A time help - please help before I go mad!!!

[jackman]

P.S. One thing I forget to mention - if my DS gnaws at his fists, I know he is hungry. He has been doing this if he wakes after 30 min. This is similar to how you gage with the dummy. So when you were trying to get DS back to sleep, did he spit out his dummy?

[sianie]

Hi there.....computer has been broken the last few days!!

I have had a really tough week.....DS's naps seem to be going from bad to worse, he's still mainly doing 30min naps then waking...he's getting harder & harder to re-settle & extend!!

I've upped his feeds as I think you made a good point about them being hungry.....this didn't make much difference to his sleep. He sleeps on his tummy for his naps and he is nearly rolling so when he wakes at the 30 min mark, he pushes up on his arms and tries to roll!!

I really am at a loss with it all.......I am so fed up trying to extend his naps all the time & it's not fair on DD. I'm thinking of just going with his short naps for a while...I just need a break! Tho have no idea how I would adapt his EASY??!! Any ideas??

DS does chew his hands a lot....think his teeth are moving around & he does usually spit his dummy out around the 30 min mark but used to re-settle when it was re-plugged.

Weird thing is, night have been a bit better.....he's been going to bed around 7pm then waking again for feed around 2am and then waking again around 7am (there are a few times he wakes as dummy has fallen out but he usually goes back to sleep when re-plugged!).

How are things going with you?

[deb]

Sianie, can you post your current EASY? It's been a while since the OP and I've lost track! LOL

And by all means, if you need to take a day and just put him in the car seat/sling/on a blanket while you play with DD, you DO that! Seriously!

[jackman]

I thought we had a break through with our nights since the last week (except for last night) DS was sleeping at least 4-5 hrs at a time. Bed at 7-8 and wake at 11 or midnight, wake again in middle of night for feeding until early morning (any where from 5-7am). However, last night DS was hungry every 2 hrs starting from 3pm until 11pm. He was cluster feeding like crazy and I have no idea why. I was certain that his GS was done since yesterday he turned 20 weeks. I'm hopeful that maybe in another month we will finally be STTN. I wish I could have your nights and you could have my days since our naps are doing better.

What are your A times currently? Have you thought about extending your A times? There are a few times where DS wakes after 40 min for me and he is a bear to get back to sleep. So I tweaked the A times to 2hr 5-10min and he is sleeping longer. That is the only suggestion I have and remember I'm no expert.  Otherwise, I completely understand about just letting your DS have short naps since it isn't fair to your DD.

I have days like that too where DS won't nap very well and I just end up doing CN all day long. I basically maintain the E times and if DS ends up taking two CN before his next feeding, then I do it. I hope this answers your question about EASY if the naps are short.

I tried rice cereal a couple of times this week. DS isn't a big fan, but I realize he is just practicing and learning right now and that BM is still his main source of food.

I really hope that naps get better for you.

[deb]

If rice cereal isn't a big hit, OR if it causes intestinal/digestive issues. consider other cereals when starting solids. (No, this is not meant to tell you to start, just in case you're already doing it or planning it. J did not do well with rice, but DID do OK with oatmeal; Nat didn't do well with rice or oatmeal, but did do OK with barley. Took some experimenting but we sorted it, but I'm glad we took the time to try different things when Plan A (or Plan B) LOL) didn't work out.

[sianie]

Thanks to you both!!  

Deb - our EASY over the last few days has sort of been as follows (this is today's):

E: 7.30am
A: 1hr 45mins (I have been adjusting A time up & down to try & find the right balance!)
S: 9.15am (woke after 30 mins then took me nearly 30 mins to get him back to sleep, as I think I mentioned, he pushes up on his arms and is then fully awake! When he did go back down he slept on and off in 10 min bursts til I got him up at 11am).

E: 11am
A: 1hr 30 mins (shortened A time as he was OT from previous nap)
S: 12.30pm (he was v. tired and did manage to extend this nap to 1.5hrs tho it was still a struggle!)

E: 2.30pm
A: 1hr 45min
S: 4.15pm (slept til just before 5pm)

E: Gave a small feed at 5pm

Fed again at 6.30 & asleep by 7pm. I've dropped the DF for now as it was disrupting his sleep a bit....he  is usually fed again at around 2am. Pretty sure A times are partly to do with it, tho not sure where to go with it??? Shall I increase to 2hrs?

Jackman - thanks for your thoughts.....I think you may be right about A times, I'm pretty sure it has a big part to play with his naps. I'm sure 1.45hrs is too short. If your A times are 2hrs 5/10mins is your DS asleep by this time or put down at this time??

Sounds like your DS is still a hungry little man.....I think it's difficult when LO's are on the brink of going onto solids.

Hope your night is better!!

