Hi ladies
I am so sorry that I posted my issue and you so kindly responded, and then I disappeared! We went on vacation, which actually went quite well, and have been dealing with her cutting her two top teeth since we've been home!
To recap our issue: she is waking up in the early morning, somewhere between 2-4am. She used to just be awake and I would somehow wake up with her, so I would just feed her. Now she has started crying when waking, so I continue to feed her after a dose of Ibuprofen for her teething discomfort. The waking in and of itself is not my main concern - I would like her to sleep through the night, but the main problem is that after feeding her, she takes about 45 minutes to get back to sleep making her whole waking about an hour long. I have recently transitioned her from 3 naps to 2 and she is doing really well with it. Some days she is really tired before her nap and bed times, but I am able to keep her awake and smiling, for the most part. I thought that this transition was going to nip her long night waking in the bud, but it is still happening every night! There have been 3 nights when she slept 10-10.5 hours straight, waking at about 5 am. I fed her and laid her back down till after 6, but she never fell back asleep.
With her teething, her feeding habits are off and some days she just won't take any solids.
She is still breastfeeding and is has been a part of her nap and bedtime routine since 4 months. She very rarely falls asleep at the breast before a nap, but even if she does, it does not affect the length of her nap. At bedtime, I have to give her a sippy with EBM after being at the breast, so she definitely never falls asleep on me before bed. So, to me, I don't think she has a sleep association with breastfeeding, but I guess I could be wrong. My biggest concern with changing this part of her routine is that she is so distractible that I am not sure she would breastfeed enough when not in the dark, quiet (except white noise) room. I guess I could take her in her room at other times to feed her, but we aren't always home in the middle of A time.
Here is her EASY - it's not perfect everyday, but I am trying to stick to this as closely as possible till we get better at it:
Wake up 6/6:30am
E 7am (1/2 milk then breakfast)
E 8:50/9:20 (depending on wake time) milk
S 9-10:15 or 9:30-10:45
E 12pm (1/2 milk then lunch)
E 1/1:30pm (depending on wake up of Nap 1) milk
S 1:15-2:30 or 1:45- 3
E 5pm (1/2 milk then dinner)
E 5:45/6pm milk
S 6/6:30pm
So her A time is about 3 hours, sometimes I can push her to 3:15 or 3:30 is need be for schedule's sake. She has an EBT - the earliest I can imagine
The days where she has slept longer at night but woke early were the nights she went to bed around 7pm (still having the same A time, though. Wake times sometimes just push the schedule later).
I just feel like I am missing something and there is some sort of imbalance somewhere. She rarely ever gets more than 10.5 hours of sleep at night, even though she is in her crib for up to 12 hours! Her eye-rubbing and ever-increasing fussiness are showing me that she needs something more
I know her teething is probably playing a part in the fussiness, but the sleep issue started long ago.
Please help!!
Mary
