EASY from birth now 4 weeks and going wrong!

[* Paula *]

Hi Helen,

That is fantastic news.  I am so pleased that the routine and the feeds are going so well.  Sounds like your DD has adapted really well.

The key is consistency, and you have been sticking with it, so your lo now knows what to expect.

Fantastic news keep us posted.

[Adaias mom]

Paula,

I just have a quick question. I have just read in another post that the 8pm cluster feed should be dropped at 8 weeks

My LO is nearlly 8 weeks but wakes on her own for this feed, and even though its not as long as other feeds she still feeds for a good 10 mins. I am scared of dropping feeds too  early, incase i get more NW's. I cluster her at 4,6,8 and DF about 10. These feeds sometimes go 4,6.30,8.30 and 1030, but she mostly wakes on her own for these feeds, so not really a DF. She does go nigh on straight back to sleep after these feeds as i treat them as a night feed. Just wondering what you think???

Hugs Helen

[* Paula *]

Hi Helen,

Yes Tracy does suggest dropping the second cluster at around this age, but I do know of a lot of mums who stick with this cluster feed and let their lo guide them and let them know when they are ready to drop the feed.

If your lo is still taking this cluster feed well, then I would be inclined to keep it.  Your routine is going so well, you don't want to try and fix something that is not broke 

How did today go?

[Adaias mom]

Hi Paula,

Well yesterday day time wasn't great as she has decided that her 2 hr morning nap is now going to be 1hr and a half, so we ended up an hour ahead of routine! But i got it back by adding a little time to her feeds so by 4 we were back on track. But all her naps were short yesterday so she was very OT by bed time, and took ages to settle, but i got her settled eventually.

I then did a DF at 11 and she woke at 25 to 7 this morning!!! I couldn't believe it! I woke at 5 and nearlly had heart failure, she then stirred at 6 but went back to sleep, then was obviously starving when i got her up! I tried extending her A time this morning as she normally only does 30 mins then off back to bed, so i got it to 40 mins, then she slept for an hour and half, so by the time she had got up and was due a feed her whole A time was nearlly done, so she fed and nigh on went straight to bed. (I didn't feed to sleep though)

Whats the best thing to do when she wakes and still has a long time before she is due her next feed? I couldn't extend the nap as she has had an hour and half and is then wide awake and smiling and she didn't even show any hunger signs until i fed her. She was just happy lying on my bed and then in her rocker. Is SA(long)EA(short)S ok? I don't really want to extend her morning A time anymore as she was tired when she went to bed, and i don't want her to start the day OT!

Hope this makes sense as i seem to be rambling a bit! But the whole nights sleep was fab, got loads of housework done this morning!!! Hope it wasn't a one off!

Helen xx

[Adaias mom]

Hi Again!,

Well today has been pretty much the same as yesterday, we have a 45 min nap monster!!!

Her routine yesterday went as follows

E 0630
A 0630 - 0700 (extended to 40 mins today)
S 0700 - 0830

A 0830 -0920
E 0920
A 0920 - 0950
S 0950 - 1050 ish
S 1200 - 1230

E 1240
A 1240 - 1340
S 1340 - 1430
S 1500 - 1545 (In pram on walk)

E 1600
A 1600 - 1730 (tried to put her down at 1640, but was really sick, so had to change and re-feed, so thats why it took sooo long)
S 1730 - 1800

Bath 1815

E 1830
S 1900

Was on and off not settled very well, but in cot in dark

E 2030

Woke again at 2125 but put lullaby music on and fell back to sleep.

DF 2300

slept until 0635!!!

Her naps are short and because of this i am having to do alot of A time before feeds as she isn't really hungry when she wakes up. Today has been about the same but she has settled better this evening, she is asleep now and has been for about the last 30 mins. I really tried to extend one of her naps today, but just got fed up and so did she so just went for a walk with the dogs! I just don't seem to have the patience to spend hours in there extending naps! Plus she seems happy enough when she wakes. She is getting 15hours complete sleep, so should i be worried about short naps?