[Daylene]

Sianie,

Just a quick answer to your previous question about adapting EASY for short nappers.  My DD2 has been a short napper for most of her 3 months; we have just started to get long naps in the last week or two.  I didn't feel right spending hours in the baby's room every day trying to extend her naps because I also have another daughter who needed Mommy!  So I just accepted the short naps for awhile, and they eventually worked themselves out when she learned to self-soothe.  Anyway, this is how we adapted -- EASY looks more like EASA.  Here's an example from our routine last month when we were on a 3-hour EASY and we had short naps:

E 7am
A 7:15-8:15
S 8:15-9:00
A 9:00-10:00

E 10am
A 10:15-11:00 (short A time because she's already had some A time before the feed)
S 11:00-11:45
A 11:45-1:00

E 1pm
A 1:15-1:45 (even shorter A time)
S 1:45-2:30
A 2:30-4:00

E 4pm
A 4:15-4:30 (now she's really, really tired, so we go down as soon as we can after feeding)
S 4:30-5:15
A 5:15-6:15
S 6:15-6:45 (catnap)

E 6:45pm
S 7pm

As you can see, we had an extra nap in there to compensate for her naps being so short.  She still got OT, but it helped to get her as much sleep as I could during this stage.  Hope your LO gets better sleep soon!

[jackman]

Sianie, by 2hr 5/10min my DS is asleep. He only needs 5 min or so to wind down. And my EASY is very similar to Daylene's in terms of having A times before and after S times.

I hope the experts can help you key in on the right A time to help your lo nap better.

Deb - thanks for the advice. I will keep other cereals in mind when we are truly ready for solids. For now, I'm just practicing. :-)

[deb]

S, I'd try to extend to a full 2 hours and see if it helps any, and then I'd see if you can somehow extend when he gets to that 45-minute mark, maybe get him past it/thru it before he wakes fully.

[sianie]

Thank you all for your replies....as always, really helpful advice!! It's hard to see the wood for the trees sometimes when you're in the middle of it! 

Daylene, like you I have a 2 yo DD so have only been able to work on sleep when she's having her nap. DS has a dummy (blessing & curse!) so doesn't self soothe yet. Thanks so much for your EASY.

Will go for 2hrs A time this morning & see what happens....keep your fingers crossed!!!!

[sianie]

So did 2hrs A time for 1st nap & although he stirred & wriggled a bit at the 30 & 45 min mark he stayed asleep & slept for just under 1.5hrs!!!! Hooray!!

2nd nap was ok too but he was more unsettled than the 1st nap (did 2hrs A time again)...not sure if I should have tried to extend this a bit? Jackman, I know you extend A times as the day goes on...guess this works for your DS?

3rd nap was a bit of a battle to get him down (tho this has always been trickiest nap).

So all in all not a bad day on the nap front!!! I thought it was all down to A time being out, so guess this proves it! Just find it difficult to get the balance right with A times as they change so much at this age!!

[jackman]

Sianie - This is great news!!!! I'm glad that the naps went better today. I'm hoping for a better night as the last two have not been so good. It seems that we were only lucky for 5 days and now we are back to multiple NWs and EWs.

I extend A times as the day goes on if DS naps well. If the first nap is more than an hour, then I'll extend the A times by a bit and same goes for the second nap. Our third nap is always a CN. DS needs this by the end of the day to get through his bath and last feeding. He usually wakes after 30-40 min. I would suggest stretching your A time to see if it helps your last nap of the day.

Good luck!

[sianie]

Thanks, will give it a try if naps go ok today, tho not holding out too much hope as DS has a bad cold & eye infection so was up most of last night coughing & not able to breathe, poor little thing!! Had to APOP & had him in with us from 4.30am just so we could all get some sleep!! V. OT today so we'll see how it goes.......

Hope your night has been better.....is he waking because he is hungry?

[jackman]

I'm sorry to hear about your DS having a cold and an eye infection!!! Having trouble with naps is hard enough, then to add sickness makes things even worse. I hope DS recovers quickly so you can get back on track and get the A time just right for good naps throughout the day.

Last night was not too bad. DS woke an 1.5 hours after I put him to bed at 7:00pm, searching for BM. Then he didn't wake until midnight. Went all the way until 5:20am this morning. So that is progress. But to answer your question, DS ALWAYS is waking because he is hungry.

No matter what I try during the day, DS can only muster 5 oz at a time and it is always a stuggle to get that last ounce in him even though I know he needs it at every feeding. I cluster feed in the early evening to see if I can tank him up, but he always wakes around 11 or midnight for more, which is the DF time. And it is a crap shoot if he wakes at 3am or 5am. Even if I feed him at 5am in hopes that he won't wake until after 7am, DS wakes at 6:30am. I just think that is the way he is wired!!! I'm still hopeful that in a month or so, things will work itself out like it seems to have with his naps and DS will STTN.

It is so funny how siblings are so different. I believe by this time, my DD was STTN or at least that is what I choose to remember. LOL.

Hope you're having a good weekend.

[sianie]

Thanks Jackman 

DS is still bad today....he can hardly open his poor little eyes as they are so gummed up!! As a result, sleep has been a nightmare, he was up every hour last night so OT today and very grisly, which is totally understandable! Hopefully he'll pick up a bit tomorrow.

Have you tried splitting his feeds so that if he doesn't take a full feed, you top him up 30 mins/ hour later? I guess things should start to get better hunger wise once you've introduced solids a bit more. Fingers crossed!!

I know what you mean about siblings being so different, DD is very much a spirited, head strong little madam but DS is a lot calmer & laid back (so far!!)...so total opposites!!

Hope your nights have been a bit better!