our sweet 4 month old easy girly is struggling the last few days to fall asleep. i am not sure if she is overtired or not tired enough when i lay her down. i usually keep her awake for 1:45-2 hours as this seems to have worked in the past. she is having a hard time falling asleep, but once asleep, she is sleeping fine (besides the cat nap, which she sometimes skips, cause she will not fall asleep, and it can be that she is awake for 3-4 hours in the evening, even if it is 7:00pm by the time she falls asleep). so once she is in her crib, she starts of with her mantra cry and then after a while, full blown cry. she has always fallen asleep on her own, till the last few days, i the past few days i have been feeding her as a last resource, which works bc she is so exhausted from crying. i do try and help her to fall asleep after she is in full cry mode, and she does calm down if i pick her up, but i haven't done the pu/pd, because i figure that is not her issue. she does usually fall asleep on her own. in her defense, she did cut her first tooth today, besides drooling, red cheeks, she doesn't seem to show any signs of distress till she is put in her crib (so i am not sure if that is the problem, cause it only shows up when she is put in her crib). this was today's routine:
E 6:00
S 7:55 (actually no crying!!!, i put her down after being awake for 1:50 min, as it worked this morning, that is the awake time i did for the rest of the day, but it never worked again)
E 10:15
S 12:35 (by the time she calmed herself down and went to sleep)
E 2:45
S 5:10 by the time she was asleep. i bf her at this point, cause it was getting late and i wanted her to have a cat nap.
E 5:30
S was 8:10 by the time i bf her again, and she fell asleep on the breast. i put her down at 6:45 originally.
help! what do you think? i am trying to read her cues, but she really doesn't' give many or any. she is so social, she would stay awake for a looooong time without a yawn.
thanks for being patient enough and reading this long one.
nilly