Bedtime Sleep: 45 minute-1 hour put down

[clc4r]

My little 9 week old is having trouble staying asleep during all three stages at bedtime. I know she is still young and needs me, which I'm totally fine with! Just thought I'd ask about our predicament in case theres something I can do about it now.

Going down for her bedtime, she keeps waking up before hitting deep sleep. it takes us 45 mins of holding her because she keeps waking up. She has done this for about a week. Sometimes she cries, sometimes she just stares. Tonight we tried putting her down in her rock n play earlier. We thought maybe we were keeping her up. She woke up and chilled in her rock n play for 15 mins before crying for help. She does not do this for naps. For naps, she goes down quickly. What could be the reason? Have we lost her trust for the nighttime sleep? Or could she just be wired from eating rather than being calmed? Or is it overtiredness from her short nap? (FYI: I only pat if she's crying and about 2 mins after. I'm not sure it calms her down though.)

We're on the EASY during the day which she does great at. At night it goes as is:

E: 
A: for 30 mins
S: Cat nap for 50 mins
A: Bath with daddy
E: Bedtime feeding in room low-key, with bedtime routine after
S: Taking 45-1 hr to get her to stay asleep.

[jessmum46]

Could you post the whole day for us with times?  I can't quite tell from what you posted how soon after her catnap you are trying to put her to bed, and how long she is actually awake for before she settles.  Or how long her day is overall.  What are her nights like at the moment?

I'm also not sure what you mean about patting if she's crying and about 2 mins after.... (Sorry).....is it that you only pat for a couple of minutes, or a couple of minutes after she's stopped crying, or you wait for a couple of minutes once she starts crying to start patting? 

It's great that she goes down so easily for naps though!  . Hopefully a few small changes will make the difference at bedtime for you x

[clc4r]

This is our typical day...


E: 7:00

A: 7:30-8:20 Wind down at 8:20

S: 8:30-10:15

E: 10:30

A: 11-12

S: roughly 12-1:30

E: 1:30

A: 2-2:45 Wind down 2:45

S: 3-4:30

E 4:30

A 5-5:30 Wind down 5:30

S 5:45-6:30 Catnap

A 6:30 Bath time with Daddy

E 7:00  Dinner feed. We get done at 7:30 at the latest. Last night I put her straight to bed after eating with a quicker wind down than typical. We began wind down at 7:30. She cried at first (for about 7-8 minutes) and then began drifting off with eyes rolling and shutting. Several minutes later, she'd jolt and wake for a bit, then go back to sleep about 10 seconds later. (I assume she doesn't fully wake up during these times.) She did that a few times, but always went back to sleep very quickly. Around 7:50 when I thought we were home free, she jolted and woke again. She began fussing and eventually closed her eyes about 5 minutes later. It took her another 15-20 to get through her REM sleep. That was a good night for us...Usually getting out of REM sleep takes an hour of wind down/holding, until she "deep sleeps" soundly. I wait with her the entire 20 minutes to make sure she's out down for the count and into her deep sleep. So these times include that. Therefore, last night I was trying to get her to sleep from 7:30-8:15. I put her down and left the room at 8:15.

S Somewhere between 7:45-8:30 and will sleep until 1:00

E Night feed around 1 (I tried the dreamfeed for two weeks and she regressed to waking up every 4 hours consistently throughout the night. Therefore I decided to drop the dream feed.)

S Lately its been from 1:30-6 or 7 (Also, it is okay that she is sleeping through two feedings a night at this age? If she does wake between 1:30-7, I feed her, but she honestly hasn't been lately. I went to the doctor 2 days ago and she's right on point with her weight. However, if she needs the calories, then I'm more than happy to feed her between 1:30 and 7.)

[jessmum46]

Her routine and naps look fairly good to me, some of her A times are a touch on the high side for her age (Average A times- BOOKMARK ME!!) but if she continues to nap well that's not necessarily a problem.  It could contribute to a bit of an OT build-up at the end of the day though....

I wonder if you moved all your bedtime things (bath, feed etc) a few minutes early aiming to start winddown earlier and actually have her asleep by 7.30pm whether she might settle easier?  Worth a try?