Helen x

[* Paula *]

Fantastic news on the great nights.  Sounds like you both are doing fantastically.

45 mins - 1 hour naps generally mean that your lo is UT when going to bed.  Might be worthwhile trying to extend the A time slightly by 5-10 mins and see how she does.  Keep the last bit of it very low key perhaps just a walk round the house, little talking etc, and see how she does.  She may just need those extra few mins.

Keep us posted.

[Adaias mom]

Hi Paula, well yesterday went like a dream!!!

I kept her up for 40 mins after waking, then she only slept for an hour because she escaped from her swaddle!!! But then i put her down an hour and 20 mins later and she slept for 2 hours!!!

We then went to town, but she slept well in her carseat on the pram, and then went down for a 45 min catnap before her bath. I actually had to wake her from the catnap.

She then had a monster feed at 6, and slept until i did the DF at 10! No 8 o clock feed. She then woke up at 3, but i think i went in too early, as she woke again at 6, but i just left her and after about 40 mins of little cries every so often she fell asleep until i woke her at 7.45!!!

She has just gone down now, as we had a few wind and sick issues, but all seems really good. My DH has gone away for a week now, so i am going to leave her for longer if she wakes at 3 again and see if  can push it to about 4.30, or even try and get the 7 1/2 hours out of her that she has been doing!

Hope all is well with you,

xxx

[* Paula *]

Fantastic, sounds like you have an angel baby on your hands 

Keep up with it, all your hard work is paying off.

We are doing well thanks.  Had an EW from DD this morning  and thought we would just cuddle in our bed, but she was having none of it, and was climbing all over me like a jungle gym, and saying mammie bekfast, so we got up 

Hope the weather is nice on your side.  We are just off now, to take the kids for a run in the park, to tire DD out for hopefully a nice long nap.

[Adaias mom]

Hi Paula,

Well yesterday was a bit of a disaster as i had a 60th party to go to and after finally getting my dd to sleep in the pram the fire alarm went off so had to evacuate the building and couldn't take the pram!!! So she completely missed her afternoon nap. She then spent the next hour or so, getting cuddled and goo goo gaa gaa'd at by loads of people, and she happily smiled at everyone but was then massively OS! I took her for a 45min drive instead of going straight home to try and get her to calm down and have some sleep and i think she got about 10 mins, so when i got in and did bed bath routine it just was never going to be easy to get her down.

I think she managed about 10 mins tops at once until 10 at night when she finally went off with exhaustion!! Bless her. It was also very hot here yesterday so the heat didn't help. She ended up in a vest and swaddled in a sheet and that was it.

The night was good though, as she only woke at 3 when i ignored her and she went back off until 4, then i was only up 15mins and she went back to sleep til 7! So i am very thankful no matter how bad the day, nights are always good!

Today has been fab though. She slept 3 hours this morning!!! Making up sleep i think! Then had an hour, and has been down for an hour and 10 mins now, so she has had a brilliant day today.

I re-did the test to see what type of baby she is, and the 1st time she was purely Textbook but now she is 50 50 textbook/Angel. I think i am very lucky!

Oh i am trying to wean her onto bottles as i have decided to stop BFing, but she does not want to take them at all! She spat all her milk out at me today, then refused to eat until i put her on the boob. I think its quite funny today but i am sure i'll be fed up with it in 3 weeks when i am still trying to get her to take 1 bottle a day lol

Weather is cloudy today but was gorgeous yesterday! Hope you had a lovely day at the park

xx

[* Paula *]

Fantastic about such a great night.  I was very lucky with my DS he was the same that no matter how little sleep he had in the day, his nights were generally good.

So pleased that things are going so well.

With regards to the Breast to Bottle, there is a thread dedicated to it on the Bottle Feeding Board, you may want to have a look there.  There is some great advice there.

The park was lovely yesterday.  We went again today the weather was great in the AM, but got cloudy in the late PM.

What part of the UK are you in?  We are in Cheshire.

