NWs: am I overthinking this?

[lucyjane]

DD is five months old, has reflux that is now well controlled, and is a little angel during the day. We had terrible problems with 45-min naps but over the past week these have resolved themselves and she's now is a great daytime routine. However, we still have lots of NWs. Our EASY is as follows:

Awake any time between 5.30am and 7am.
E 7am
S 9.15-10.30am ish
E 11am
S 12.30-2.30pm (I have to wake her for the school run)
E 2.30pm
S 4.30pm (catnap - sometimes this doesn't happen, in which case she'll doze during her next BF)
E 5pm
Bedtime BF 6.30pm
S 7pm

Then the NWs start - typically 9.30pm, 1am, 4am and then up for the day any time from 5.30am onwards.

DD was a reasonably good night sleeper at one stage and would go 5/6hrs between feeds. Since about 12 weeks the intervals between NWs have gradually become shorter and shorter. She self-settles well at bedtime and for naps (with a dummy) so I don't think self-settling is the issue. She is exclusively BF and I know milk supply is lower in the evening, so I'm thinking that perhaps she is genuinely hungry as she doesn't get as much milk at bedtime. I tried to get her back to sleep without a feed at 9.30 last night, but gave up when she tried to latch onto my nose!

What do you think? A reasonably normal sleep pattern for a five-month-old BF baby, and something that will slowly improve with the introduction of solids? Or a problem that I need to solve?

L x

[mmom]

Yes, some BF babies just take longer to drop NFs.  That 9:30 NW would be OT for us though.  If she won't take a cat nap, what time is bedtime?  how long is the cat nap?

[lucyjane]

The catnap, if she has one, is generally between 20 and 45mins and tends to be in the pram on the way back from school (or, as I mentioned, on the boob while feeding). It wouldn't surprise me if the 9.30pm NW was OT, or if not that, then hunger, as she falls asleep while feeding at bedtime and as such, doesn't take a particularly good BF, I don't think. The catnap is a really hard one to fit in - if she wakes from her previous nap at 2.30pm, she's just not tired enough to nap again until 4.45/5pm, and then I don't like her to have too long a sleep as she won't be tired for bedtime at 7pm.

L x

[mmom]

Is she going from 2:30-7 then without sleep?  If so, she is OT.

[ZacsMumme]

Even a short CN for 20 mins late ie 5-5.20 will keep OT at bay and she should go down okay at 7 I would think...

[mmom]

Even a short CN for 20 mins late ie 5-5.20 will keep OT at bay and she should go down okay at 7 I would think...

YES!