11.5 m/o - refusing naps, long NWs

[sherry lynn]

Claire - I just wanted to share with you that I tried the 45 am nap today and it blew up in my face   Kept him up too long and he was OT for the second nap. We'll see how the night goes.

How did the second nap go?
For awhile with DS1 we did the short am then went to the short pm.
And if I remember correctly it was
3.5 hours A time
1.5 hour nap (if he slept even 5 min more it meant NO PM Nap
3.5 hours A time
45m-1 hour nap
I think 3h15m before bed. I'd have to look that one up though. I know he was doing a 13 hour day.

Good luck at the docs tomorrow.

[EloysH]

good luck!

[Buntybear]

Hi everyone, thought I would drop by with an update 

Olly was diagnosed with having allergies to wheat, milk and eggs so taken them out of our diets (really I was only eating a couple of eggs a week anyway).

Have been following Sherry Lynn's routine. APOP every CN as no way he would go down after a short a time on his own. We are having 13 hr days but this will be short term trying not to worry (tho just read on another thread they shouldn't have long days ).

Decided to just feed straight away on NWs as we were playing with the idea he was genuinely hungry. Night before last he woke twice but settled after the feed. Last night he STTN till 5am! Fed again but he wouldn't settle so I brought him into bed with me (after 6 by now) and gave him another hours sleep).

Also last night tried W2S 2.5 hrs after BT as his is when he was waking for a feed and it seemed to work. Will try again for a few more nights.

So all in all we are seeing improvements. He still needs me to hold his hand when going to sleep most of the time but this only takes a few mins so will worry about that later and use GW for that. Also trying to get more food into him in the day but hard with do many restrictions!

Fingers crossed we won't be cursed with EWs now! Keeping reading that when Los start to STTN they start to EW. time will tell!

Xxxxxxx

[sianie]

Hey Claire!

Glad you got some answers from the hosp, 'tho poor you (& Olly)...must be so hard on the feeding front!

Great that you are seeing improvements, hooray! Stick with it as I find consistency (as much as possible) really helps.

I think re: EW's when LO's start to STTN is not strictly true, yes they do possibly wake earlier when their sleep is consolidated rather than disrupted, but that doesn't always lead to a EW e.g. E used to wake past 7am when he had lots of NW's but when he sleeps through without any WU's he wakes anytime from 6am (but he's had better quality sleep & is in a much better mood from being well rested iyswim?)

Keep us posted! 

[Buntybear]

Hi Sian, it is just something I picked up from a few comments on other posts - just that as they settle into their new routine of sleeping longer at night they wake a bit earlier, fingers crossed it was just the one night for us. . Anyway, last night he slept 8.15 -6.50 with one feed at about 2!

[sianie]

I guess it also depends on what you class as an EW, lol! 

That's sounds like a good night!

[Buntybear]

Well until last week anything before 8am!

[sherry lynn]

I'm curious to see where you read that they shouldn't have a 13 hour day.
This is not even close to true for every child.
It kind of bugs me that the twelve hour rule is sooooo strongly pushed on this site. I feel like maybe 25% of babies do a 12 hour night, but everybody is chasing this dream of 12 hour nights.

MOST of Tracy's sample routines are 12.5 days. Not 12!!!
In BWSAYP she says that if your LO is sleeping 11 hours, then that's probably all you can hope for so to be happy with that.

I would be willing to bet that Olly is NOT a 12 hour night sleeper once all the NWings go away.
That is one of the MAIN reasons I suggest that you wake him at 7. That gives you one more hour of A time during the day.
After seeing hundreds of routines on this site I would say that "normal" is 10.5-12 hour nights. If you are in that range than things are probably ok.

I think that taking him to your bed was not a good idea   I really really don't. I know it's hard. I've been there. I'm there right now to be honest. Lyle was up at 4:25 this morning and Emory was up at 4:58. If he won't settle back in his own bed, then he's up for the day  

You have sooooo much going on, and I understand that. But, 2 months from now you still won't know if the EW is routine oriented or AP oriented if you keep bringing him into your bed

Sorry if I'm sounding like a B!tch. I really don't mean to. I'm just trying to be helpful and give you a realistic goal of night sleep and a good pattern of helping Ollie to sleep. I wouldn't be worried at all about having to hold his hand right now. That's ok, and that will be actually pretty easy to break. The taking him into your bed...... that won't be so easy.

We have also dropped to one feed and we are dealing with some EW because of that as well..... but if you are constant with it, I think the EW will go away on it's own.

Good job on the W2S. I'm so glad it worked for you.

[sianie]

I do think long days (to an extent) are inevitable during the transition, but even with DD our days average around 12.5hrs....

Agree with Sherry that 12hr nights are most people's ideal, but not that often achieved. My 2 LO's average 11/11.5hrs (on a good night, lol!).

I totally understand the sleeping in bed with you (BTDT with DD  ), when you are really sleep deprived you will do anything for even 5 mins more sleep. I guess if you're comfortable doing it then fine but as Sherry says beware that it could (if it's not already) become another problem to deal with. Have you tried W2S for the EW's (if he's waking around the same time?).

Hows today gone?

[Buntybear]

Thanks for the pep talk Sherry Lynn! I can't remember where I saw it now, had a bit of time and was reading through some of the posts on this board as it is new to me yet.

We have had a 13.5 hr day today. He has sensitive skin too and has a habit of scratching his face when going off to sleep (another reason I hold his hand) and he seemed to be particulary itchy tonight. The other morning he had blood on his pillow where he scratched himslef raw on his chin overnight. Poor mite.

We only had the 1 EW so far. Will see what tonight brings. Totally agree with you about Olly coming into bed with us. I want my husband to be next to me really!

Sherry Lynn - so you do 1 NF too? Are you going to try and wean it yourself or go with it?

[Buntybear]

Day 3 and I think we had a regression. Here was our EASY

WU 6.45
Nap 11 - 12.30
Nap 4.15 - 4.45
BT asleep by 8.30
NW 11 - 12.30
WU 6.15

So a short night with 1 long NW. is there anything in our easy jumping out at you please?

Will try W2S again tonight. Think I did it too early last night.

[EloysH]

could it be an OT waking?  - is he ok with those A times? was he ok going down at bedtime or OT?

Or else was he sratching his skin again... could his skin be bothering him??  Did you eat and egg/wheat/dairy?

[sianie]

Hey....

Looks like your naps were good? What did Olly do when he woke?

I wonder if that last A time was a bit too long after a 45 min nap? Sometimes NW's before midnight can indicate OT...

[Buntybear]

Hi, that last A time was slightly longer than usual because he was uncomfortable. He didn't seem OT then.

It was a 'normal' NW. Stirs then quickly escalates to a full on cry. I didn't think he was hungry and so stayed right by his cot trying to settle him with my voice and my hand in the cot. After 40 mins DH decided I should feed as we hadn't yet agreed on a way to wean the NFs. I did but he didn't really settle. In the end we got him up, dim lights, Calpol until he was quiet (about 10 mins). Then I did our usual wind down - story, lullaby, bed - and he went to sleep.

I know this is proably the wrong way to deal wth a NW but I just didn't know what else to do. 40 mins of crying??

[sianie]

Did he take a full feed when you fed him?

As he has these 'normal' NW's do you still think it might be discomfort related?  Somethings clearly unsettling him