Need help....please. 3 month old not sleeping well

[Kymmi13]

Hi,

My daughter turned 3 months on 3/14 but was born 12 days early (so, neurologically, she is 3 months on 3/26.  I have various issues but I believe they are all connected:

Short naps.  She has 4-5 naps a day and they vary from 20 min to 60 min.  The common length is 30-45min.  I have read about overstimulation and her activity before naps are sitting in her bouncy chair looking at the same 2 dangling animals.  We also talk to her and wind down by going to the dimly lit room and reading her the same story.  It seems as if it doesn't matter how tired she is, her naps are the same length.  We've put her down when she was extremely tired (rubbing eyes and a bit cranky) and we've put her down when she was a little tired (1-2 yawns).  She's inconsistent with her mood at naptime, sometimes she falls right asleep with little to no fuss and other times she will fuss for 20 minutes or so.  Regardless of the put-down method, she does not nap for longer than an hour.  We have white noise in the background and she is swaddled.  We have gone on small walks with her in a sling that does soothe her to almost sleep - we then move her to her crib and still the same story - 30 min nap.  The only time she naps longer is if she is sleeping next to me (I have tried this twice so far as a test to see how long she can nap) and she will nap for 1.5 hours. 

Night time sleep: she was cosistently sleeping 3-4 hours and then 2-3 hour stretches before waking up and needing to be fed.  The day after daylight savings, she got up after 1-2 hours and is still on that same schedule.  We use to loosely swaddle her (to start weaning her from the swaddle) since her night time sleep was pretty good - we've gone back to swaddling her tightly and she had a 2.5 hour stretch but was fussy throughout that period.  Is this because of the time change or possibly a growth spurt?  Her bedtime is 7-8pm and wake up time is 7:30-9:30am.

I have tried the 3 hour easy...but can not get it to stick since her naps are so short.  I consulted a sleep doula and her concern was that the baby was not eating enough so she suggested me to feed her before and after naps.  I have done that for the past 2 weeks and no change.  What's worse is that my baby now has gas issues - she had them from 4 weeks to 10 weeks and this was resolved by me pumping some foremilk off before each feeding.  Now, the gas is back and I'm wondering if her nighttime waking is due to gas (she farts everytime I go to pick her up when she wakes) or if it's from the time change or growth spurt.  Nothing has changed with my diet or how I feed her (other than the extra feeding before naps).  We did use mylicon drops when she first had gas and stopped after the gas seemed to go away - we have started that again.  We've also noticed that it's harder to get her to burp. 

Anyway....please give me some advice on what to do.  I am constantly on the verge of tears. 

Thanks in advance.

[Yazzie]

Bumping this up for you hun

[Kta400]

You have just completely described our baby! I look forward to some responses!

[~Sarah~]

Sorry it looks like your post has been missed somehow!! Let's take a look here.

Have you tried eliminating dairy and or soy from your diet?  With the increase in fussing coinciding with the increased BF it makes me suspicious of something in the BM bothering her.  It could still just be an imbalance of hind/fore milk, but it never hurts to rule out intolerance.  Have you ruled out reflux?

Could you maybe post your easy so we can see what your day looks like?  Even if it is all over the place, it sometimes can point us in a direction to go in.


Again, so sorry your post was lost in the shuffle!!
Sarah

[J_Mum]

similar issues here w/ gassy, short napping 3m old. Wakes frequently. Am trying no dairy (as of today). Of course also wonder about OS, OT, GS etc. Listening in! Kasy

[Kymmi13]

So, I quick update (this will probably rule out the dairy intolerance):

Her fussiness was due to a growth spurt.  She had 3 nights of really long sleep (9 hours the first night, 7 hours the second and 5 hours the 3rd).  After the 3rd night of long sleep, her fussiness was completely gone.  I didn't change anything in my diet (I drink about a cup of milk a day and have 4oz of cheese).  She is back to sleeping 2-3 hour stretches at night with an occasional 5 hour sleep and last night she did 7 hours.  I think she's starting to STTN but it's really inconsistent.

As far as her naps, I am at a loss.  I have tried to put her down early, late...everything.  At first, we were waiting 1 hr 15min to 1 hr 30min to put her down.  Now, we are starting the wind down process an hour after she wakes up and she falls asleep within 5-10 minutes.  I've limited her activity to just talking sometimes and reading a soft squishy book (3 pages) and looking at one of her play animals - I do a combination of two of these things and sometimes I just do 1 so that I'm sure I'm not overstimulating her.  Most of her wake ups, she is completely happy and sometimes she just babbles in her crib until I come and check on her.  The naps that she wakes up crying, she stops right away once i come in the room and she's all smiles for her A time afterward.  So, her naps are still 30 - 50 minutes.  I put her down drowsy, but completely awake and she self soothes with very little crying.

