4 Month Sleep regression or EASY tweak?

[JennVanessa1083]

Hello!

My DD will be 5 months on 6/14 but was born a month early. I think she is considered an Angel baby that is high sleep needs as her A times always seem to be at about her adjusted age and not her actual age. I believe I have been following her sleep cues (turning head away from stimulation, burying head in my shoulder, and vocal fussiness when we are htting close to her nap time. I also have been following her lead around feeding. She came home from the NICU eating every 2.5-3 hours then stretched her feeds to about 3-3.5 hours now. She sleeps through the night (has been for awhile now) and only wakes up for one feed in the early morning hours (anywhere from around 3-4 am). Typical wakeup for the day is 7 am; bedtime is 7 pm (give or take a half hour)

The issue I am having are her naps and now putting her to sleep for the night. The naps have been a little harder for the last week but her bedtime has been a couple of days. She isn't sleep trained yet (I am waiting for summer vacation to start so I can devote time while my DH takes care of DS). I also realize that she hasn't learned to connect sleep cycles but sometimes she will.

Her EASY in the last few days:

Tuesday
WU: 7:16 am (fell back asleep from 7:35-7:57 am)
E
A 1:38
S 9:35-11:10 am
E
A 2hr
S 1:09-2:24 pm
E
A 2:10
S 4:34-5:05 pm
E
A 1:50
BT 6:55 pm (restless for the first hour)

NF: 4:15 am

Yesterday
WU 7:16 am
S 9:11-10:46 am (A 1:55)
S 12:52-2:17 pm (2:10; cried hard for 15 minutes; nursed her; woke up after 20 minutes)
S 3:52-5:07 pm (A 1:35)
BT 7:10 pm (A 2:03; woke up after 27 minutes)

NF 4 am

Today
WU 7:13 am
S 9 am-9:37 am (A 1:47; was really fussy but then would't go back to sleep)
S 10:17-12:25 pm (A 50; fell asleep unexpectedly while nursing)
S 2:29-4:04 pm (A 2:04)
S 4:33-4:49 pm (again fell asleep nursing which is unusal)
S 6:07-6:32 pm (A 1:18; super cranky before putting her down)
BT 7:31 pm (A 59; fussy at last feed jumping on and off the breast; woke up at 30 minutes and again at around 1 hr)

Is she overtired despite having low A times for her age?

On average she gets 15.5-16 hours of sleep within 24 hours

Any advice or insight would be amazing!

[JennVanessa1083]

Hello!!

I wanted to follow up on my post...she’s starting to wake up several times after bedtime and twice for feedings rather than once. She’s also resisting bedtime now and falling asleep nursing which is not like her.

[Katet]

Sounds like she is overtired. It could be she's working on a developmental skill and that is messing things up, some babies (my youngest, who was Angel) don't actually like to have 'textbook' times and he did better with different A times at different times of the day

[JennVanessa1083]

Thank you for responding!! I thought overtired but you know this age is so funky with developmental stuff.

So where do I start in terms of A times and catching her up? After reading old posts about this I’m wondering how much earlier I should attempt naps and bedtime.

Should I just go with cues like fussiness to tell me to put her down. Today, she didn’t do so well with naps and bedtime is rough. She woke up after only 15 minutes crying.

[Katet]

Definitely go with the cues, that's so much more reliable than times. Times are more a guide.

[JennVanessa1083]

At this age, what are some signs?

Also is a longer first A time normal?

[JennVanessa1083]

Ok tonight she was crying hard with DH and not going to sleep!

I tried following her cues and she was resisting all naps. Today ended up like this:

WU 6:43
S 9:08- 11:27 am (she would not fall asleep in the stroller during school drop off for my son which is unlike her. I rushed to put her down when we got home since we were passed her usual A time. She fell asleep super quick but woke at 30 minute mark and got her back down after 10 minutes)
S 12:05-12:15 pm (car ride)
S 1:31-2:07 pm (stroller and would not fall asleep for awhile)
S 3:56-5:35 pm (woke at 35 mark and got back to sleep in under 5 minutes)
BT 7:49 pm ( resisted and cried for almost a half hour)

According to wonder weeks we have about 15 days left. Ugh could it be just developmental or is this a routine issue. She isn’t able to wait pass 3.5 hours between feeds; on average we are still at 3-3:25 hours between feeds. I don’t mind bc she is still very tiny for her age (3% in weight).

Not sure what to do! Any advice?

[JennVanessa1083]

Hi,

Was wondering if anyone has any more insight as we are still having issues with her sleep. Should she be on a 4 hour easy? She just turned 5 months.

She’s waking up early and not going back to sleep!

Yeserday it was 5:45 today it’s 4:30 am, I can really use some help please.