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Author Topic: Too much napping, not enough nighttime sleep?  (Read 815 times)

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Offline maggiesmom76

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Too much napping, not enough nighttime sleep?
« on: January 27, 2009, 23:24:19 pm »
My 11-week old DD is on a pretty regular 3-hour EASY (8am to 8pm, give or take 30 minutes).  She's been a victim of the 45-minute monster in her naps, but we can typically (at least in the morning naps) get her back to sleep by giving her the paci and just sitting in her room.  As a result of the not-great napping, her A times are kind of short -- 1 hr 10 minutes at best, sometimes 45 minutes by the end of the day.  If I try to extend her A times, she becomes OT and wakes up 20-30 minutes into her nap. 

Because we're on a 3-hour EASY, she takes 4 naps a day.  The morning ones are usually close to 2 hours, afternoon ones are more like an hour (if we're lucky).  That's 6 hours of naps in a day, which feels like a lot.  At night, she goes anywhere from 5.5-9 hours between feedings (average is probably 7 hours these days), but usually wakes up a couple of times to be re-paci'ed (yes, it's a prop, and we're dealing with that!).  Once we feed her at 4 or 5 am, she doesn't settle well -- sleeps for maybe 2 bouts of 45 minutes each, and that's about it.  So I'm wondering if she's sleeping so much during the day that it's affecting her nighttime sleep?  Just feels like her last nap of the day is from 6:15ish-8pm, then she wakes up, eats, gets a bath, and back to bed.  Is that right?  Is she sleeping too much during the day? 
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Offline jana224

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Re: Too much napping, not enough nighttime sleep?
« Reply #1 on: January 27, 2009, 23:44:37 pm »
I don't think 6 hours is too much in the day for a young one like your DD... 
BTW - she's absolutely adorable!
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Offline becky1969

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Re: Too much napping, not enough nighttime sleep?
« Reply #2 on: January 29, 2009, 05:36:36 am »
Hmmm.  I wouldn't say she's necessarily getting too much sleep during the day.   However, I do think that last nap is too long.  I'd keep the last sleep period to a catnap length -- 45 minutes -- and then that puts her to bed at a more reasonable time.  Her restlessness in the AM is not uncommon at this age, and shortening that last nap might help her consolidate her sleep better for the night.  Worth a try!

We usually see 3 1.5 hour naps at this age, and maybe one cat nap of 30-45 minutes.
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Offline maggiesmom76

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Re: Too much napping, not enough nighttime sleep?
« Reply #3 on: January 29, 2009, 18:03:29 pm »
Thanks ladies!  This is very helpful.  I was thinking about shortening that last nap as well.  She wakes up from her naps 45 minutes in anyway, so rather than giving her the paci to go back to sleep, I'll probably just get her up, feed her and bathe her.  I'm also trying to extend her A time a bit so that her other naps are shorter as well.  Her first nap of the day can go 2.5 hours sometimes!  I'll keep you guys posted -- thanks again.
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Offline jana224

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Re: Too much napping, not enough nighttime sleep?
« Reply #4 on: January 29, 2009, 20:26:00 pm »
Maybe plan to wake her if she sleeps past 2 hours during the morning/afternoon and limit late afternoon sleep... if you want her in bed for 8pm, then she shouldn't sleep past 6:30pm.
Soon she'll be doing 2 naps plus a catnap instead of 3 naps plus a catnap...
Jana
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Offline maggiesmom76

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Re: Too much napping, not enough nighttime sleep?
« Reply #5 on: January 30, 2009, 15:15:28 pm »
Becky and Jana, this was great advice -- last night she did better, and I think if she hadn't been OT when we put her to bed, she'd have been almost perfect!  I started extending her A times, which shortened the naps a bit, and she seemed fine with it.  The last nap she started waking up at 45 minutes, so I just got her up then.  She didn't go to bed easily (and she always does -- that's why I think she was OT), but once she was asleep, she woke up a couple of times at 2 or 3 but went back to sleep with the paci... and then didn't wake up until 6:30 (and at that point my husband didn't realize what time it was, so he gave her the paci and she went to sleep for another 30 minutes!).  So all told, close to 11 hours between feedings, 2 hours longer than she's gone before. 

So here's my question for you: After her last nap, our routine was pretty good: Feed, bath, book, bed.  Now that that last nap is 45 minutes, that means it's only 2 hours or 2:15 after her last feeding, and I'm not sure that she'll eat then (she tends not to eat unless she's hungry).  So last night, after the cat nap we played with her for a little bit, then fed her, then bath and bed.  She was exhausted by bedtime (not used to only :45 of a nap, I guess), so I don't think we can play with her first anymore.  I guess I should just try feeding her after that nap, like I did when it was a full nap?  If she doesn't take the feed, any thoughts on what I should do?  I guess we could bathe her and then feed her, but we like to feed her first because it usually makes her poop and that way we don't have to change 2 diapers (she HATES the diaper change). 

So what do you guys think? 
Ellen
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Offline becky1969

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Re: Too much napping, not enough nighttime sleep?
« Reply #6 on: January 30, 2009, 23:33:39 pm »
The cat naps can mess up feeding times, but I'd go ahead and give feeding upon waking a go and see what she does.  I can't remember what we did with my son actually.  I think I fed very close to sleeping time (maybe feed then change into jammies then bed) b/c he wasn't hungry earlier.  The pooping thing might be a problem, but sometimes the routine is a bit messy and you just do the bet you can!

Glad to hear you're already getting good results!  :)
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