1st NW - why so varied?

[brynhilde]

C - that is amazing news and your post is wonderful to read! Congratulations again!!!

[*Ali*]

Well done on your good night. I do find that occasionally when DS has little sleep during the day he STTN for long periods but he can;t handle such short naps on a regular basis. You'll probably find her A times increase in the next month or two quite a lot so she will be able to get by on just 2 long naps of 1.5-2hrs.

[brynhilde]

Hey C - just wondering how your nights have been shaping up??

[bumblemum]

Hey Brynhilde,
Nice to hear from you,
On average nights are pretty good. Mostly there is a feed at 11.30pm ish and at about 3am. She then wakes about 7am.

We have a couple of not so great nights per week but I think this has been down to trapped wind. A couple of days ago she just wouldn't settle after the last night feed and then got really upset. Nothing I did helped so she was crying from 3am till 5am! I finally fed her again and she fell asleep on me. This has been happening less often thoughand normally we have the 2 NW's.

I'm pretty happy with that at the moment because I can get up and feed then go back to sleep. Not sure if I mentioned that we moved her to her own room and then I started turning the monitor to mute.

I can hear her if she cries out but the shuffling etc I don't get woken by. It's been much better.

How about you?

[brynhilde]

Hi - glad to hear things are going so well!! Our nights have been ok too. Typically a DF at 11, feed at 3, feed at 6, with a couple of "small" wakings inbetween where she fusses a bit but then goes back to sleep by herself. Hopefully once we have her in her own room we won't notice those!

Naps are a different story though... so I'm posting away on the naps board at the moment!

[bumblemum]

Glad to hear the nights are less interrupted. Last night was nearly great - feed at 12 and 5. She was a bit wakeful after the 5am feed though so I left her to it but she then started crying so I had to sit with her. She fell asleep at 6.15 and then slept till 8. I even had several dreams - it was lovely!

I'm thinking about whether a DF would be good. Last time I tried seemed to coincide with multiple NW.

I am also fine about feeding at 11.30 or 12 because I sometimes go to bed at 10 and get a bit of sleep.

Hope your naps improve - I will look for your post.

C

[bumblemum]

Hello again- I just wanted to post again because although things are great here I wanted to know whether I might encounter probs later.

Last night was fantastic again. 7pm bt, 12.30 feed and then awake at 6.15am. I left her for 15 mins before I went in.

I just curious as to why her A time seems to be decreasing if anything to about 1 hr 30 mins. Esp the first one but sometimes all of them.

That means that by 12.30 today she will have had two 1hr 30 min naps already. She will obviously need more than 1 more CN to get to 7pm bt.

What do you ladies do when this happens? I'm worried about giving her too much day sleep but she can't stay awake more than 1 hr 45 without getting really OT.

I must admit we seem to be coping just fine and I normally space out two 30 min naps just to refresh her. She is 5 months old though so I thought she'd be coping with more A time.

I've tried extending but her bottom lip pokes out and I just know she needs a sleep.

Any thoughts much appreciated. Although this might be a bit of a non- problem because her nights seem to be improving every week. Hoorah for BW and this forum.

C

[*Ali*]

I would let her sleep longer if she needs for the 3rd nap and then if she still needs it let her take a 4th nap just to get her to a reasonable A time to BT.
What sort of things do you do for your A times? I find DS seems tired much quicker if we are home alone but if we go out to playgroup or in the garden or to visit friends he perks up and lasts longer. Sometime I think he just gets bored.
A time can alsp decrease if mobility changes and your LO is more active. So if she has started rolling or sitting more that could be qhy she seems more tired. It should extend again to her previous A time as she gets more use to it.

[bumblemum]

Thanks Cadies mum,
I agree that she lasts longer if I'm out and about and not clock watching. I just got home and realised she had been awake for 2 hrs 10 mins. She was a bit grizzly but not too bad. Went down for a sleep pretty well.

Just wondering when things will stretch out - seems like she will be 6 months old any time soon!

Oh well as long as nights are ok then I shall try to chill out. Not easily done for me though.

C

[*Ali*]

I found our A times jumped from 2hrs at 6mo to 2hr45 or 3hrs at 6.5mo. I think it is pretty common for A time to increase in quite big jumps after 6mo.
Just saw all my typos in last message opps!

[bumblemum]

Thanks for this. I'm just trying to go with the flow because the nights have been really good still. Normally only one NW to feed at about 2am. The last two nights she has woken at 6am for another feed and although I treat as a NW'ing she doesn't go back down straight away. She is then up until about 7am when she starts grumbling for a nap. I've gone back to bed and not woken till 8.40am this morning! Not a great start to the day routine wise.

Can't think of anyway round  it with a 6am start  - hey ho I'm sure it will be different next week!

I really appreciate your advice by the way. I imagine things will stretch when my lo is good and ready!!

C