Author Topic: How long should his A time be?  (Read 2407 times)

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Offline humph

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Re: How long should his A time be?
« Reply #15 on: June 07, 2010, 20:08:05 pm »
I just wanted to post again to let you know how we're getting on. 

I waited until he was over his cold and then set about sorting his routine out and started to suspect that he was undertired rather than overtired.  Anyway, I decided to try it out and try a longer A time to see what the result was.  On the first day, he was understandably a bit confused but suddenly on the second day, I had a happier baby than he's ever been in the 3 months of his life.  On the third day he was a lot happier than he was before but maybe not as happy as he'd been the day before.  Today is our 4th day of this routine and again he's been utterly charming and happy.

So, having slightly dreaded the 3.5hr to 4 hr transition, he's actually jumped straight to the 4 hr easy and is far happier for it.  I'm just so elated to finally have a happy baby.  Next I'll have to tackle his waking for a feed in the night....

Offline Yazzie

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Re: How long should his A time be?
« Reply #16 on: June 09, 2010, 10:29:21 am »
Perfect, well done mummy and I really love how you extended and took the plunge realizing he was UT rather than OT, that can be really confusing and to be honest, I always dread OT naps,as a result of which I was caught trying to deal with OT when it was really UT!
Adam's Mum




Offline humph

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Re: How long should his A time be?
« Reply #17 on: June 10, 2010, 12:52:39 pm »
Oh no! It's all gone pear shaped.

It seems that over the weekends when my husband and I are looking after him (and last weekend that was fri-mon) it all goes swimmingly well but during the week a girl looks after him for 3 hrs each morning and he only ever sleeps for about 1hr (as opposed to 2hrs when we're in charge) and is then overtired and sleeps for only 30-45 mins in the afternoon as a result.  I put him to bed before this girl takes over his care so I don't know what else could make him wake when she's in charge and not wake when we're in charge.

The frustrating thing is that I know this routine works really well for him but can't understand why it blips when I'm not here, nor therefore how to resolve it.

Offline Yazzie

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Re: How long should his A time be?
« Reply #18 on: June 11, 2010, 10:43:25 am »
They always love to challenge us don't they ? :)


So, when you're not around, he still naps in his crib? Does that girl make any kind of noise, move around too much, so maybe waking him up?

Could you post what happens on those days when you're not around, maybe we can figure out what's happening or sort out a work around.

There's always a solution and once you figure it out, you'll be solving another problem...the joys of motherhood :-*
Adam's Mum




Offline humph

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Re: How long should his A time be?
« Reply #19 on: June 13, 2010, 19:44:03 pm »
Sadly, it now seems that it's all gone to pot.  I was hoping that we'd be able to use the weekend to get back to grips with it and get his naps back on track but we've had a really tricky weekend where we've ended up doing all sorts just to get him to nap.  On a positive side it's made me realise that it has nothing to do with whether it's me or the girl looking after him so that's a relief but on a negative it's made me realise that we really need to get back on track with our routine and I'm really stuck as to where to start.

Yesterday, we went to my mothers for lunch and so his routine went as follows

E 7am
A watching his sister have breakfast
S 9.15 ish in the car
  10.45 ish arrived at mothers so woke up
E 11am
A Chatting to my new cousin who's only 2 wks old
S put to bed at about 12.15 but was furiously cross and wouldn't sleep, wind or feed, eventually he was prepared to take more milk and guzzled as if his life depended on it and then went to sleep but probably not until about 2 (complete nightmare)
E woke at 3 and fed (downed a whole bottle)
A chatting to family
S in car on way home about 3.45 til 5ish
A watching sister have supper then bath time
E whopping 9oz (he always takes a massive feed at this time)
S Bed by 7

Today
E 4.30 only 2 oz, am reducing the amount I give him at this time to encourage him to take bigger feeds in the day and thus give up this feed
S
E 7.30
A
S 8.50
A woke at 9.50 and was cross and grumpy until fed at
E 11am - not that hungry but finished off bottle before A time was over
A
S 11.45/12ish
A woke at 1pm (virtually the same time as DD went down so she may have woken him)
   took out for a walk 2.30
E 3pm - not v hungry
A
S in pushchair, on way back from walk
A Watching DD have supper and bathtime - absolutely screaming when he normally loves bathtime - massively OT
E fed at 6.30 but falling asleep in arms so put in cot and fed in his cot and he only had 6oz -at this feed he normally has masses.
S by 7 he was absolutely fast asleep.

Tomorrow we've got another busy day with his great aunt's 80th birthday so his morning sleep will be in the car as will his late afternoon sleep and his lunchtime sleep will be in the travel cot.  That said I see no reason why he shouldn't be able to fit in with his routine.

The prob I have is htat I'm so paranoid about either putting him to bed too early and him being UT or missing the sleep window and wrecking the nap as a result and then him being OT.  I find when he cries, I recognise when its hunger or not but I can't differentiate between under and over tired.  By the end of the day he is certainly OT but I'm wondering whether, as a result of our paranoia, we've been putting him down in the morning too early and he doesn't therefore nap well because he isn't tired enough and hasn't had a long enough A.  The result being that he doesn't get enough sleep and becomes OT.  Also I find I worry that he might not have enough milk at one feed so I will keep feeding him throughout the A time, often even when he's in his cot going down for his S time.  I know that'll cause all sorts of problems but equally I know that he won't sleep at all if he's still hungry.  Oh dear, what do I do?!