waking 40 mins into bedtime--1 mo old?? what gives?

[kaynay]

my almost 1 mo old is waking like clockwork 40 mins into bedtime...the past few nights..she has always gone to bed for nighttime and only waked for feeding but the 40 min cycle is confusing to me? if she goes down at 745 and wakes at 825 I hang back to see what kind of cry it is...starts as a tired fussy mantra cry then escalates so I go in first I try the pacy it calms her for a few then she tries to settle back down but doesnt so then I pick her up over shoulder and ssh patt her when she relaxes I put her down and offer pacy again but this whole process takes another 30-40 mins by then its past 9 and then she goes down for nighttime and wakes around 12-1am for her feeding...before she would go down and not wake until feeding.
does she think this is a nap? its clearly nighttime she has had her bath and clusterfeed and everything the same as day 1 for bedtime ritual- sje goes down awake and independently at 745...the day seems fine we are on 3 hour easy...her awake time before bed is the same as all other awake times about 1 hour 15 mins including the feeds.
anyone heard of this happening to them or anyone they know?
what is her bedtime them 745 or 9? she wakes between 645 and 715 for the day.
please let me know??

[Violet's mom]

Are you breast or bottle feeding?  My LO often wants a night cap at that time I think because she is too tired to nurse right before bed so I often feed her when she wakes and she goes right back to bed after that.  I've done that since about 3 months old and it is exactly what she wanted.  I've read some BW bloggers who said this is quite common to top them off.  After that she usually sleep 8 or more hours.  That's just my experience and my LO is 5 months old.   Do you get the feeling she is hungry at all?

[kaynay]

well i clusterfeed her at 430, 630 then top her off at 745...she is over 10 pounds, at birth she was 9 pds 7 0z...i tried feeding her the first night but she didnt eat then she has been doing this since...if she was hungry how could she go back down after 40 mins for almost 3-4 hours so I dont think she is hungry...she is ex bfing yes.
also the nap seems really late til 9 when she has always started her day around 7am...i know she is only almost 4 weeks old but with her size and since we have been baby whispering since day 1 this seems strange...I dont want to give her active time since its clearly nighttime and she has already had her nighttime routine and is all ready for bed...its odd it is just at the 40 min mark....
she has her end of day cat nap for about an hour around 530pm to 630pm to get her thru to her nighttime ritual.

[Violet's mom]

Yeah I guess that shouldn't be the case then!  Sorry I couldn't be more helpful!  My LO had a mind of her own at 1 month and didn't really take to a routine until 3 months. 

[katie80]

My LO had a mind of her own at 1 month and didn't really take to a routine until 3 months. 

I really think this is the key thing here. At 4 weeks old, they're just still so unpredictable. I remember holding my DS while watching a movie or football game with my DH at that time of night, just because I didn't want to be in and out of his room trying to settle him. I'm pretty sure we were done with that by 6/8 weeks.

Typically, a waking 40min or so after BT is considered OT, and while I do think 1hr15min is on the high side for A times, at her age I don't think we can say that it's strictly an OT waking. The other thing to think about since she struggles to get all the way back to sleep is discomfort. She could have accumulating gas from the cluster feeding in the evening. Are you getting good burps out of her then? You could try to gently rub her back when she wakes and see if any more gas comes out and she goes back to sleep more easily.

[kaynay]

well the clusterfeeding resulting in a huge huge vomit like double wammy needed to change my clothes her clothes etc...that put us over her A time and it took her 1 hour to settle into sleep so she ended up going down at 845 and not 745 and did not wake 40 mins...maybe i will take it easy with the clusterfeeding not sure it is helping.

[katie80]

It's definitely worth a try.  Their little tummies can only take so much at this age.  You can always restart it in a few weeks to see if it helps when her A times a longer.  Or, do like Violet's mom... not cluster feed, per se, but feed again if she wakes an hr or two after BT.