first,
emma x

[*Mona*]

hi Emma

sorry you had rough time at Christmas and great you're all doing better now.

IMO even if you find it easy to put her down earlier, You could try keeping her up a bit longer before naps. if she's waking all happy after her short naps it means she's had enough sleep and it's fine but it also means she wasn't tired enough for a longer nap. so try maybe adding 5 to 10 minutes to her A times first until you reach 2 or so hours of activity before each nap. it may take some time and effort but she's big enough for naps longer than 30 minutes!

about solids- you still have time so baby rice is just fine.

have you tried dream feed? maybe it would keep her asleep without that 3/4am feed? and if you say it's a habit for her, maybe you could try giving her water/juice/baby tea instead of feeding her then? this could lead to earlier wake up in the morning, but at least you wouldn't be feeding her at night anymore.

keep us posted on how you're doing.

HTH
Monika

[dancingbear]

Pfff. well today is the first day of trying to crack thos short naps thing and work towards a 4 hr routine. What a nightmare so far:

6.45am wake
7.00am feed
8.30am winddown - asleep by 8.45 - wakes at 9.00 - shushed back to sleep by 9.15 - wakes after 5 mins grizzling and rubbing eyes, left her to it for 20 mins, shushed for 15 then PUPD when the real tears started, LOTS of screaming but eventually back to sleep at 10.15. I will wake her at 10.45 (hope this is right) so she's been in bed for 2 hrs then it will be nearly time for her feed.

Please tell me i am doing the right thing. That was so hard as she was so hysterical and i felt like an awful person.

emma x

[*Mona*]

Emma,

i have never done PUPD so I'm sorry I can't help you on that but I think you are doing a good job trying to help your baby nap longer. but you know, sometimes what was working for us was to take dd out of her crib for 5-10 minutes when she refused going to sleep and then put her back down and she would nap beautifully. no screaming and crying.

but... I never ever woke her too. I do wake her if she naps past 5 pm to maintain her usual bedtime but never during the day.

anyway, maybe try moving her to 4 hrs easy more gradually, not cold turkey? maybe she's just not ready for whole 2 hrs of activity?