Hi, I don't know if this is meant to be here or in the Activity board.
Anyway, I'm going nuts and around in circles trying to figure out my DS2. He's 10.5weeks old and I'm pretty sure he's chronically over tired. Well, most of the time I think that and then i think that I must be wrong cos how can he be 2.5months old and being up for 60mins is more than he can handle???
When he was born and for weeks after he litterally only seemed to handle 20-25mins - sometimes less time than it took to feed him. So he probably got OT from the start because of that. Gradually it extended to 30-40mins. A couple of weeks ago I was going mental with the 45min naps really setting in for good so I started to wonder if he was actually under tired. It didn't seem to matter if I put him down super early or kept him up a bit, he's pretty much always hard to get to sleep. And since about 6weeks only naps 45mins.
So last week I deliberately kept him up for 50mins each A time, which was often 10mins after he'd yawn for the first time. He seemed to get a bit worse which made me think it probably was OT after all (sleeping well at night though) and I figured this is ridiculous that he's over 2months and not even coping with 50mins. So this week I decided, well, I may as well push him to 60mins since he's OT anyway. He often seems to yawn at the 45-50min mark now that I'm keeping him up for 55-60mins. But sometimes he can yawn after 25-35mins! While he's up he's a pretty happy chappy - with DS1 I always knew when he was getting OT cos he'd start grizzling. But DS2 is just about always perky - he just seems to get jerkier and stare more.
I've been hoping that if we can stick with this he'll gradually mature to handle the longer A time and also hopefully get easier to put down for a sleep. Am I right in thinking this? I'm just really hesitant to go back to trying to put him down when he first yawns cos he seems to yawn all the time - and I can't see how it's normal for a 2.5month old to only cope with 45mins awake. It's so hard to make even a 3hr EASY work and I keep wondering if I've got it completely wrong cos everyone else with similar age babies seem to be working at getting them to handle 1.5-2hrs not barely 1!!! We could do with a support thread for babies that can't handle much A time!
So can you give me some advice on how to handle the OT and get him through it? What's the process for getting them rested? it seems so crazy when he sleeps so well over night. And I keep A times as low-key as possibly, just lying on the couch or baby seat watching the world - no TV or bright toys, and I try not to do too much chatting to him in his face in case that wears him out too.
Here's our routine:
5-6am feed - seems v hungry initially but doesn't drink a huge amount
straight back down to sleep without nappy change. Can be hard to resettle - especially if closer to 6am. Usually has 45min nap, wakes and grizzles a bit but usually resettles for another 45mins or so.
8amish feed
9am down for nap. 45mins. Spend the rest of the time trying to get him back to sleep. Very fitfull. mostly naps but in the morning has more chance of settling for another 45mins than he does later in day. If I get him up he seems buggered and yawns every couple of minutes - just seems to tire him out more than all that grizzling and crying napping fitfully in his cot.
11am feed
12 - down for nap - same as above but less chance of another 45 - mostly just 10-20min naps. often with help of dummy (last resort) which has to be replugged every few mins.
2pm feed
3pm - as above but more reliance on dummy to get him through last 30-45mins of nap time
5pm feed
6pm walk in frontpack - settles fairly well for 35min nap
6.40ish awake, bath with mum (in dim room, not too long)
7.15ish feed
7.30-45 bedtime (straight after feed). Settles well.
He sleeps on his front (no chance of getting him down on his back). winddown is 5mins walk around being held against my shoulder and sung 10green bottles (weird I know, but it's repettitive and simple and you can stop anywhere through it
. And some Sh/pat once he's in his cot. I've been concientious about avoiding AP - the dummy is last resort cos he spits it out repettively and this wakes him up, so he rarely settles into a deep sleep with it. I always put him down awake. All his naps except the 6pm one are in his cot.
