My dd is 4.5months old. She is best described as a textbook baby most of the time, but since we started pu/pd and took away her prop (dad walking her to sleep for naps, mom not doing that and having a harder and harder time getting her to sleep
she seems more spirited. She is long and lean - 75% height, 50% weight - and weighs around 14lbs. She has always been a 45-55 minute napper - and she wakes up happy and refreshed. My concerns are: (1) continued night waking that I think maybe habitual (2) Unsure how we can transition to 4hr EASY when she only takes 45 minute naps (and ALWAYS has). We have been on 3hr Easy since she was approx 6wks old - here is our schedule:
E 7-7:15am wake, breast feed single side (usually feed single side unless I think she's still hungry, and I'll offer 2nd side
A 7:15-8:45am
S 9-9:50
E 10-10:15
A 10:15-11:45
S 12-12:50
E 1-1:15
A 1:15-2:45
S 3-3:50
E 4-4:15
A 4:15-5
E cluster feed at approx 5-5:15
A 5:15-6 - bath at 6pm
E 6:20 nurse to sleep sometime between 6:40-6:50
Awake at 1am - Breastfeed drains single breast and back to sleep within 20minutes
Awake at 5-5:30am - Breastfeed - sometimes seems very hungry and drains one side, sometimes doesn't seem very hungry and falls asleep before side empty. Usually wakes up when I put her back in her crib, but soothes herself to sleep.
Awake again 7am for the day
We have been using pupd for over 2 weeks now to get her to sleep for naps. This was a rough transition (especially for my dh), but will be worth it I think since I refused to walk her to sleep and was having a harder and harder time getting her down. We still have some very rough naps - but generally it takes anywhere from 0-5 times of PU/PD to get her down. One nap a day for me she manages to self soothe herself to sleep with no pu/pd - it takes approx 15mins of flopping and fussing to soothe herself down but she does it (and I am SOO proud of her when she does). She has never appreciated the shush-pat - so shush alone and pupd are our only tools.
Her night waking used to be random, but has settled into the above pattern over the past few weeks. I have tried a dream feed a few times at approx 10:30pm - but she just awoke at 3am and 5:30am instead of 1 and 5:30. I admit we haven't been very committed to eliminating her night wakings - since the times we've tried have been so horrendous - 2+hrs of pu/pd - at which point I think she must be exhausted and hungry from all of the crying so I nurse her and she takes a full feed and finally falls asleep.
Last night I tried w/s for the first time for the 5:30 wake up time - I gently shook her side around 4:20, she flopped her feet, I scurried out of her room - I lay in bed thinking I didn't awaken her enough but 5-10mins later she started fussing, then crying. My dh tried pupd to get her back down - she would fall asleep then wake back up a few minutes later - this continued from 4:30 until 6:30am at which point I nursed her before leaving for work. Does she continue to wake up because she is hungry?? Should I just continue these night feeds for a whlie longer and hope that when she no longer needs them (and she learns more independent sleep) that she'll drop them?? I have tried upping her calories during the day, and it doesn't seem to change anything - she still awakens at night. I know that b/c of her age she should be on 4hr easy - but b/c of the short naps I don't think this is possible since she is already up for 2hrs of A.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
