Hard to keep 8 week old awake for "A" time

[natsmom2]

Natalie falls asleep after many feeds.  I try to change diaper, etc, to have to "A" time.  BUt sometimes she is difficult to wake.  She has a tendency to spit up if we put her down right away.  Not alot, no reflux worries.  She takes a short catnap for 10-20 minutes and this hurts her real nap after we do have some activity!

How do I keep her awake?

[denisei]

In the world of an 8 week old, feeding and diaper change can be totally exhausting. : )  SHe is still very, very little and random 20 minute catnaps are totally normal at this age.  I'd say it will probably be a few weeks til you see those definite nap patterns emerge.
To gently keep her awake, maybe you can try going outdoors or to a different setting that would feel/look different to her?

In the meantime maybe you can place her to sleep on an angel so she won't be so prone to spitting up?
HTH

[Deb_in_oz]

how long A time are you aiming for?  if she is consistently falling asleep during "A" timemaybe the period you are aiming for is just too long and if you bring it forward 10 min you might stretch her to go without the tiny nap and just get to the full nap??

[natsmom2]

Thanks for your replies!  Her "A" time can range from 15 minutes to an hour or so.  I just look to see when she displays her drowsy signs.  It makes me feel better to hear that random catnaps are still normal.  Is it also normal to have such a range of "A" time???

[Deb_in_oz]

i hestitate to post because it has been so long so take this with a grain of salt and ignore me if others come on and write the opposite....


hard to say but i woudl be aiming (not expecting anything exact iykwim) for some consistency in A times from here on out (8-12 weeks would be when i remember finding that rhythm with dd1, dd2 took longer because she was spirited and i was doing it all wrong for the first 8 weeks!).  with dd2 she had a big variation from 1st A time (shrtest) to 2nd and 3rd (longest) and then to catnap... but those particular variations were consistent, so even if she had 45 min for 1st A time (really like an extension of night sleep) and 1hr 15 for 2nd it was like that most days, not 1 day 45min and next 1hr 20 and then 1hr etc.  each slot settled into a rhythm.

if you notice the days she has a particular A time leads to short naps or long time to settle = too long and work back from there. i agree with PP that to extend a sleepy baby you can go outside and just walk around - it is a super low key activity ad the fresh air woudl keep her awake just enough to stretch another 10 min (woudl not use this tactic to take her from 15 min A time to 1hour iykwim)

so i guess most of what i am saying is to maybe look at each A time slot for now and see any consistencies within that period