Hi,
I'm new to this site, so I'm not sure if this is the right place to post for addressing both these topics, but I'll give it a shot
My DD is 4 mo and 1 week old. She is on an approximate 3 hr 15 min to 3 hr 30 min schedule. She's been short napping (stirs at 38 min, jolts/wakes at 42 minutes) since she was about 9 weeks old. Sometimes when she wakes from her naps she'll be happy for about 5 minutes and then start fussing/crying. I've been going in when she starts crying and reswaddling, reinserting paci, putting one hand over her eyes and putting my hands on her to stop jolts until she goes through the 20 minute fall asleep cycle. At first, I had to have my hands on her the whole time, but she is more low-maintenance now, needing my hands just when she jolts at 8, 10, 20 minutes. Sometimes she doesn't need the hands on the 20 min jolt. She usually spits her paci out part-way through the 20 minute cycle. So I'm hoping she's not addicted to her paci, but wondering if that's what's keeping her from falling back asleep on her own. She's trying to find her thumb but doesn't always succeed, and then flails.
She also wakes up about 4 or 4:30 every morning and is happy until about 5, when she wants to go back to sleep (we need to reswaddle and do the pressure thing to get her to do this usually). She is not hungry at this time.
I'm thinking I need to possibly slowly extend her wake time. Here is an example of her schedule:
5:30 or 6:00 AM - Eat
Sometimes sleep again til 7:00 or 7:30, then A time for about 1 1/2 hrs, when she eats again and then naps. (I know this is the wrong order, but I can't make myself get up at 5:30!)
9:00-9:45 Sleep
9:45-10:15 Putting her back to sleep
10:15-11:45 Sleep (sometimes I can't get her back to sleep though)
11:45 A
12:15 E
1:00 or so Sleeps for 45 minute nap, then put back to sleep
3:00 A
3:30 E
4:30 S
5:45 A
7:00 E, then bedtime
Awakes at 4 or 4:30 am EVERY morning! But only since she turned 4 months! Like I said, though, she's not hungry. Before she was 4 months, she would wake 2 or 3 times a night just to be reswaddled/paci-ed. So I guess it's sort-of an improvement, except now, she's wants to be up and play at 4 AM!
I've tried following Tracy's instructions of keeping them up only for 30 minutes after the feed time if you can't get them back to sleep after a short nap, and I think that's why her "schedule" is so out of whack. My fault, totally, for probably not being very consistent for several days at a time and getting things in the right order again. I really am stressed about having to go in and pressure her through every nap, since I also have a 2 1/2 year old & don't want to park him in front of the TV 3 times a day. ANY help or suggestions would be appreciated! Sorry if this is confusing...let me know if clarification is needed.
