can someone please help me with A time/naps?

[ernurse05]

I'm having trouble with naps again and maybe it's A time related???  My DD is 14 weeks but was 4 weeks early.  I had 3-4 good days last week of naps after dealing with 30-45min naps for a month!  Her A time was about 1 hr when I had those days.  OVer the past few days we've gone back to short naps and I'm not sure if it's accumulated OTness or what.  She is about 9 pounds, she takes Zantac (which we started 5 days ago) for silent reflux, and is bottle fed EBM usually 2-3 oz q 3 hrs.  Here is our EASY over the past few days.  I have tried to write everything down to see if I can pinpoint anything.

12/6 (this was a good day)
Woke at 3:05
E: 3:05 2 ounces
S: 3:20

cried out about 5ish

Woke at 6:30
 dressed from 6:40-6:50
E: 6:50-7:10, almost 2.5 ounces
A: diaper change, sat on mommy's lap reading paper until fussy about 7:25. walked, swaddled, upstairs
S: 7:30

Woke her at 9:33
E: 9:35-10:00, a struggle to get 2 ounces, changed diaper mid feed
A: played on floor from 10:05-10:17
S: 10:33

woke her at 12:30
E: 12:35-1:05 (diaper change in the middle) 2.5 ounces
A: tummy time 1:05 and then play time until 1:15, walked, swaddled, upstairs and rock
S: 1:30
she woke up about 2:15, cried out once, went right back to sleep :-)

woke her at 3:30
E: 3:35-3:50 2.5 oz
A: diaper change, changed outfit, took pictures started to yawn really early (4:10)
S: 4:30
(for some reason I didn't finish this day's log)

12/10

E: 4:15a almost 3 oz
A: none
S: put her down at 4:45, she was falling asleep in my arms and when I put her down her eyes were open, watched her look around but didn't cry at all. Not sure what time she actually went back to sleep

woke up at 6:20ish, waited to see if she'd go back to sleep
E: 6:30-6:55 3 ounces
A: dressed, diaper change 6:55-7:05, started yawning at 7:00 twice, went downstairs let dogs out, heated up bean bag to warm crib, back into room at 7:10, tried to play with teddy bear got fusssy, lots more yawns, swaddled and WD, in bed 7:15
S: 7:15
Kinda did W2S just incase, went in about 7:55 after she looked like she was stirring, stroked her cheek.

Woke her up at 9:35
E: 9:38-10:03 3 ounces
A: diaper change 10:03-10:08, sat on my lap and sucked on a cool teether, seemed fussy, cried easily. Began yawning about 10:15...went upstairs and sat in rocker, kept yawning, starring off, antsy. Did WD.
S: in crib at 10:29
did a sort of w2s at 10:55 and 11:10

Got a little screwy here because I had to wake her at 11:50 to go get pictures...she fell asleep for a few minutes in the car.  Had her eat a little (2 ounces) at 12:10...she was awake until about 1:15, fell asleep in carseat.  Woke up about 2 when we got home.  Fed her a little again (about 3 ounces) changed her diaper and clothes and put her back down at 2:40ish.

She cried at about 3:20 or so and again about 4:00. She was able to get back to sleep after maybe 5 min of crying and resettling.

Woke her at 4:30
E: 4:35 2 ounces
A: played on floor until 5:20
S: 5:30

started crying out at 6:00ish
A:bath 6:05-6:20
E: 6:20-6:50 3 ounces
rocked a little bit
S: 7:10

E: DF 10:30, 2.5 ounces

12/11
woke up about 12:30a cried out, went back to sleep
Woke up about 1:30a crying out, didn't go back to sleep
E: 1:45 3 ounces
S: 2:00

woke up about 5:30 crying out, went back to sleep
woke up about 6:15/6:20 crying out...gave her time to get back to sleep. She'd cry, get settled and start to fall asleep only to start crying again in about 5 minutes. Finally fed her
E: 6:40-7:00 3 ounces
A: diaper change, dressed...was yawning during dressing. Went downstairs to warm up bean bag, upstairs and rocked for a few, kept yawning. Swaddled and WD
S: 7:25
Cried out once about 8:10, every so often she would cry but kept going back to sleep, but very fitful

woke up at 9:40
E: 9:40-10, 3 ounces
A: diaper change, laid on floor playing/tummy time until 10:15, sat in bouncy seat for 5 min, fussy, picked her up to my lap yawned at 10:20, acted hungry still
E: 10:25-10:30 one ounces
A: sat on lap and sang songs until 10:35, yawned 2 more times, scratching face....get bean bag warmed up, went up to her room, swaddled, 4S's at 10:40
S: 10:47
First cry out 11:22, again 12:10

woke her at 12:40
E: 12:45- 1:20 3.5 ounces
A: diaper change 1:10-1:15, tummy time/floor time 1:20-1:33, started fussing. 1:38 yawn, many yawns at 1:40 while warming bean bag. Upstairs, swaddled, WD
S: 1:47
heard a cry out at 2:33

