Moved to a 4 hour easy and sleep has gotten worse

[mnardella]

Hello all-

My baby is 5 months and 1 week (but was born 6 weeks early)  He was doing fantastic on the 3 hour schedule.  He was extremely chill and predictable.  But he started to show signs of needing a change.  Not hungry at 3 hours and cutting naps short or playing during a whole nap.  I was reluctant to change because it was working so well but my girlfriend talked me into the 4 hour EASY (I was doing BabyWise prior)  So the last 3 weeks I have been working on stretching out his schedule.

During the first week his night sleeping went from sleeping through the night for 3 days in a row and then waking for 3 days in a row to now waking EVERY night a few times a night.  I figured it was just the change in his schedule and thought it would adjust its self once the 4 hour EASY was in place.  So far no go.

He is so unpredictable now, unlike before.  Sometimes he takes his 2 hour nap from 9-11 and then the afternoon nap is only 45-1hr or vise versa.  Or both naps are just cut short by a wake up screaming.    He barely ever cries so when he does I know its something.  The last 5 or so days I have been feeding him and hour after I put him down for a nap because he wakes screaming and does not want anything but food.   Then after I feed him he is up for a while and then the whole schedule is out the window.

I'm so frustrated because the schedule really worked well for me and now its all out the window.  It stresses me out to not know what the next nap will be like.

Any thoughts or suggestions?  Maybe I should go back to the 3 hour or 3.5?  What would a 3.5 schedule look like with a 7AM wake up?

Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to read this :-)

[MJMom]

For a child his age, 4 hrs really should work.  Can you post what a sample day looks like and we'll see if we can assist. 

Also, are you BF'ing or bottle?  If bottle, how much is he eating? 

If you are BF'ing, some BF babies cannot make it to the 4 hr mark and several BF babies continue on 3.5 hrs until solids are introduced.

[mnardella]

Thank you for getting back to me.

The schedule I am trying to follow is

E: 7:00 (cereal and Fruit)
E: 8:00 (3-6 oz of Formula)
A: Until 9:00
S: 9-11 (this is where it gets tricky, sometimes he sleeps for 2 hours and sometimes he wakes after 50 minutes)

E:  11:00 6 oz bottle
A:  11:30-1:00
S:  1:00-3:00 (again tricky depending on the day and how he slept the nap prior.  If he slept good he will wake up after 45 minutes, if he slept bad he might sleep the whole 2 hours)

E:  3:00  6 oz bottle
A:  3:30-5:00
Cat Nap 5:00-5:45 (does not always work out if he is messed up from his prior nap)
E:  Between 5:45 and 6:30 6 oz (it usually takes him a while to get this bottle down because he monkeys around like he is not hungry)
6:45-7:15 get ready for bed, bath, books
7:15-7:30 in the crib and sometimes he falls asleep right away and sometimes he takes 15-20 minutes.
10:00 DF

After that its a crap shoot.  He could wake up 4 times or only 1 once, every night is different.

I do notice that he seems very restless.  Not sure if that is normal.  But he flops back and forth and moves his head from side to side often.  I dont know if all babys do that or if he is having a bad dream and maybe that is what wakes him up?

Also, he is bottle fed.  Thanks for taking a look!

[MJMom]

Some comments:

1. the moving head back and forth- VERY normal!  My DD as well as our neighbor's 11 mo has a little bald spot on the back of their head from their self-soothing methods.  This is one of many ways they learn to self-soothe.  My LO used to rock her head back and forth AND swing her legs up and down pounding the mattress.  I wondered how on earth could she fall asleep doing that!   
2.  Because he was 6 weeks early, his age is more like 4 mos adjusted which means he should just now be ready for a 4-hr EASY.  How long have you been doing 4 hr EASY?  You said you were making the adjustment to 4-hr EASY?

When my LO was that age(adjusted), she was still transitioning to 4 hr EASY.  I would pay very close attention to his cues.  If one cycle is 3.5 hrs, and the next is 4, and the next is 3.45, that's OK.  Just restart the cycle.  Try to begin your day at the same time, and do the wind down/bed time at the same time.  This may mean he may be fed at 5 then at 7 because that is how the day played out.  Or you feed him before his bath one day and after his bath the next.  The cues at this point are more important than the time because he is transitioning.

HTH. 

[mnardella]

WOW...that is exactly what my baby does.  Pounds the mattress, swings his head back and forth...its nuts.  Like you said...how does that help them go to sleep?  Great to know that is totally normal though so thank you for giving me some peace on that.   

I will try and relax a little and learn to just adjust if one time he is on a 4 hour and one time he is on a 3.5 hours.  I seem to get to caught up in the times.   Hopefully that will work.

Thank you for your help.!

[MJMom]

You're welcome! 

Just remember, the times are a guideline to give you an idea of what to expect, but ultimately, you follow your LO's lead.  The routine gives them a guideline on what to expect. 

Let me know how it goes!

[mnardella]

Thank you!  I will try it and see how it goes.