Hello
We've just started the Easy routine because my little girl previously slept through (from say 8.30 - 7.00) with one waking for a short feed and then she'd be straight back to sleep. I would normally nurse her or rock her to sleep at night. This is mainly because for the first 8/9 weeks she would cluster feed for about 4 hours and would eventually fall asleep. However over the last 2/3 weeks she's been waking after only 4 hours sleep and not going back down after a feed so i'd end up cuddling rocking her for an hour or more. The last few days she's also been waking about 5.30 with no inclination of heading back to sleep no matter what. She's never been a very good napper and has only ever slept for 30/40 mins about 4 times a day (about 2 hours from waking). These usually involve a drive, walk in the pram or rock of pram and often involve tears. I know sometimes she is overtired and hence my wanting to start a routine. I know we're in lots of bad habits and i feel now is a good time to try and sort them out.
In general my daughter is very smiley through the day and likes to be occupied.
I wanted to ask questions today as have read different advice both in tracy's book (where i started) and on here. The shh/ pat has worked for the early morning waking and the last 2 naps in getting my daughter to sleep with a few pick ups/ put downs. However i was unable to resettle my daughter at the first nap once she'd slept for 30 mins on the dot and after the remaining nap time (as suggested in the book) trying to resettle i ended up having to lift her to feed her which makes me think there was no point to trying to resettle. I have also read on the forum that at four months babies will often sleep only for 30 mins or so. I'm already confused but am very much a 'by the book' parent and struggle when things don't go to plan (my issue I know!)
To let you see my worries this is what's happened so far today:
E - 7.30 (12 minutes)
A - until 8.45 -put in sleeping bag as yawned rubbed eyes
S - 9.25 - sshh/pat then pu/pd, then hand on tummy to settle
woke at 9.55, tried to resettle with above strategies until 10.55 when we got up to feed.
E - 11.00 (12 minutes)
A - until 12.15 as showed sleepy signs (sleeping bag 12.25)
S - 12.35 after 10 mins sshh/ pat and one cuddle
woke at 1.05 tried to resettle for 10 mins
A - till 1.55
E - 1.55 - (20 mins) fell asleep at breast so took her up so she woke going into sleeping bag, then wide awake.
A - we're here now and already way off track!
Therefore i wanted to ask:
- should i keep going with shh/pat once she's woken up if she's wide awake and crying (if she looked sleepy I would keep trying)?
- If she doesn't go back to sleep, this then affects the whole 4 hour easy routine so i dont know what to stick to.
- If I dream feed at 10 at night, should i not feed again if my daughter wakes until the 7am feed next day?
I'd appreciate any help you can give me as i really want to make my little girl more settled, especially through the night. I go back to work in 2 months and feel like some sort of daily structure would be beneficial to her going to nursery so she knows what to expect.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Eilidh x
