12 weeks old turning to a cat napper, (previously a good napper), any idea?

[Jess_C]

Hi everyone,

I am new in this forum and have been following BW since DD was ard 6 weeks old. By 2 months, she was able to self settle on most naps and sleep and is currently on a 3 hrs EASY. Her day naps are perfect 1.5hrs 3 times a day but she hasnt yet sleep through the night, she wake for a feed ard 11/12am and another at 4 am, but am ok with that since she sleeps on her own after each feed.

However, recently at ard 12 weeks old, she started having the following problems:
1- Cat nap at her 2nd and 3 rd nap (ie after her 10am feed and 1pm feed) . Her first nap of the day which is ard 8.30am (assuming she wakes at 7am) usually last for 1.5 - 2hrs even and i usually hv to wake her up from it.

2. Dont seem hungry every 3 hrly- she only breastfeed for abt 5 mins. Am unsure if she is getting more efficient at the breast or just not hungry.

3. Her night wakes are getting worse- prior to this, i would feed her at 7pm and dreamfeed at ard 11 and then she ll be up for a feed at ard 3/4am and then up at 7am.  The past 2 days, she has been waking up at 1am (even after a dreamfeed at 11pm), and again at 3am and again at 4/5am. I suspect is growth spurt but each time she ll only suck for 5 mins.

4. She will cry everytime i put her down for naps. In the past, i could leave her in the cot and she ll fall asleep on her own. I thought she has learn the art of self settling but she seem to be regressing and is quite depressing. To help to nap during the day, she now needs to be shshsh / pat for 5-10min (previously zero) and her bedtime is the worse, she needs to be pat/shshsh for an hr!!

Anyone got any suggestions for me?

[~Karen~]

Hi and welcome to the boards!

Sounds like she may need an increase in A time.  I'm going to post a link to EASY schedules for you to have a read through and think it applies to your daughter.  Have a look and let me know what you think.

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=63161.0

[Jess_C]

Thanks Karen,

I ll try increasing her awake time gradually to a 4 hrs EASY. I tried leaving her once for abt 4hrs unfed and she seem to be able to cope with it.
Sometimes, even after 3.5 hrs, she will only breast feed a couple of minutes.
So i think i ll feed her every 4 hrs but will need to becareful with increasing her A time, cause she always seem to be yawning after an hr. Your thoughts? Basically, i will feed her every 4 hrs and keep her awake gradually, so this week its probably going to look like EASAEAS. Is that ok?


Also, I am worried that my child forgot how to self settle. Is there such a thing?
Trying to figure out why she cant go to bed easily anymore.

[Jess_C]

hi karen,

Just wanted to give u an update. Bub woke at 7am today, and she seem tired after 1.5 hrs so i put her to bed and she went to sleep on her own in just seconds litteraly for an hour! Her first nap was nvr an issue so i didnt want to extend her A time much. She woke up at 10 am for a feed and then i stretch her wake time for 1.75min (15 mins extra) and she went to sleep with one minute of shshhs and is asleep for 2 hrs!
I think she can cope with 1.75min coz she wasnt really fussing and most of the time i am the one whom always put her to bed early coz was afraid of overtiredness...but if she can self settle so quick , look like 1.75 min is all right for her.

I am holding my breath coz it surely cant be that easy..but is still feels good knowing she can sleep more than 45min. Thanks for your help.

[~Karen~]

That's brilliant news!  Hope she keeps it up for you!