Is it possible?

[addipie]

My dd is 7 wks and has been on EASY since birth.  She has recently increased her A time and has become alot more aware of us which is nice  .  I will post her routine below but here is my question:  She recently began waking 1 time a night instead of 2 but now I am having a VERY hard time settling her for her first nap.  At her first signs of sleep I will swaddle and put her down but she will not sleep.  Is it possible that she can stay awake until her next feed at 10?  She really is not fussy if I am not trying to get her to sleep.  If I am desperate I can put her in the swing and "rock" her to sleep but she will only cat nap and never fully sleeps. I know she is really young and requires sleep but I am wondering if this transition from 2-1 wakings at night has thrown us off?

E 7:00
A
S 8:15 (reallly doesn't sleep)

E 10:00
A
S 11:15-1:00

E 1:00
A
S 2:15-4:00

E 4:00
A
S 5:30-6:30

E 6:30
A
S 7:00 (catnap while we eat)

Bedtime routine

E 8:00
S

E 10:00 Dreamfeed

E 3:00

Any advise?  What can i do to help the morning nap? I have tried less A time and more A time...nothing really seems to make a difference.

[*Liz*]

No it is not really possible  that would be such a huge amount of awake time for such a little baby.

How long have you been trying for the nap at 8.15am for? How long did it work like that for before she stopped wanting to sleep?

Have you tried getting her back to sleep within the hour ie by 8am as lots of babies like their first A of the day to be very short - especially when so young?

[addipie]

We have been doing the 8:15 for about 2 weeks (maybe a little more) adn she seemed to settle fine.  It really seemed to change once she dropped one of her night feedings.  IWho knows if there is a correlation.  She seems to be the most alert first thing in the morning as oppossed to other times of the day.  My first dd did go right back to sleep after this feed but this one doesn't seem to want to as much.

This morning we woke up and ate at 7:15.  As soon as she finished I swaddled her and put her down by 7:50.  She layed there (not crying just squirming) until 9:00.  I would go in periodically and shh but that has not typically worked in the past. She seems to get more wound up.  She started to dose off at 9 but would cry periodically every few minutes.  I had to leave the house by 9:20 with older dd.  She still did not fall asleep in her carseat and then finally dosed off  around 9:45 til 10:30.  Keep in mind, this whole time she is not crying just looking around.  

Her next two naps were fine (1 1/2 - 2+ hrs) but then again after her 4:00 feed I tried to put her down (early at 4:45 b/c she was showing signs) and she just layed there for an hour.  I have a video monitor so I know she is awake...still not crying though.  I finally brought her back downstairs at 6:00 and she is only cat napping in her swing. She slept on and off until I fed her at 6:45 then we did our bedtime routine and put her down by 8:00.    

I don't know what to do...I know she is at least resting but my first dd would sleep 1 1/2 hrs following each feed.  It would be a whole lot worse if she was screaming the entire time but she truely is very content!

[*Liz*]

Hmmm its a bit odd isn't it? I wonder if she is perhaps one of those babies that likes her longer A first thing in the morning, and shorter as they day goes on. Most are the opposite way but not all.

Its like wakeful mornings instead of wakeful evenings - which I guess IS better.

When does she start to give you sleepy cues?

[addipie]

Today was pretty much the same.  I tried again to get her down 45 minutes from wake up and was unsuccessful for 1hr 15 minutes.  She finally fell asleep at 9:45 so I let her sleep until 10:30 instead of feeding at 10.  The rest of the day went right on schedule and she slept great following about 1 hr wake time.   Her last nap was actually 1 1/2 hrs instead of 1 hr.

Her normal sleepy cues are usually around 45 minutes to 50 minutes from wake up (yawns, looks away).  Even in the morning she will yawn (not look away) but WILL NOT SETTLE!

[*Liz*]

So it seems as though she should go down then really  .

If you think there might be a correlation with dropping the night feed then she might have extended  - have you tried 8.25ish?

I think TBH you might need to just keep doing as you are doing and see if this one rides itself out. It seems as though it is like wakeful evenings but in reverse - and they just tend to eventually settle. All you can do if offer sleep at sleepy times - and if she will not settle then use AP if you think she is entering OT land.

As the rest of your day is good at least you get a clean sheet every morning to  try something new.

Thinking back I remember having so much trouble with my DS starting around the same time. There is a bit of developmental thing that happens around now where they start to experience light sleep and drifting off - whereas as newborns it is all crash out into a coma  . This is the age where the short napping can start as well I'm afraid. First they sort out their night sleep (which your DD seems to have done VERY well) and then they start to arrange their day sleep. I remember my Dad taking 6 weeks to even see my DS with his eyes open, but by 8 weeks he was taking 4 catnaps a day. I wasn't BWing properly then but I'm not sure much of it was preventable - I think it was developmental.

Try a slightly longer A 'just to check', and if not I would just keep offering sleep on her cues. Try for 20 mins or so to help her to sleep and if she doesn't them get her up - see how she is - and AP the nap if you need to.

At this age if you are achieving independent crib sleep for one nap a day you are doing really well so I wouldn't worry to much if you end up using AP every now and again to avoid OT. I think most of us continue to work like that even when they get much older - as long as the majority of their sleep is independent and you KNOW they have the skills and have no true props then it really doesn't matter.

Hope I am making sense here.