[Adaias mom]

Really!!! My whole family come from the wirral ha ha

I now live  in the Midlands.

I am still having problems getting her to bed in the evening though. I do her bed bath routine, but then she just won't settle. It took til after i gave her a bottle at 8.30pm last night before she finally went off. Then i gave her a very quick BF at 11, and she slept til 5!!! I then gave her a quick feed and had to wake her at 7.45! Bless her. She managed about an hour and 10mins A time this morning, so went down late, but still went down fine on her own.

I am going out for the day today, so will probably have bad naps and a nightmare night but we can't spend our whole lives cooped up in the house in case we spoil her naps can we!

[* Paula *]

I am originally from South Africa, but have been living in the UK for 7 years now 

Hmmm, I wonder what is going on with the evenings.  Can you post what yesterday looked like with your bath routine etc, so that I can have a look?

Great that the night went so well.  Fingers crossed that today is not too bad and that you have a good night.

Keep us posted.

[Adaias mom]

Hi Paula,

From what i can remember yesterday went as follows:

E 0530
A none
S 0600

E 0730
A 0800 - 0820
S 0820 - 1100 (catching up from previous day)

E 1110
A 1140 - 1240
S 1240 - 1330

E 1330
A 1400 - 1430
S 1430 - 1600

E 1630
A 1700 - 1715
S 1715 - 1750

Bath 1750

E 1815

attemt to put her to bed after a good feed at about 1845/1900

E 2030

Finally asleep about 2100

E 1100 (v.small feed) slept until 5!

It has happened again tonight, she will not sleep, and i have tried all the things i do during the day when i get her to sleep, shhh/pat etc, I end up just giving her a dummy to suck about half seven until i feed her at 8.

She is actually still awake now. Massively OT but just will not go to sleep. Had a massive feed off me at 1800, took about 2oz at 2030, won't sleep.

She has been like this since birth at these times, and i don't know what to do to make it better, as she was definatelt not OT when she went to bed last night as she had slept really well during the day! I had to wake her from her catnap, and she gets really tired after her bath, starts looking a bit OS, but then gets ratty immediately before the feed then spends the majority of the feed with eyes wide open, then eventually calms down. I do the feed in her nursery in the dark.

What do you think. I will try anything, as its a right pain when she is so good all day and all night, just the evening! She doesn't cry though so its not colic, she just won't go to sleep. Will happily lie in her cot looking at her projector sucking her dummy (i only do this when all attempts at getting her to sleep have failed)

[Adaias mom]

Just a thought i had at stupid o clock this morning, but do you think she may be UT when i put her to bed

Do you think i should maybe try getting her from her catnap, giving her 20 or so mins downstairs and then doing bed/bath routine? She starts to cry as soon as i put her in her swaddle and thinking about it, thats what she does on naps when i try to put her down UT. Do you think its worth a try.

Last night was a nightmare! She didn't go down until 1030, which is the latest in ages, and i ended up having to shh/pat her to sleep on me, then putting her in her cot. She was then awake at 3, and again at half 6! Worst night i have had in ages! She was sooo tired bless her but just unable to sleep. She seems to have alot of wind, and whilst i don't think its colic, the way she gulps makes me think she may have a little bit of silent reflux? Do you think it could be that but only at that time of the day?

Anyway let me know what you think, and if i need, well i must need to, make some changes to the routine.

Thanks Helen xx

[* Paula *]

Hi there,

I am wondering if she is UT too.  She generally does 1.5 hours A time, and after her cat nap you are trying to put her down at 1 hours A time.  I would probably not do the full 1.5 hours A time, but maybe try at 1.25 hours and see how she does.  You can then experiment from there.

Also do you think that the bath could possibly be too overstimulating at this time of the night?  Just a thought, not sure if you wanted to try and move the bath to earlier in the day, and then do some low key A time after her cat nap before bed, and see how she does?

I don't think it is reflux related.  If it was she would probably be uncomfortable throughout the day.