Woke her at 3:40
E: 3:45-4:15 2.5 ounces
A: diaper change, floor time with daddy and papa, started getting fussy about 4:25ish, yawning.
Put in carseat, fell aslep about 4:40
S: 4:40

woke up about 5:30
A: 5:30- 6:30 we were at dinner, car ride home, jammies on
E: 6:30
S: 7:00

woke up about 10:30 when I was going to do dream feed
E: 10:30, 2.5 ounces
S: 11

12/12
woke at 5am
E: 5:00 3 ounces
S: 5:30

started occ. Cry outs about 6:30a. got her up at 7:10
E: 7:12- 7:40 2.5 ounces
A: Diaper change/dressed 7:40-7:50 (yawned once), downstairs to lay on floor, got nails clipped, yawned again about 7:55, warmed bean bag, upstairs to play quietly, started yawning more about 8:10, swaddled and WD
S: 8:20
watched her wake up about 8:58, stirred, cried out a few times about 9/9:05, kept stirring, cried out 9:12 (trying to sit up), thought she was back to sleep, crying at 9:20ish, gave her until 9:35 to settle...couldn't. Shh/pat from 9:35-9:50 (she calmed right down and seemed to go back to sleep) grimaced and started to cry at 9:50, seemed fitful, turning head, crying, kept shh/pat until 9:55

Woke her up at 10:10
E: 10:13- 10:40, 3 ounces
A: diaper change, started crying, was really fussy. Warmed bean bag, upstairs, swaddled, rocked
S: 10:55
Cried out at 11:25 and woke up for a minute about 11:45 but went back to sleep! Cried at 12:20, shh/pat until 12:35, back to sleep

woke up 1pm crying
E: 1-1:25, 3 ounces
A: diaper change 1:25-1:30, bouncy seat 1:30-1:40 (started fussing in seat), floor time with mommy 1:40-1:58, yawned 1:45, 1:58. Warmed up bean bag and headed upstairs at 2pm. WD
S: had to shh/pat for a few min, 2:10p
woke at 2:45 shh/pat 2:45-3:10, cried out 3:15

This is our day so far.  Anyone have any ideas??? The only thing I can think is yesterday we did 1hr 10 min A time and she did great but maybe since she had bad naps after that she should be doing that much?  Or maybe it needs to be longer?  I have the next 3 days to keep doing shh/pat during naps but I'd really like to figure this out.  Any help is really appreciated 

[ernurse05]

So I'm thinking we might be in an OT state.  She went down for her catnap about 1hr/1 hr 10 min after waking to eat last time.  She really seemed to fuss and cry after swaddling and really had a hard time settling.  After I put her down in her crib she was arching her back, crying, head thrashing side to side..I kept on with shh/pat until she was calm, so we'll see how long she'll last.  Anyone else think she's in OT?  If I have bad naps and think she's OT, when do I put her down for her next nap???

[sherry lynn]

If she has a longish nap but it is fragmented maybe try 10-15 minutes earlier and see how it goes? When my LO was that young we NEVER got two hour naps, but if he only napped 30 min I know the recommendation was to try 15-30min earlier. If your LO is OT that should help.

[ernurse05]

I'm really guessing she's OT since getting her to bed tonight was pure HELL (sorry for the language!)  She fought going down, finally got her calmed at 7, put her in her crib and continued shh/pat, became inconsolable by 7:10 and I had to pick her up and she cried and cried and screamed and arched her back and fought me until 8...I had to do some AP and rock her, thought I had her down but I can still hear her occasionally calling out..not really crying.  She's been awake now for over 2 hrs and 20 min....can't imagine the night I'm in for!!!!  She used to be a great sleeper, too.  Up until 2 months she would wake up, eat, be up for maybe 45 min, and then sleep 3 hrs until her next feed (she fed every 4 hours) and she was sleeping 6-8 hrs at night.  Since starting the 45min naps we went to a 3 hr EASY and there for a while I got 2 hr naps from her where I had to wake her up!  I think maybe I need to go back to max of 1 hr....If she's not in an OT cycle, she's going to be after tonight!!!  It seems like everytime we get into a groove, we get something scheduled that is right in the middle of a nap and she can't recover!  I guess she's a REALLY touchy baby. 

This morning because she had fitful sleep from 6:30 until she got up at 7:10 we did a short A time and was a little better...I just never know how much to cut it back since I don't really know what her A time is anymore.

I really hope I get some help because I can't keep doing this.  I'm running on NO sleep and I'm doing this all by myself...and I don't have family around here....not a whole lot of support. 

[sherry lynn]

  I hope the night turns out better than you expect   Sometimes they surprise us. I know how you feel. I had just moved to a new place when I had DS and he is spirited and gave me so much trouble in the sleep department.

Tomorrow I would go with the lower A time again and see how it goes. If the first nap isn't so great them remember to decrease the next A time a little bit more.

[ernurse05]

I'm praying that the night goes well...I hate being home alone with no one to help me...DH works midnights at the hospital (ICU nurse) and days at the fire department on his days off from the hospital...needless to say, he's gone a LOT!  Anywho, I decided to take a relaxing bath after I finally got DD down at 8pm and when I got out and looked at the monitor, she was awake and looking around...not crying but awake...it was 8:45!  At least for now she put herself back to sleep....keeping fingers crossed!!!  I'm not sure what A time to use tomorrow...maybe 45-55 min???

[sherry lynn]

I think it depends on how the night goes. Since you did really well on that first day with 1 hour then if she has a good night then maybe go for 1 hour. If she has a restless night then I would try between 45-55 min. If she's getting into an OT cycle then you might need to try as low as 45 min for the first nap. Then if she has a good long nap she might be able to handle the 1 hour again.

[ernurse05]

thanks so much for the advice.  I'll see how the night goes and work from there.  Keep your fingers crossed for me and I'll make sure to check back and let you know how it goes and probably get more advice!!!

[sherry lynn]

Thanks, good luck. DH is a police officer so I know how it feels to have to deal with crappy nights on your own. Remember to nap when she does if you get too worn down.