Adjusting EASY to fit short afternoon naps

[sleeplessinmanchester]

Hi,

We have just started EASY to help my sleepless 25 week old. We have been going since last wednesday and  have seen small improvements. My wee boy is now waking 4-5 times a night as opposed to 10-12 times ( I am TIRED) and he now goes to sleep without being rocked or fed - i just hold his hand and talk to him. He gets jolts really badly and sometimes I have to hold him down for 40 mins!

My question is how do you tweak your EASY routine when your baby wakes up smiling after a short nap.

WE have been doing roughly this:

7am wake up and feed
7.20 am quiet play
8am solids ( we are baby led weaning so not a lot is swallowed at the moment)
9am nap, asleep f0r 9.10,
 shh/pat at 10am to carry nap on until 10.45 ish
11am feed
11.20 play
12.00 solids
12.40 nap, asleep for 12.50
1.40 ish  - wide awake and smiling - shh/pat and PUPD do not wrk to extend nap
3.00 feed
3.30 nap, asleep 3.40
awake 4.30 to play
6-6.30 bedtime (he can't stay awake longer without being grumpy)

Is this ok? I don't know how to further improve his nighttime sleep. When he wakes unless he is hungry he settles just being spoken to softly now and held through the jolts if necessary - they are much worse in the daytime than at night.

[empowered mama]

hi there

It appears to me that your LO is ready for more A time.  LOs this age can handle more like 2.25-2.5 hrs, so you may want to consider keeping him awake for 15 -30 more minutes before putting him down for the nap.  Especially if he is waking happy, that is an indicator for more A time.

Also, there may still be the need for assistance through the jolts since he may still be organizing his day sleep.  This is usually resolved around 6 months though, so it should be right around the corner

Keep up the great work!

[*Ali*]

Yes I was going to say more A time too. You probably want to start with the just extending 1st A time of the day followed by the second A time perhaps a few days later or he may get OT if you do them all in one day. And if he still has a short nap don't be afraid to do a short A time (2hrs)following it. He'll probably only want a short A time after the last nap (CN) too or he might be OT by BT
Good luck.

[sleeplessinmanchester]

Thanks for the advice. I will try and extend activity time today. We were up every hour last night :-(
I find his sleep signs so hard to read, he doesn't yawn until he is falling asleep and his creaky door tired noise is very similar to his bored noise!

What sort of activities do you recommend for a baby his age? WE are not going to any mother and baby groups until I have established a routine. He always gets very upset and overstimulated in big groups - he is a 'touchy' baby. At the moment we do, playing on the playgym, practising rolling, practising sitting, a lot of playing with food as he is doing baby led weaning, stories, walks outside in the sling so he doesn't fall asleep ( buggy was one of my previous props).

I am so tired today it is hard to find the motivation to stick with the routine but I know he needs it...I have already left it far too late.

x

[empowered mama]

Hugs hun - I know it can be very frustrating and exhausting....hang in there!

How do you go about getting your LO back to sleep at night?  I wonder if there might be some teeth in sight that are causing him to get up so frequently?

Your activities sound okay to me....I would just watch the playgym activities or anything too stimulating prior to naptime.  Maybe try these directly after a nap and keep low key activities just before going down.

You're doing great - things will get better!

[*Ali*]

Touchy feely books are great, and toys he can hold that make a noise like rattles, small shape sorters etc. Does he have a baby walker or door bouncer? I find they are good for entertaining DS for 10-15 mins while I do other stuff like shower, cook, make dinner etc.

[sleeplessinmanchester]

Thanks again for the replies, we have a door bouncer and he enjoys it. I'll have a look at touchy feely books. He has a lot of story books but can't pay attention for a whole story yet...he just wants to eat the pages.

When he wakes in the night we do shh/pat or if that doesn't work PUPD until he is calm and then just speak softly to him until he falls asleep. If has been 4 hours since has fed, I breastfeed him and put him in his cot awake, then speak softly to him. This is new though - until last week he was always fed or rocked to sleep. Maybe teeth are on the way, I can't see anything yet. If he wakes early tonight I'll try some teething gel. He doesn't have any teething symptoms though.