Here's a small snippet from today's EASY:


750am  wake up - no crying

E  8am - 8:15am
A  8:15am - 9:20am
S  9:20am - 9:50am  no crying

E  9:50am - 10am
A  10am - 11:10am      
S  11:10am - 11:50am no crying


E  
A  11:50pm - 1:05pm
S  1:05 pm - 1:45pm some crying, completely happy once picked up


Also, I'm not quite sure if she has reflux...she has been spitting up quite a bit lately...and I've asked my pediatrician and she said it was normal.  She has no issues at night - she wakes pretty frequently towards the morning and is able to self soothe back to sleep without feeding.  Sometimes, I put her down for a nap without a feeding and she still has a short nap.

Any suggestions to help with longer naps would be appreciated!!  

[Kymmi13]

Just wanted to give another update:

E  1:45pm - 2pm
A  2pm - 3:05pm
S  3:05pm - 3:45pm

woke up a tiny bit fussy.  While feeding, she fell asleep and I let her sleep on the nursing pillow just to see how long she would sleep for. 

S  4pm - 4:40pm

woke up searching for more nipple...and then woke up completely and was a little fussy.  Burped and some spit up occurred, I expected this since she had been laying down for 40 minutes without a burp.  After her burp, she has been completely happy and her usual self.

Now, I'm completely confused.  I'm wondering if she was really tired because the short naps are catching up to her or that she just happened to fall asleep because nursing does that to her sometimes.  I usually wait about 5-10 minutes after her wake up before nursing her, but this time I nursed her right away because her grumpiness seemed to be hunger related (but I'm not sure).

Thoughts?  Suggestions??

[~Sarah~]

Hi there-

Well, looking at your easy, your first A was quite long.  Avg A time for a lo your age is 1.15-1.20 and you are doing a great job sticking to that just the first one was about 1.5hr if I am reading right.  That would explain the 30min OT nap.

The 40min naps certainly can be reflux related.  That is right about the time they relax enough for the acid to come up.  Have you taken a look at this link http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=654.0 to see if any of the symptoms describe your lo?

Also you can have a look at this link http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=85499.0

Your lo is still so so young and a perfect easy isn't always achievable at this point.  Mostly you are working to not put props into place and teaching your lo the routine of easy ie not feeding to sleep. http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=65842.0

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=26671.0

You sound like you have an Angel baby...have you taken the know your baby quiz?
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=52283.0

I'm wondering if she was really tired because the short naps are catching up to her or that she just happened to fall asleep because nursing does that to her sometimes.

I certainly think the short naps are catching up to her.

A few more questions:  Are you swaddled?  Do you have a darkened room?  Do you use white noise?  You say you have a good WD..does it include the 4 S routine http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=64277.0

Have a look at those links and tell me what you think.  You are not doing anything that I really am concerned about.  It seems like you are on the right track and you are doing what you can.
 
Sarah

[Kymmi13]

Hi Sarah,

I've read all the links you've sent me. 

To answer your questions: The room is darkened, we use white noise and she is swaddled. And yes, we do the 4 S routine. 

I don't think she has reflux.  She has no problems going to bed at night and staying asleep.  Last night, her bed time was 7:50pm and she woke up at 10pm and I fed her and she went right back to sleep (after a burp).  She then woke up again at 1am and I fed her and burped her and she didn't wake up until 8am.  So, she can sleep on her back for 2,3 and 7 hours without any issues at night. 

During the day, I have sat and watched her nap.  There isn't a "Jolt" time for her.  Around 40 minutes, she starts to stir a little bit and then her eyes open.  She lays there for a few minutes and babbles and then starts to complain a little bit.  I've left her there for 10 -15 minutes and she doesn't go back to sleep.  When I turn on the side lamp she looks at me and smiles.  She's in good spirits and babbles, smiles and coos at me.

I took the quiz and I think I have a "Predictable Baby". 

Also, we strive not to use any crutches for sleeping.  The only time she is fed before sleep time is right before the long night - and even then, I take 15 minutes to burp her and she is put down to sleep awake. 

I have also read that some babies just are going to nap for 45 minutes.  Perhaps I have one of those babies?  Or maybe I still need to wait a little longer for her to develop her daytime sleep since she just recently started to STTN?  I just want to make sure I'm not doing anything "wrong".  I don't want to be the reason why she's napping for 45 minutes - if it's biological right now and time is the only issue, then I can accept that.  However, it does seem as though she is cranky/tired after her 4th 45min nap but she still does not nap longer than 45 min for her 5th nap.

[~Sarah~]

You are certainly not doing anything wrong that I can see.  In fact you are diong beautifully!!  I think this is developmental as your lo is still quite young.

I think keep with what you are doing, try to resettle if she wakes early by doing shh/pat and try not to worry too much.


Sarah

[Kymmi13]

Thank you...it's reassuring to a new mom like myself that I'm doing whatever I can and somethings just take time.  I am grateful that she's is almost always in good spirits (she gets upset when it's nap time because she would rather play, of course).  I will give an update of my status if things change (hopefully for the better). 

For right now, I will take your advice and do what I can and hopefully her naps will lengthen as time goes by and she develops a bit more. 

Again, thank you for your posts as it has definitely set my mind at ease.

[~Sarah~]

No worries...we are here to help anytime!!

You know you are doing a good job when you are concerned, at least that is the way I have always looked at it