Hi, my son Keenan is 10 weeks old tomorrow. We've been following a sort of EASY routine very casually, and only in the last week or so have I really tried to keep with it. I've been writing down how long he sleeps, eats, and plays each day to see what his natural rhythms are. All times are approximate.
6:30: wake up; once picked up is fairly content; eats 3-4 oz. (formula)
7-7:45: awake time
8:00-8:50: nap
8:50-9:15: I use shush-pat to try to get him back to sleep. It doesn't work, so after twenty or so minutes I stop and pick him up.
9:15-9:30: awake time; he's perfectly happy, grinning and playing
9:30: eats 4 oz.
10:00: nap
12:15/12:30: wake up; eats 4 oz.
1:00: awake time; is still generally content
1:45: nap
4:15: I wake him up and give him his Prevacid, which has to be given on an empty stomach 30 mins. before a meal
5:00: eat 4 oz.
5:30: awake time; generally content; catnaps off and on (10 mins. here, 5 mins. there) while DH and I make dinner and eat; sometimes is fussy, sometimes is not; no out-and-out screaming or even crying for very long
6:30: bath
7:15: bed
8:30: wakes up; eats 5 oz. [doesn't always happen; if he wakes up on his own we feed him, but we don't wake him up at this time if he's still sleeping]
10:15: dreamfeed, 4-5 oz.
wakes up on own anywhere between 1 and 3 a.m. for feeding, 5 oz.
These times can vary either direction by an hour or so, depending on when he gets up and what errands, etc. we've had to run. He sleeps 16-18 hours a day, which his ped. said was normal and good. When his reflux isn't acting up, he's usually fairly content. Since he's been on reflux meds, he isn't any more fussy in the evenings than he is any other time of the day.
My question is about his first nap being forty-five minutes. I know naps longer than that are ideal. In *The BW Solves All Your Problems*, she wrote that a short first nap would lead to evening crankiness and overtiredness, but so far that doesn't seem to be the case with Keenan. So do I need to worry about that first nap being only 45 mins.? He goes to bed at night fairly easily; if he has problems it's usually because he's having reflux, and once he burps really well or spits up, he's fine and goes off to sleep in twenty minutes or so. He also goes back to sleep quickly after his dreamfeed and early-morning feed; it's only the first nap of the day that he simply won't go back to sleep for any length of time. It seems like he makes up for the short first nap with longer naps the other two times.
He wakes up crying each time he wakes up, but calms down quickly once one of us has him. We swaddle him, and he sleeps in a baby papasan b/c of his reflux, with a white noise cd.
~Amber
Keenan 5/11
