Author Topic: barely naps for 20 mins in a day - UPDATE - its got worse! (Read 3174 times)

*Vicki* · « **on:** February 10, 2008, 18:32:47 pm »

Im at the end of my tether with my little so please any advice would be helpful as i am so tired and stressed that im afraid i cant see what i need to do...i have BW solves all your probs on my lap as i type and i cannot see clearly what it is i need to do...

Ok so my LO is 9 months old....was diagnosed at 7 months of age with a lactose intolerance for which she is on a LF milk...her sleeping greatly improved, diarrhea cleared up etc etc.....the last couple of weeks we havestarted seeing the same issues with sleep returning..she would wake up after only 45 minute naps and not settle back to sleep...

This week we have been lucky if we can get her to sleep for 20 mins in the morning and the same for the afternoon - today she slept for 15 mins between 6.30 am and 6.30pm!!! She obviously cries alot, rubs her eyes etc but just will not give in and go to sleep...last couple of nights shes even started waking up at 3am briefly and wanting to get up at 6am (her normal wake up time was 7am)...shes still having 5 bottles a day + 3 meals (although shes still not awfully keen on solids) so im not not sure if its a hunger issue...she is teething but i give her pain relief and teething gel and she has about 6 teeth already....Im just tearing my hair out coz even when she dos go to bed in the evning she sleeps so fretfully we have to creep around for fear of waking her up...i just feel like im living in a nightmare at the moment...i dont think PU/PD would work as shes spirited/touchy and it hasn't worked previously and i ve been sitting with her to try to support her while she goes to sleep...im wondering if i ve in some way accidentally parented her in some way....any advice would be so appreciated

deckchariot · « **Reply #1 on:** February 10, 2008, 19:26:16 pm »

oh Vicki - big hugs to you!!!! Can you post what your EASY routine was like when the naps started going wonky? It's possible that she needed a bit more A time, but is now so OT from not napping that she doesn't know what to do.

When you say you wonder if you've done AP - why? When you're sitting with her - what are you doing? Is she in her crib? Were you sitting with her before the naps went bad? What are you doing for a wind down routine?

My guess is that the NW is due to being way OT because of not napping. So go ahead and post your routine (as best you can) and we'll see what we can do. Hang in there!!

michelle

*Vicki* · « **Reply #2 on:** February 10, 2008, 19:51:30 pm »

Thanks Michelle!!

Admittedly i was putting her down and sitting with her for a little bit but then im not sure really $:-\$ I ve always found with my LO that if i stay in the room she seems to find it harder to settle $:-\$

ok so heres what the routine has been looking like the last couple of days..

6.30am wake up, roll around in cot babbling
E 6.45am 5 oz milk
A 7am rolling about on mat on floor, sitting in bouncing chair, playing with teething toy
E 8am breakfast- baby weetabix
S 8.30am lays in cot rolling about - gets upset and doesnt seem to want to go to sleep but is rubbing eyes etc
9.20am finally falls asleep
9.35am awake, screaming..will not settle and keeps rolling over

E 10am 2oz milk doesnt want anymore milk but wants to chew the teat and gets upset wheni take it way
A 11am out in pram for a walk
E 12pm Lunch - fruit puree
S 1pm I put her in cot and sit with her....she drifts off but wakes up screaming 5 mins later and then starts
rolling around the cot whining and rubbing her eyes but is also being playful....which i ignore

I put her on her back each time she rolls over onto her front and each time she starts screaming...this
this goes on until 2.30pm when i feel maybe shes hungry as she only ate half her fruit puree..so i give her
a bottle on my bed. she takes 4 oz's. But wont go to sleep.
A 3pm bring her back downstairs...she sits in bouncy chair for a while
3.30pm out in pram for awalk - dunno what else to do!
S 3.45pm fallsasleep while in pram
4pm as we arrive indoors she wakes up again
A 4.10pm sits in bouncy chair playing with teething toy with dd1
E 5.30pm mashed veg
is so tired she cant finish her dinner properly...
S 6pm 4oz milk...goes in cot starts screaming
6.30pm asleep but fitfully

