Need advice about babies dropping naps

[Smurfette]

Hi there

Just checking to see how things are going for you.

[lizzymac99]

Hi!  Things have been up and down, she hasn't been eating well recently so that is my newest worry - I don't know what the deal is because nothing has changed but now its like she refuses to eat until she gets starving.  I think I need to start spacing out her feeds more (like maybe every 3.5 to 4 hours??) but at the same time I am scared that since she's little she won't take in the 150 mL she will need each time then.  Anyway as far as naps go I have been keeping a log and some days she will do at least one longer nap for me, but other days its all 40 minutes.  I have stretched her A time to about 1 hour and 40 to 1 hour and 45 with exception of the very first nap which she really looks for after about 1 hour 15 from her morning wakeup.  She is still fighting that last nap of the day so some days just to have a break I have been purposely skipping it and taking a drive with her, I figure she will eventually be dropping this nap anyhow?

Since her eating has diminished she has been up to feed once in the night now (4 times this week) when she previously has been STTN since 2 months old.  Very frustrating as I feel like we are going BACKWARDS!!  Anyway I have posted about this on the feeding boards to see if anyone has any ideas.  I don't know if it could be teething, we got treated for thrush "just in case" although there were no symptoms, and we are using the same bottles and nipples.  Thanks for all your help with the naps though, I think increasing the A time has helped as I am at least getting a few longer naps here and there - I hope that as she grows and gets a bit older these will become more frequent and with increasing A times we will only have 2 to 3 naps to worry about rather than the usual 5 

[Smurfette]

Can you post yesterday's EASY?
How often are you feeding her? Just curious-Why do you feel that she 'needs' to take in a certain amount? Babies often know how much they need and if she's refusing and she isn't sick, maybe she just isn't hungry?

I'm not sure if you have any of Tracy's books but she talks about 4 months as the prime time to transition babies to a 4 hour EASY. She says that 'when 4 month old (or older) babies are kept on a 3 hour EASY, they have irregular naps and often wake at night.' So it may not be a food issue that's waking her at night, but rather a routine issue or a combination of the two.

When I was on other baby forums everyone talked about 'the 4 month sleep regression' with dread, which I think is what Tracy's transition from 3-4 helps to avoid.
I know you are trying to get out of the 2 hour schedule you were previously on, but I think when you get your LO onto a 4 hour routine, she'll increase her feeds. Granted it is harder when they don't nap well, but the sooner you get her there, the sooner she'll adjust. So in the meantime your routine might be more of a EASAE(just leave enough time so she isn't nursing to sleep)S or EASASE and that's fine.
If you have BWSAYP book, instructions on how to transition begins on page 228.

Keep stretching her A times (which will stretch her feedings out), so that
a) she is tired enough to take a good nap
b)she will accumulate enough 'tiredness' to sleep through the nights
c)you can drop one or two naps

In regards to her 40 mins naps...have you tried increasing her A time to closer to 2 hours? Perhaps try that earlier in the morning OR after you get a longer nap so you know that she can handle it and see what kind of nap that gets you.

[lizzymac99]

Hi there today was actually a great day for sleeping and for eating for the most part!  The reason I am so obsessed with her weight is because she is very very small (11 lbs at 4.5 months old) and we had a bad start coming home from the hospital when I unknowingly starved her due to poor milk supply and exclusive BF.  At her 3 week checkup she had lost weight, when I went home and pumped I discovered that my milk supply had totally crashed.  Unfortunately that whole time she was giving me all the proper cues that she was full and satisfied so I had no idea - this is also why I don't trust her to know when she has had enough.  I was only able to pump an ounce combined from both sides that day when I previously was pumping 2 oz from each side.  Ever since then she has been really slow to gain weight and gets followed by public health with weekly weigh-ins.  I am now on domperidone and do a combination of BF first thing in the day and pumping and bottling during the day.  This week she lost weight again for the first time since that first episode.  Today I only fed her about every 3 hours to 3.5 hours instead of 2 to 2.5 and that made a huge difference (well for today anyway - hope it continues).  There was also a 2 HOUR nap this morning (second nap of the day) - I was worried about the day because her first nap went terrible, she woke up several times and fussed for a few minutes so slept off and on for about 45 minutes.  VERY restless... the rest of the day went well, it looked like this:

Awake 5:55 am
E 6:10 (BF and then 100 mL bottle of breastmilk)
S 7:02 (very restless nap - probably not enough A time)
A 7:47
E 9:00 (150 mL bottle breastmilk)
S 9:25
A 11:22
E 12:15 (160 mL bottle breastmilk)
S 1:09
A 1:45
E 3:00 (150 mL bottle breastmilk)
S 3:50
A 4:35
E 5:30 (she was hungry by then 160 mL bottle breastmilk)
bathtime @ 6:00pm
small 40 mL bottle top-up
S 6:40 pm

[Smurfette]

Congrats on the 2 hour nap! Isn't that nice when it happens!? If it happens again, I would try to push out her next A time a bit longer. I'm glad the feeding went better for you too!