Today looked like this:

6.50 awake
7am feed
8am solids
9.20am nap, asleep for 9.30
10.20 awake (PUPD and Shhpat did not work)
11am feed
12pm solids
1pm nap (asleep for 1.05)
2.40 awake (longest nap ever!)
3pm feed
5.15pm catnap
5.35pm awake (PUPD and Shhpat did not work)
6.10 bath and wind down
7pm feed
7.20 asleep

We'll see how he does tonight. I tried the extended activity time and it seemed to work for the lunchtime nap  but he was definitely awake too long before the catnap ( i got stuck in a big queue at the post office)

x

[*Ali*]

This is what I mean by the touchy feely books BTW.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_18?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=touchy+feely+books&sprefix=touchy+feely+books
And I meant to say earlier that I am rubbish at seeing the sleepy signs so really go by the clock and just do trial and error.

[sleeplessinmanchester]

Well we have had three wakings already and i is only 10pm. I am totally beyond exhausted.

The wee man was hitting his ears while he was crying so I have given him some teething gel and some baby ibuprofen to see if that helps. This is such hard work. I am actually getting less sleep than when we implemented the EASY routine.

Feeling sorry for myself...

[*Ali*]

Oh no. I would get to bed now if I were you. I hope the NWs stop soon. {{{hugs}}}

[empowered mama]

((((Hugs))))  It really is tough stuff....especially when you are so so exhausted 

I am really wondering about these NWs - how many times during the night are you feeding him?  Do you ever rock him to sleep?

Regarding your routine...I really think you can push that 1st A time closer to 3 hrs.  50 minute naps were typically UT for us and I would suggest a longer A time to see if you get a decent nap.  I also think your A time before the catnap was too short - only 2h35min which might be too low for him after such a good nap.  I've heard 20 min naps are indicative of UT as well. 

I'm going to see if the NW mods can take a look and give their 2 cents.  Get as much sleep as you can hun - we'll be here for you!

[sleeplessinmanchester]

He awoke every hour last night except from a slightly longer sleep between 11-2.30.

My poor husband had a big day at work today.

I only feed the wee man at night if it has been 4 hours since the last feed. When he feeds at night he empties both breasts so I know he is hungry. I don't rock him to sleep. I hold his arm down and speak softly to him until he sleeps. I know he can put himself back to sleep sometimes as twice last night I heard him wake/stir then drop off again. Also when I was fed up last night I left him (not crying) for 10 minutes and he played/talked to himself and dropped of for an hour.

When he wakes it is a strange cry he is doing, sort of angry and not consistent enough to do PUPD.

He was pulling his ears and shaking his head last night so I gave him ibuprofen every 6 hours, calpol every 6 hours (in between) and rubbed his gums with teething gel. I am not convinced this is the problem though. He has never slept longer than four hours, ever.

I just don't know what to do. We are all out of sync today now because the LO was falling asleep while being fed - It took my 1.5 hours to feed him and he has been wide awake since.

We have been referred to a sleep clinic by the Health Visitor but apparently it can take 10 weeks to be seen and I really can't stick this out for another ten weeks. We had also been referred to a paediatrician but I have just received a letter this morning saying that sleep problems are not something they deal with and to speak to the health visitor...

[empowered mama]

hmm....I really wonder if there is something else going on, whether teething or maybe on the cusp of illness.  If I look back, the times where my LO would wake that often, even though he knew how to fall asleep independently, it was usually tied to illness and/or an ear infection.  Is there any indication of a runny nose/cough/etc?

[*Ali*]

I know he can put himself back to sleep sometimes as twice last night I heard him wake/stir then drop off again. Also when I was fed up last night I left him (not crying) for 10 minutes and he played/talked to himself and dropped of for an hour.

If ever he is not cyring I would definitely leave him to resettle himself.

[sleeplessinmanchester]

thanks for the replies,

I have been trying to cut out the holding his hand today and have had to do PUPD at naps so we'll see what happens tonight.

I had the wee man weighed today and the problem is definitely not food related - he has jumped from the 25%tile to the 50%tile! The health visitor did advise me to put him on Formula and three meals a day though so that i can have a break. Not sure how I feel about that or how I will do it...he hasn't taken a bottle since he was 10 weeks old.

Fingers crossed for a wee bit of sleep tonight. We didn't manage CN today - he just isn't tired yet so will go for a bit of an early bedtime too.

x