She has woken up every 20mins or so screaming and falls asleep again after a few mins......normally shes still having a DF at around 11pm...of which she takes about 5 oz's....she does wake up at this time but settles back down very quickly again apart from lastnight when she didnt go back to sleep till gone midnight...im assuming some of this has something to do with her being more mobile recently but im just so tired and confused i cant see straight...

deckchariot · « **Reply #3 on:** February 11, 2008, 01:07:16 am »

sorry for the sleep deprivation....it's no fun when your lo doesn't nap well! You mentioned that she's recently become more mobile - is she crawling/walking now? Those are HUGE milestones and will wreak havoc with naps. However, I think it may be an A time issue. It looks like her first A time is just 2 hrs, my guess is that she can handle quite a bit more, so she doesn't nap, then she's OT, so the next A time of 3 hrs is too long. Also, have you thought about weaning the df by adding a bit more to her daytime bottles? At her age, the df may be too disruptive of her sleep (especially if she's waking for it) which could then disrupt her daytime sleep too.

Do you think she could handle 3 hrs of A time? Could she go 4 hrs between milk feeds? Could you try a routine something like this:

E - 6:30 (milk feed)
A - keep your solids breakfast as is
S - 9:30 (start her wind down around 9:15 or so)

E - 10:30 (11 if she will nap for 1.5 hrs)
A - keep your solids lunch as is
S - 1:30 (or later, if she wakes later, go 3 hrs from when she wakes up)

E - 2:30 (or whenever she wakes from her nap)
A - solids around 3:30 (or approx 1 hr after she wakes and has a milk feed)

Start bedtime routine around 6ish, with her final bottle feed at 6:30 and off to bed. If she doesn't nap well earlier in the day, you could squeeze a catnap in after her 3:30 solids and before the bedtime routine.

In terms of weaning the df, what you could do is take 1 oz away from the df, move it 30 min earlier, and add 1 oz to her first bottle of the day. So first, you'd do a df at 10:30 that would be 4 oz, but her morning feed would be 6 oz. You'd do that for 3 days, then take another oz away from the df, move it 30 more min earlier, and add an oz to the next bottle of the day. Does that make sense?

I don't think you're a prop for her at all. I wouldn't worry about what you've been doing in terms of sitting with her. If you feel like it's disrupting her, then go ahead and just wind her down, pop her in the cot and head out. If she's screaming for you, then come back in.

Looking at your routine, I'm guessing with a few tweaks, you can probably address the nap issues without having to do anything else. Let me know if you think the routine I suggested will work.....hang in there!

michelle

*Vicki* · « **Reply #4 on:** February 12, 2008, 19:25:05 pm »

Thanks michelle!

im gonna write that routine out and try it....i knew the df had to go i suppose its just my dd1 carried on with it till she was nearly a year without it disrupting her solid intake...but then she was so so much more into her solids than dd2 is...and she was a better sleeper at 9 months of age...*sigh*...

Im gonna focus and try what you ve said...im gonna pop overto the PU/PD boards too in case i need to useit to extend her naps....they ve never reallybeen that great anyways so i may need to try it.....

ill let ya know how i get on tho xxxx

deckchariot · « **Reply #5 on:** February 12, 2008, 20:16:48 pm »

good luck Vicki!

*Vicki* · « **Reply #6 on:** February 12, 2008, 21:38:42 pm »

thanx hun

thank you so so much for the advice too........will let ya know what happens....

*Vicki* · « **Reply #7 on:** February 17, 2008, 15:48:50 pm »

Im trying to change things but now LO barely naps at all - its almost as though she doesn't WANT to sleep! By bedtime shes conked out but the daytimes are a nightmare! I really dont know what to do anymore!

deckchariot · « **Reply #8 on:** February 17, 2008, 21:05:42 pm »

I'm so sorry you're having such a rough time! Is she teething? Anything developmental going on? Can you re-post your routine - or at least what your today looked liked (even with the bad naps) and we'll have a look?

