My daughter is 12 weeks old and seems to be on some sort of a sleeping strike. She did not sleep great in her bassinet and cradle from early on (but would sleep 2-3 hours if held,) but we eventually had gotten her to take about 3 1-hour naps during the day and one 30-45 min nap. At night, we had worked our way up to a 7-8:00 bedtime, doing one long sleep stretch (4-7 hours) and then 1-2 shorter stretches 2-3 hours. Then about 1.5 weeks ago everything started to change. She now naps for only 15-30 minutes usually and wakes up every 1-2 hours during the night, sometimes even 2 times an hour, so usually 4-7 wakings per night. She takes a long time to fall back to sleep usually both at nap and during the night and needs a lot of assistance (sh-pat for a long time or bouncing (APing.) She's very restless (lots of jolts, wiggles, and kicks) during these times, which I assume is from being overtired. She doesn't cry very often but fusses/yells and/or talks when she wakes up and rarely seems to go back to sleep on her own. We almost always have to hold her to get her to initially fall asleep (rarely goes to sleep in crib and never on her own.) I watched her at the 25-30 min mark during a nap today and held her arms. She didn't really jolt, just started moving her legs a bit and opened her eyes. After 10 min she noticed me and smiled and started cooing. We did not have much of a schedule until about halfway through last week when the sleeplessness prompted me to read the BW book. I had been nursing on demand, and that happened usually every 1.5-2 hours, so I think she has been snacking. We switched to a 3-hour routine and she has done great with the eating part of it and has not seemed to have any problems going 3 hours between meals (she is a very efficient eater also--empties a breast in 7-10 min.) But, the sleeping is still a major problem. Sorry for all of the info, but I saw a post saying we needed to be thorough.
Here is our routine from the last 2 days:
E 7:00 (nursed 15 min one side)
A 7:20 (diaper change, "talking" to each other face to face, sitting in bouncy seat sometimes alone or with me and a toy
in front of her)
S 8:10 (1st 20 minutes assisting her to sleep with sh-pat in my arms and transition to crib) awake and talking at
9:00 (30 min nap) waited 10 min to see if she would fall asleep, then attempted to get her back to slep with sh-
pat for next 50 min. Would wake up once I set her in crib or would jolt awake off/on in crib as I did sh-pat.
E 10:05 4 oz from bottle
A 10:30 (diaper change, talk time, activity gym)
S 11:00 (1st 10 min assist to sleep with sh pat in my arms and transition to crib) 11:45 woke up (35 min nap) held 11:45
to 1:00 so she would sleep (AP)
E 1:00 nursed 10 min each side-had to keep waking her up.
A: 1:25 diaper change, bouncy seat, stroller ride
S: 2:20 (1st 5 min sh-pat in arms) woke up at 2:55 (30 min nap) did sh-pat in crib for 15 min then she slept for 55 min
(this is when I thought we were making progress, but sadly, no.)
E 4:10 (great mood and very hungry) nursed 15 on one side and 10 on the other
A 4:40 diaper change, bouncy seat, stood outside a bit, talk time
S 5:20 (1st 30 min assist to sleep) slept 30min then I woke her up so as not to throw routine off too much (maybe a bad
idea.)
E 6:25 nursed about 7 min both sides
A 6:40 bath
S 7:05 (assist to sleep 1st 25 min--very fussy-bounced on ball (AP) awoke at 9:35, able to sh pat back to sleep in crib in
about 10 min; awoke at 10:40
E 10:40 (was supposed to be dream feed but she woke up before I went in to feed her) nursed 10 min 1 side and 5 min 2nd
side
S 11:00 went to sleep fairly fast and easily in crib; awoke at 3:10-reswaddled, paci, sh-pat in crib for 20 min; awoke at
4:30-same routine for 40 min then decided to nurse her
E 5:10 7min 1 side, 5 the other
S 5:30 (assist to sleep 1st 25 min) awoke at 6:55
E 7:05/8:05 Daylight Savings; 7 min 1 side, 5 the other
A 7:25 diaper change, change clothes, Skype with grandparents
S 9:05 (assist to sleep 1st 20 min) awake and talking at 9:55 (30 min nap;) gave her 5 min then assist to sleep 35 min;
awoke at 11:05 (30 min.)
E 11:05 10 min 1 side, 7 the other-drowsy
A 11:35 diaper change, talk time, interact with toys
S 12:15 (assist to sleep 1st 10 min) awoke at 12:55 (30 min nap); attempted to assist to sleep next 60 min
E 2:00 10 min 1 side, 5 min other
A 2:20 diaper, talk time, bouncer, swing
S 3:15 (assist to sleep 15 min) awoke at 4:00; attempted assist to sleep next 40 min
E 4:50 10m 1 side 5m other side-drowsy
A 5:15 diaper, talk time, bouncer
S 5:50 attempted to assist to sleep 45 min, then held asleep for 30 min
E 7:05 10 min 1 side, 5 min other--falling asleep
A 7:30 diaper change, get ready for bed
S 7:45 assist to sleep 25 min; awoke 9:55
E 10:00 (again, was supposed to be dream feed but she woke up before I went in) 7 min 1 side-falling asleep
S 10:15 went to sleep fairly easily; awoke 12:55-attempted to assist back to sleep for 25 min, then held asleep for 45 min
before putting in crib; awoke 2:35 (30min later), attempted to assist to sleep for 55 min, then decided to feed
E: 3:30 7 min 1 side-falling asleep
S 3:45 assist to sleep 1st 20 min; awoke 6:35 (had fussed at 5:05 and 6:05 but fell back to sleep on her own both times) assist to sleep 15 min; awoke 7:15
Any help would be much appreciated! I don't know if she's overstimulated or just in a vicious non-sleeping cycle. Maybe I should not go in until her fuss becomes a cry when she wakes up?? Thanks in advance!