Hang in there!

*Vicki* · « **Reply #9 on:** February 17, 2008, 21:17:10 pm »

ok hun thanks

here goes..... $:-\$

Ok so today she woke up at 7.30am

E 8am 6oz's
A
E 9am weetabix (didn't want much)
A 9.20am rubbing eyes etc
S 9.40am....starts to settle but then wakesup fully!

After trying to get her to sleep for over 40 mins i get her up....

A 10.15am
E 11am 3oz's
A out for a walk in the pram
S 11.45...dozes for 10mins in pram

A back home
E 12.30 solids
A 1pm
S 2pm shes very tired but wont settle enough to go to sleep. Has 5 oz bottle
seems to start settling at 2.50pm
Dozes till 3.15 - not really sleepng but sucking thumb and cuddling lovey
A 3.20

E 5.30 solids
6.30pm bottle (5 oz's)
s 7pm tonight she went out like a light

deckchariot · « **Reply #10 on:** February 18, 2008, 16:47:06 pm »

oh dear...that looks like a rough day!! I'm glad that you at least got out of the house for a bit of a walk....sometimes you need to save your sanity!

My first thought is that her morning A time actually needs to be longer - she's not tired enough to sleep, but then when she doesn't sleep, she's too tired the rest of the day to sleep. I had a harder and harder time reading Abby's sleep cues as she got older because her "sleepy" cues were really "I'm bored" or "I want to cuddle" cues. So when she stared to look tired, I tried changing her activity or just have a good snuggle with her for a bit and found I could extend her A time that way. I think if you could extend her A time closer to 3 hrs, she might be more able to go down for her nap. So, if she wakes at 7:30, you'd want to try to have her down by 10:30. With my dd, we started having to do much longer wind downs, closer to 30 min. So, looking at your routine from yesterday, maybe try this for the am:

if she wakes at 7:30, keep the first part of the am the same - milk feed at 8, solids at 9. When she starts to show tired signs, see if you can change her activity or do some quiet snuggle time or play time just to extend her maybe 10-15 min longer before you put her down (so instead of 9:40 - try to make it to 9:50) and increase 10-15 min every day or every other day. Has she always been on the short side of A times, or pretty much on target for her age?

If she takes a short nap, make sure to keep the next A time super short - maybe only 30 min A time after she's eaten both milk and solids, and then put her right back to bed.

Hang in there.

*Vicki* · « **Reply #11 on:** February 18, 2008, 19:51:27 pm »

Thanks hun..xx

im gonna try that tomorrow....I got her up at 7am this morn coz dd1 is back to school this week...she was rubbing her eyes and whining no matter what i did by 9am...so i tried putting her down and sh slept for 1 hour and a 1/2!!! Im shocked

butnow im thinking maybe shes been off sorts coz i ve not been getting her up religiously at 7 every morning coz dd1 was off....do you think maybe she noticed the difference and felt insecure?

Lucysmom · « **Reply #12 on:** February 18, 2008, 20:18:37 pm »

Hi Vicki - I am chiming in late here, but something else you might want to consider is having her ears checked out by your GP. She might have an ear infection that would cause her to be uncomfortable while lying down. Sometimes that is the only symptom of an ear infection. It sounds like things have perhaps calmed down already there, but I thought I'd throw that thought out there just in case.

HUGE hugs to you!!!

*Vicki* · « **Reply #13 on:** February 18, 2008, 20:21:50 pm »

i never thought of that - you could be right....she HAS been tugging onher ears too - tbh i just thought it was tiredness!!

maybe i ought to get it checked out $:-\$

thank you

linfran · « **Reply #14 on:** February 18, 2008, 20:26:01 pm »

Hugs honey...

Ears did come to mind with me too, as when ds was teething he often got ear infections. Plus if teething, I reckon a lot depends on which teeth they're getting - if she's trying to cut her eye teeth (the canines) and she's anything like ds, they were pretty much the worst of the bunch.

Regardless of what it is, teething totally sucks anyway.

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